Alicia: Hey, just a heads up.

The episode you're about to listen to is
about the 1931 film Dracula directed by

Todd Browning and written by Bram Stoker,
Hamilton Dean and John L Balderston.

If you'd like to learn more
about the movie discussed this

evening, please visit our website
progressivelyhorrified.transistor.fm

for show notes.

And after the spooky music, we'll
talk about the movie in full.

So before warned, there will be spoilers.

Jeremy: Good evening and welcome to
Progressively Horrified, the podcast

where we hold horror to progressive
standards it never agreed to.

Tonight we're talking about the
og, the Daddy of all Monster

movies, the 1931 Dracula.

I am your host Jeremy Whitley.

And with me tonight I have a
panel of cinephiles and cenobites.

First, they're here to challenge the
sexy werewolf, sexy, vampire binary.

My co-host Ben Khan.

Ben, how are Tonight?

Ben: So I only finished this
movie like 25 minutes ago.

Did they really fucking
kill Dracula off screen?

I'm still processing Dracula.

Did not actually get a death scene.

Jeremy: That, and then Van Helsing
follows it up by saying Dracula

is definitely dead now forever.

Um,

Emily: No questions asked.

Ben: Also leave now.

I need to go do stuff down here.

Don't worry about it.

Jeremy: and the cinnamon roll of
Ceno Bites are co-host Emily Martin.

How are you tonight, Emily?

Emily: Swan Lake, though, like
Swan Lake is the Dracula theme.

Everybody who knew.

Jeremy: Much cheaper
than writing a new one.

Emily: Yeah.

You know, Darren Aronofski
bringing it around.

Swan Lake is a vampire story.

Ben: I mean, I guess everything
looks cheap compared to Francis Ford

Coppola as mad ambition and greater.

Jeremy: I feel like the
word gsh is applicable.

Emily: Yeah.

I think that the uh, I wouldn't call it,

Ben: Turns out I'm a gaudy motherfucker.

Emily: drip.

So Dracula is gush compared to
this movie, but somehow, still

within the same spectrum of.

little bats on sticks like

Jeremy: ram stoker's Dracula is gsh
compared to the palace at versa.

Like that's, that's just
the level of gsh it is.

Emily: It is a Rococo film

Jeremy: Yeah.

Ben: Got some great old school
style, like matte background

paintings, though, like some gorgeous
mountains and castles they painted.

Emily: it looks like it's Gustav Dore,
like, it looks like Gustav Dore painted,

or, I mean, those were etchings, or
should I say wooden engravings or metal

engravings, depending on the, the image.

But,

Jeremy: I feel like it

would've been really expensive to
put up a wood engraving behind your

Ben: You could say it's engraved into
any material, and I would believe you,

Emily: The time in which this film
was made I have a lot of respect.

because this is like so early
in the talkies, you know?

Ben: Literally the studio's
first talkie they released.

Emily: and this is the, era before Zoom.

And I'm not talking about the zoom
that we're talking on right now.

I'm talking about zoom of
a camera because closeups,

Ben: Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm incredibly wrong.

It was just the first sound film.

Of Dracula movie released by the studio.

my incredible mistake.

Emily: His, uh, no, Ferrai
was a silent film if

Ben: Yes, I believe so, but also
I've proven myself incredibly

wrong in everything already today.

So don't fucking listen to

me.

Jeremy: Well, on that
note you're doing the

Ben: I am doing the recap.

Yay.

Oh, this is,

Emily: This'll be fun.

Ben: this is the capstone of our Dracula.

We've, we've watched a lot of Dracula
stories and it turns out, with the

exception of Roula, there tends
to be overlapping story elements.

So let's dive into this.

Emily: overlap, Amy?

Ben: You know, there's always a
Jonathan, an Amina, or Jonathan Mina.

Emily: Yes.

Ben: Good on the Hammer films for
making it a formula instead of just

continuously adapting one novel, which
I feel like would be a good defense,

but hey, they just kept churning
out them Christopher Lee films.

Emily: Yeah, it's the expanded universe.

Ben: So okay.

But the og the Granddaddy,
Bela Lagosi Dracula in 1931.

Uh, Not to be confused with Bela
Lagosi when he was Dracula on

Broadway, which was earlier.

We start out on Renfield being
just a weird little twink.

He's traveling through Sylvania
to meet Dracula for business.

And it's real weird that Dracula
exists in a world where people

don't know that Dracula is Dracula.

So Dracula's going around being,
oh, hey, what's up everyone?

I'm Dracula.

And everyone's like, cool.

Nice to meet you.

We have no cultural context for that name.

Anyway, Dracula's Castle is real cool
and also a dope background painting.

And there are armadillos, I don't
know why, but good for them.

Armadillos, Renfield gets wind and dined
and then just sort of passes out cause he

was roofied or Dracula did a bat Hypnosis.

Anyway, smash cut to the next scene and
he is totally crazy and eating bugs.

Now to quote Anchorman,
that escalated real fast.

Uh, Renfield and Dracula travel by
boat to London where Dracula does that

whole thing where he kills the crew.

And Renfield just gives the
most bugged out bonkers eyes.

And meanwhile, Dracula's now in
London doing, I, I, I, I don't know.

I never, I never understand
why Dracula goes to London.

It's never clear to me.

I don't know why he gets tired
of eating Sylvanian people.

He's just there to, I
guess, do Dracula stuff.

Jeremy: He's

too old for spicy food.

Emily: estate.

Ben: Yeah, he, he goes to the
opera, he creeps on his neighbors.

This is also where we get Mina
and Jonathan Harker, if you've

heard our last few recaps, they're
here to do this boring, straight

white British people stuff.

also Lucy's in this movie for a scene and
then Dracula kills her, but she doesn't

have a harem and there's no wolves or
blood or blood explosions this time.

So,

Jeremy: She doesn't turn into a vampire.

Nobody turns into a vampire in
this movie other than Dracula.

Ben: Okay, well we can get into that.

There is apparently a white lady going
around uh, violently attacking and

killing children in a scene we do not see,
but we do get somebody reading it to a

description of it to us in a newspaper.

Emily: Well, it's, it's a white lady.

Yes.

Also she is in white.

Ben: Definite Shades of
Night of the Living Dead.

And then Ben was like, yeah, and then I
hijacked the tanker and it exploded and

there was just a million zombies there.

Trust me, bro.

All the super high budget
stuff, I, I just did it.

Don't worry about it.

So, uh, big shades of that.

Anyway, after that we finally get to
the real big swing in Dick of this

movie and his crazy flat top haircut.

Dr.

Van Motherfucking hell sing
and he is on top of this.

He knows what's going on.

Renfield being Bonker pants.

He is got it.

Mina, get in bit by a vampire.

He's on top of it.

Him and Dracula.

Oh, you best believe they God, a vibe.

It's the, by far, the best scenes of the
movie, him and Dracula playing this whole

game of cat and mouse with one another.

Like prove that Dracula's a vampire.

But they're also just like complimenting
each other and like Van Helsing is

just doing like the Sassiest poses and
Dracula's doing this whole fucking bd s

m Mind Control, but Van Helsing being
a brat like fucking I could, do like

another hour of like Van Helsing and
Dracula just soon to writing each other.

Emily: We have to specify in this
case, B D S M stands for being dead.

Sounds magnificent.

Because Dracula also is
like dying Sounds rad.

at one point and they're like, okay,

Ben: does not get the sad
boy backstory in this movie.

He's just here being Dracula.

Jeremy: He doesn't get any
backstory in this movie.

Ben: There is no rhyme or
reason for why he's doing it.

He is just like a natural
constant of the universe.

Jeremy: Meanwhile, Edward Van
Sloan, who's playing Van Heising

looks like a fucking psychopath.

He looks like a mad scientist
from the first time he shows up.

Emily: Yes,

Jeremy: I feel like if you didn't know the
story of this, you'd be like, well, now

we have a crazy guy fighting a murderer

Ben: like I know it's 1931 and he
like, already looks like elderly.

He looks like he'd be ready to like
reenlist backup to fight the Germans in

World War ii like a decade later still.

Like, that's how crazy fucking hardcore
Van Helsing looks in this movie.

It's great.

Anyway, yada, yada, yada.

Mina is turning into a vampire.

Jonathan is a big dummy who can't tell.

He's also kind of being dumped.

Uh, Van Helsing has gotta
plan to lock down the house.

But it doesn't work.

And he can't stop Dracula from
taking me away into the night.

Uh, Renfield Escapes, which is just
kind of a running gag throughout the

movie, Renfield just being like, hi,
I'm here in your asylum slash house.

What's up?

it's great.

It's a, this movie's got slapstick.

It's fun.

Renfield then leads Van Hsing and
Jonathan to Dracula as hiding spot

with Mina Dracula gets real pissed
and kills Renfield by making him

fall down, literally all the stairs
of a comically large staircase.

And you just watch it and you just
hope they're not gonna cut away

and he's just gonna keep falling.

And he does!

Emily: Not OSHA compliant.

Ben: And then it's time to end the
movie where they just find Drac coffin,

stake him with no problems off screen.

A thing, which again, I'm still
fucking processing or you know, it's

pretty easy to write the fanfic where
he screams for another sexy reason.

And in given the ending is just the
Van Helson going like, okay, Mina and

Jonathan, you go up and do your straight,
white, Christian, British stuff.

I'm gonna go down and keep chilling
here with Dracula's body for

uh, anyway, get on outta here.

The

Emily: I'm gonna go down

Jeremy: Hmm.

Emily: stay down.

Hey.

Jeremy: yeah, they, they end on
them going up the staircase and it's

Emily: Yes.

Ben: It's a real weird choice.

, Jeremy: it's interesting to me
because uh, I, I was telling you

guys a little bit of this beforehand.

There are two versions of this film
and they're both on my D V D, which

I had a DVD of this movie for, for
those antiques collectors out there.

And when you, when you load up
my dvd, v d, it has an option

of Dracula or Dracula in Spanish

Ben: I hope that's the name of it,
is that the official name is the

official name, Dracula in Spanish.

I hope it is.

Jeremy: It is an entirely different film.

The thing about it is they have
a whole different cast, a Spanish

speaking cast, rather than dubbing
or subbing any of this stuff.

And they were filming it
simultaneously with this movie.

They had the English speaking cast
there during the day, and then when

filming was over, the English speaking
cast would leave at about 8:00 PM

The Spanish speaking cast would
come in and film through the night.

Separate director, separate cast , it's
got the same script, but in some ways

it's wildly different in ways that
like are difficult to understand.

One of the things being that at
the end of the film as Mina and

Jonathan are walking up the stairs,
van Haling says, you guys go ahead.

I promise Renfield I'd bury him.

So I gotta take care of that.

Because Renfield is worried that
because of everything he's done, if he

dies that he's just gonna go to hell.

Ben: English Van Helsing is
like kicking him down into hell.

Like you don't give a fuck.

Jeremy: as they walk up the
stairs, he's like standing over Ren

Field's body in the Spanish one.

And so the Spanish one might be better?

They included a little interview with
it where the, mina, whose name is Ava,

in the Spanish version was like, yes.

I was very surprised when I saw the
English language version because uh,

they had her very covered up in, in their
version, and I had very sexy, like low

cut dresses and everything, especially
once, you know, she gets bitten.

Ben: We should have watched
the Spanish version.

Emily: Yeah, I kind of wanna
do a whole episode on the

Ben: Well, there's a whole scene where
it's like Mina is being half vampire

and she's waring Jonathan out and.

Jonathan is just being like, Mina.

Oh my.

Like, I've never seen you like this.

What's become, like, what's come
over you and Mina's just looking

like she has actual lust in her eyes.

Emily: Yeah.

Well, I mean, it's Britain.

Ben: Yeah.

Like that, that says everything
about that fucking relationship is

just like Jonathan being completely
oblivious to the look of love of,

of like legitimate lust in a woman.

Emily: Yeah.

Jonathan is a, a card, as they would
say in this version of London where

everyone has a Trans Atlantic accent,
except for Martin, we need to talk

Ben: Oh my God.

Yes.

Please let us talk about

Emily: is Martin.

in the, in the Spanish version.

Jeremy: So

Martin is the The guard?

Yes.

Emily: he's an orderly.

Uh, The sanatorium, which they do
specify is next to Carfax Abby,

like that's, that is in the book.

That is in the cannon.

Ben: I do love how Dracula's plan is
to move in right next door to these

people and before killing everyone just
ingratiating him as this charming before

a neighbor with the wacky accent who just
pops in like a fucking sitcom neighbor.

Emily: Yeah, he really does.

And especially, it was kind of
a sitcom moment where they were

like, who is doing all this?

And then the maid announces him
and he is like, couch, Dracula,

Ben: Fucking amazing.

Emily: Yeah, yeah.

yeah.

And okay, so Martin,
let's go back to Martin.

He's very important.

He and I share a name.

Wow.

Yeah.

Spanish Dracula is a snack.

So

Jeremy: Martin has one of two
glorious mustaches in this movie.

The other one belonging to the the
man who tries to get renfield, not

to go to the castle at the beginning.

Who has a wonderful Eastern
European giant mustache?

Emily: that guy, first of all, okay.

Holding off on Martin now because
I need to talk about that guy.

He brought him up.

Jeremy, we have to talk about him
because he, at the, get-go of this

movie is like, yo, there are vampires.

They're vampires to suck you blood
and your blood and they do bats and

wolves and strip draculas up there.

He's a vampire and he does like

Ben: He's gonna, he's so
angry about Renfield that he.

Go on Transylvania Fox News and be
like, it's a war on Walpurgis Day.

Emily: Yeah.

Well, Walpurgis Night.

Ben: Walpurgis night.

tran's third worst holiday.

Emily: Listen, in my household,
we all know about, well,

RGUs not for two reasons.

One, it is Witches Knight.

That is what the name means.

Well, I should say it is April 30th.

So the night before Beltane,
which is, you know, the, the,

these days we know it as the

Ben: Let's pretend.

I don't know.

Emily: Okay.

It is the fucking holiday for
Pagans, but the night before

is like fire and shit holiday.

It's kind of like spring Halloween.

Ben: makes sense.

Fire also gets me horny.

I probably shouldn't admit, I probably
shouldn't say that on a public podcast.

Emily: Last time I talked about
uh, my thought form energy ghost.

So don't worry about it.

So like the other thing that we know about
about Wal Perish Knock is that is when

the biggest witch ever comes to town, and
only Meca can defeat it by becoming a God.

And that is from Puja Meka Magica,
which I assume you all have seen

because it's, you know, important.

Anyway,

Jeremy: Sure.

Emily: That's my recommendation for this.

Ben: if that's, the next, birthday
podcast, I might quit this show y'all

Emily: Don't

Ben: I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

Emily: good, because you
gotta watch that shit.

But yeah, the, the, I'm not gonna make you
watch it for, it's, it's a whole series.

The Hungarian guy straight up tells
Renfield everything that is going on and

then, you know, everything that the guy
said would happen, happens to Renfield.

Jeremy: Springfield's like,
but I have business with money

Emily: Yeah,

I wanna go and meet this guy on
the crossroads at midnight because

there's nothing sussy about that.

Ben: Right.

Like just renfield surprised me cuz he's
just so like nebbish and then like once

he turns, he is just like, he gets it,
he gets like this whole talkie thing.

He is, he is one of the early
pioneers and scene chewy.

Emily: Oh, well, yeah, I mean, he
is, he is putting his all into this.

Interestingly, he's got the
whole like German expressionist

like crazy shit going on.

Like he's, he's in that cabinet with Dr.

Callegari.

And apparently like the whole German
expressionist thing is typified by the

uh, the haircut where they wax the hair
back and then just shake it a bunch.

And that's where we get the goth look.

So this, in goth history, we wear
the black makeup because it makes

us look like silent film stars.

And that's where it comes from.

Anyway, Martin?

Jeremy: Yes.

Emily: Yes.

Ben: We got our way back to Martin Hell.

Jeremy: Martin is the orderly at the
sanitarium next door to the Abbey,

which is next door to the house.

They're all, they're all
right next to each other.

So Martin has a, an incredible mustache
and uh, is in a completely different

movie than the rest of these charact.

He is having a full on slapstick
comedy where he locks up

this crazy guy every night.

And every night this crazy guy
finds a way to get out and he has to

chase him down and take him on back.

And it's not like a vicious
or violent relationship.

It's more like adult hide and seek

Ben: It's great.

the rapport between Martin and
Renfield it's the stuff like

great Loony Tunes are made of.

Jeremy: And Martin also has my favorite
scene, which is where Dracula has flown

away as a bat and he is out there trying
to shoot the bat out of the sky with the

uh, maid from the house and that housings
is like, Martin, what are you doing?

And he is like, there's a
big fucking bat out here.

I'm trying to shoot it.

And he is like, don't bother.

You won't harm that bat with a gun or it.

All right, turns to the mate and is
like, or she's like, I think he's crazy.

He's like, I think all of you're crazy.

Everybody except you and me,
and I'm not sure about you.

Emily: Yes.

Ben: then he straight up Homer
Simpson backup walks into a

blind like the darkness.

Emily: He's in orderly and
you know, this is 1931.

This is the time when the, when you have
the sanatorium, which is basically like.

Mental health hasn't gotten much
better, but at least these days,

the orderlies don't call you a
loony and be like, OI, you're crazy.

What?

And just like,

Ben: It all sounds so much nicer
with a Cartoonishly cockney accent.

Jeremy: the difference between the
sanatorium in this movie and the

sanatorium in Bram Stoker's Dracula,
where all of the guards were giant

boxes on their heads, and it's just
wet and rat filled all the time.

it's a huge difference.

Ben: This is a movie where an asci,
an insane asylum patient breaks

out into like just breaks into.

The doctor's like daughter's bedroom
and everyone's reaction is like,

oh, Renfield, did you get out again?

Emily: big Marmaduke energy.

Ben: Renfield always causing Giff.

Jeremy: definitely like pops into
the middle of one of the scenes in

their house, like, knock, knock,

Ben: It would be so easy to add
a laugh track to this movie,

Emily: Yes.

Oh my God.

I'm surprised that someone hasn't done it,

Ben: like, oh wait, this scene where
Dracula's trying to like tell Van

Helsing to come and he's resisting.

Like, I'm sorry.

Like you could play that in a lot of
ways, but you could also absolutely

put like a laugh track behind it.

Jeremy: that scene is, is fantastic.

In the English version, it's even better
in the Spanish version because the Spanish

Dracula version is his eyes bug out and
he puts up his hand like he's about to do

a high five to him and holds it in front
of his face like he's controlling him.

Emily: yeah, the submit to my doc pow wow.

Jeremy: yeah.

Ben: Well, I do like the, I appreciate
the English version especially in my

reading because it seems like Dracula
is trying to like, attract him just

through sheer like sexual magnetism

and it's, and it's kind of working.

I cannot get enough of Van Haling just
like side turned, like hand on hip

cocked out being like, what up Dracula?

We're playing mind games.

We're like De Niro and
Pacino in heat Dracula.

Emily: is that Van
Helsing in this image that

Jeremy: yes.

Spanish Van Hal Sing looks
distinctly like Eugene Lev.

Emily: He really does.

Jeremy: yeah,

Ben: Oh my God.

I had no idea how much I
need Eugene Levy to play Van

Emily: Oh my God.

Jeremy: I would really be into that.

That would really be great.

This, this version of Dracula is
much shorter on characters than the

Ben: Well, I am, I'm way more
into that because a Eugene Levy.

Van Helsing means
Catherine O'Hara Dracula.

Emily: Oh my God.

Jeremy: I'd be into That

That would be

Emily: my God,

Ben: Like, tell me there's
anyone, Catherine O'Hara.

You cast Catherine O'Hara as, as
anyone but fucking real deal Dracula.

Emily: I mean, she's basically
played Dracula in a number of films.

Ben: Definitely gonna have to go
revisit Dracula though when the fucking

Nicholas Hoult Renfield movie comes
out with Nicholas Cage as Dracula.

Emily: yeah.

Oh my God.

Jeremy: be wild.

Emily: Oh, I'm just thinking about it.

I'm just like, oh yeah,

Ben: We also gotta do
the menu at some point.

There's a bunch of Nicholas
Hoult films to cover.

Good for you Nicholas Hoult you doing?

The little horror game?

Emily: for real, for real.

Okay, so Martin,

Ben: Oh my God, yes.

I'm sorry.

Emily: no, it's okay.

Because we've talked about
Martin, we've mostly said what

there has to say about Martin.

Ben: Just that he's amazing

Emily: he's fantastic.

He's the only person in this movie set
in London that has a British accent.

. And it is played for laughs.

Like he's, cuz he's go, oh, oh,
I'm K band and I'm just simple.

Ben: again.

He is in a slapstick cartoon

Emily: yeah.

And he can't seem to watch Renfield
even though everyone's like, don't

you take your ribs off Renfield?

Cuz he might be out there.

Jack the riping on the streets.

Ben: He does feel like the
movie is intentionally using.

For like comic relief and to
like lighten some tension.

Emily: Yeah.

Ben: this is not a, what the fuck
is this weird character being here?

Like this is a character that was
created for a specific reason in

the film and was executed very well.

Emily: Yeah.

And he, I we should mention,
because this movie is in 1931 Yeah.

Dracula has an offscreen death.

There's a lot of things

Ben: This was Preco though.

They could have fucking
staked him through the heart.

Emily: they could have,

Ben: I watched Scarface like
fucking the 20th Scarface.

They killed people all the fucking time.

Don't tell me they couldn't
kill people on screen back.

Emily: Yes.

However, still trying to, I mean,
Amazon told me this movie was downbeat

I think that that's valid especially
when it comes to the classic horror

cinema it's about atmosphere.

There was a lot of screaming.

Yeah, we could probably have had
more onscreen deaths and like

maybe fewer bats on strings.

Ben: No.

Okay.

That I will fight you.

Vahe and Leon.

There were either the exact
right amount of bats on strings

or not enough bats on strings.

Emily: Okay.

Well then apparently you can't
have one or you can't have both.

It's either bats on
strings or onscreen deaths.

Ben: big flay ass bat

Emily: Yeah.

Ben: Fucking flawless.

Amazing.

10 I like.

No, that's absolutely the kind of
thing though, like, I really like

it from a campy point of view.

Like it's very fun to me.

But I, that's the kind of thing
where I'll also give the movie just

like a lot of wiggle room, just
for like, for being 1931 where it's

like, okay, you are figuring out how
movies work, how to do any of this.

nobody up until now, except for Nas
Ferrai probably had to deal with like,

will we legitimately need bats to play
a large role in the plot of the movie?

How the fuck do we put a bat and get it
to do what we wanna do in any kind of way

that's recognizable or controllable with
our 1931 film Technology and knowledge.

Emily: Well, we can't use a Zoom.

There's no such thing as Zoom.

Ben: Yeah.

They could not take an actual like bat and
just tie a GoPro to that little fucker,

which is what I

assume you would do today.

I don't know how

Jeremy: the wildest thing
about this movie is that at 75

minutes, it feels really long.

Ben: Oh my God.

This is the longest hour 15
movie, and yet it feels like

it's skipping over everything.

Jeremy: Yeah.

It's pacing is quite deliberate.

, I don't know if it was just an age
thing or what, but Bela Lagosi, like,

I understand the rate of his talking.

It's, you know, maybe
little more difficult.

It's not always his native language.

He has a very heavy accent.

But like, even just walking
down the street, it's like step,

Ben: but that accent is great.

Like

that's the accent that would become
the ubiquitous universal Dracula

voice for the next literal 90 years.

anytime he is talking and it's the same
for Christopher Lee, like it's great.

But also, again, like you
talk about deliberate pacing.

How much of this movie is spent
in total silence with just a light

shining right in Bela Lagos see's eyes.

Emily: That's the effects.

Like that's their effects.

It's just focus and you know, that
deliberate pacing, deliberate action.

It, it is very theatrical that way.

Cuz it is basically, I mean, as far as I
know, it's the play, but a movie, right?

Jeremy: Yeah.

I mean it's, it's brought
straight from the stage.

I mean, that's Bill Lagosi wanted to.

B, he wanted to replicate his
success from the stage so much

that he got paid peanuts for this.

He got paid $500 a week which was a

tiny fraction of what mans was
making for turning in a really

mediocre performances uh,

Ben: again, he succeeded.

This is a performance that has gone
on to define a cultural touchstone

for a, it hasn't quite been a century,
but it sure as shit will be soon

Jeremy: Yeah.

I mean, there's so many of
his lines in this movie.

Dracula doesn't talk a ton, but all of
his lines are like, you've heard this

version of this delivery over and over,
like, it's so ubiquitous, like the

way he says the children of the night,

what beautiful music they make,

Ben: I don't drink wine.

Emily: Yes.

Jeremy: Now I do like the Coppola reading
of, I don't drink wine much better

because he says I don't drink wine,
whereas Gary Oldman says, I don't drink

wine.

Emily: Yeah.

Ben: Well that's the thing is that
like this is a little skipping ahead

to recommend like what I recommend.

It's like I very much appreciate this
movie and I totally understand like,

that it gave us the foundational
Dracula, like mythos and lore and

rules and you know, just the general
viness and perception to him.

But I guess say having watched Bram
Stoker's Dracula and 1931 Dracula

essentially pack to pack, like, I can't
really see myself revisiting 31 the way I

can very easily see myself revisiting 92,

Jeremy: Yeah, it's

like, like we were

Ben: and I know they're
so different, but fuck it.

At the end of the day, I'm here in 2022.

Being a judgey podcast prick.

Jeremy: I mean, at an hour 15,
like we said, this one is sparse.

There's a lot of nothing
in the bits of this movie.

And I don't mean that as a criticism, it's
just like we said, the way it was Paste.

Ben: It's not even like a tight hour 15.

Jeremy: yeah.

Whereas like we were talking about the
Francis Ford Copel a Dracula just has

shit on shit, on shit, on shit, on shit.

Like there's so many things
going on in that movie.

And there's, it's so banana pants at
points that it's like, I've rewatched

it just to show it to Alicia.

And like, , there's
nothing about this one.

Like you could very easily find
five minutes of clips of Bela Lagosi

talking and get everything from it
then that you're gonna get from this.

I, I do appreciate hi,
like the shots of his eyes.

They're very iconic.

Like this, everything about Bela Lagos.

Performance, and this is literally iconic.

It created an icon in, in ways that
Gary Oldman's don't necessarily his

are, are big and campy, his choices.

Ben: I feel like what's most
iconic about Gary Oldman is not to

say in any way he did a bad job.

He did not.

He did an excellent job.

But I feel like what was most iconic
about his Dracula were the outfits.

Emily: mean, that was pretty, most

of

the movie was

Jeremy: the outfits in

the

Ben: Yeah.

I mean that, that drip.

I mean, only Gary Oldman's Dracula
is going around with like the long

flowing locks and the little John
Lennon glasses and the big top hat

just looking fucking suave as hell.

And also like you would fit in
the cast of Wild, wild West.

Emily: This, I keep wondering if this
movie was supposed to be contemporary.

if the

Ben: I think it was like, I don't,
think this was a period piece,

I think this was a movie meant
to take place in the early 1930s

Emily: Yes.

Ben: because like at first
I thought, okay, maybe.

But then they got all the, like
the electric equipment and like Van

Halen's kind of operating table looks
a lot more modern than anything else.

So I do think this movie is supposed
to be contemporary to its release,

Emily: Yeah.

And Lucy is flapping it.

She is super like flapper
style short hair rocking it up.

Ben: I

mean, it is.

seeing a movie that was meant
to be set in modern day.

That's just so long ago now that it's
like retroactively a period piece

Jeremy: there's so much less about
this Lucy to talk about cause she

appears in so little of this movie and.

Emily: is unfortunate, yes,

Ben: but

she is into a Dracula salad.

She's like, yeah, Dracula
fucking take me away to your

weird ass castle full of wolves.

I wanna be Countess Dracula.

Let's do

Jeremy: Which side of my neck?

Is it easier to bite?

Emily: Yeah.

How about all of it?

Yeah.

She's super down to
clown and like this Lucy.

Yeah, she's not in it, but there's
no, she doesn't have the hair.

I'm, as you said, uh, there's no Arthur
Homewood, there's no Quincy Morris.

Dr.

Seward is Mina's dad, which is

something that's a,
that's a bit of a change.

Yes.

But but I'm glad that there's no
tension between Seward and Lucy.

. But Dracula shows up while they're at
the opera cuz he can't fucking wait.

And he's like, Hey guys, what's up?

It's me, I'm your new neighbor
and he's talking about death and

how great it would be to be dead.

And Lucy's like, yeah, death.

And she's super goth.

Ben: it's terrible how little Lucy we
get because once again, she is like by

far like one of the best characters.

Emily: yeah.

Jeremy: Yeah, John sucks
somehow even more in this movie.

Ben: John sucks so much more.

Emily: he is less mediocre and
more just straight up shitty.

Ben: Yeah.

Okay.

This though brings me to my
favorite scene in the movie.

It's when Mina is trying to explain that
she can't have Jonathan touch her or kiss

her anymore and they can't be together.

And it definitely feels like a coming
out scene even though it's definitely

in context way more like s t d metaphor

and like symbolism.

But it's great cuz Mina turns to Van
Haling is like, make him understand,

please break up with my boyfriend for me.

And Van Haling just gets up and leaves.

Emily: Yeah.

He's like, uh, sorry,

Jeremy: But nothing's like,

I'm not into this drama

Emily: God.

Ben: it's fantastic.

He doesn't say a word, he just gets
up and walks the fuck off frame.

I don't know if that was in
the script, but I loved it.

Emily: This is after the whole situation
with Dracula not showing up in the mirror

or saying that he doesn't like mirrors.

Van Helsing is like, trying to
like play Dracula with the mirrors.

And then he basically Dracula explains
to like the whole party of people in the

room being like, I don't like mirrors.

Ben Helsing will tell you why.

And then just fucking
mic drops out of there.

Ben: Yeah.

It's like did he wanna, like, was he
just like being like, okay, the game

is up, or is he trying to reverse it?

Or being like, I don't like mirrors,
which you all know, which we Van Helsing.

Why are you bringing mirrors
when you know I don't like them?

What a, everyone be mad at
Van Helsing instead of me.

Emily: I mean, there is a kind of
weird undertone here, even though

Martin says,

Ben: between Van Helsing and Dracula

in this movie.

Emily: I'm just talking
about the movie in general.

There's, there's a kind of weird undertone
of yeah, everybody's fucking nuts.

Ben: I mean, just imagine being
Martin, you're just going about doing

your job and then like this weird
doctor who came to visit just yells

at you being like, guns won't help.

That bat is bulletproof.

Emily: yeah, I mean

Ben: What the fuck would your reaction be?

Emily: he's very, Martin is very
relatable, but there's also a line

that van Helsing says that Dracs
power is in that no one believes in

Ben: I also wrote that down.

That's a great line.

Emily: Yeah.

Ben: awesome.

Emily: Yeah.

And so, . I feel like the whole
thing with Dracula being like,

yeah, tell him I'm a vampire.

See how they'll take it,
is that kind of challenge.

Dracula's very existence is just
so fucking crazy that he can

do whatever the hell he wants.

There's definitely a class
undertone here as well.

Ben: what again?

Like the parts of the, of any Dracula
story that so often completely baffles

me, except for Bram Stokers, which
again, they Ford Coppolas, which

honestly the whole romance reincarnation
gives him an actual motivation

partway through the movie at least.

But like, Dracula, like,
what was your plan?

You were going to move in,
kill your next door neighbors.

Like, Hey, have you not heard of,
like, don't shit where you eat,

but like, what was the plan like.

After all of your super rich neighbors
are dead and people are like, Hey,

weird foreign guy who just moved in.

What's up?

Was he planning on just being
like, I think you should

leave hot dog costume guy.

Like we're all trying
to find who did this.

Emily: In Sylvania, everybody
knew he was a fucking vampire.

Everybody knew to carry
around crosses and stuff.

Nobody believes in vampires in London,

Jeremy: They had a wolf,
Spain all over the place.

They were big on the wolf.

Spain in this one.

Not so

much garlic.

They're, they're the old school.

Ben: I guess that would be the only
real explanation we have is just that

everyone just onto fucking Dracula
shit over in Transylvania and they

all got like, everyone just fucking
crossed and wolf bains up that he's

just gotta go to a totally new.

Jeremy: Yeah.

It was just like, you know, thera killed
two of my uncles and a couple of cousins.

Like, you know, you started
to get smart to things.

Emily: And the first thing that
Dracula does when he arrives in London

is he just takes out a flower girl.

Ben: Yes.

That's just some classic Dracula killing.

That's

Emily: it's.

Ben: Dracula being Dracula.

Emily: it's classic Dracula killing.

But the, I, especially in how deliberate
this movie is, the class sentiments, the

class statements are very, like clear.

The fact that he immediately preys upon

Jeremy: the poorer people
who won't be noticed.

Emily: yeah.

the

Ben: Yeah.

But then

he immediately moves on to rich people
who definitely will be and are noticed.

Emily: but the, in that
case, he's seducing them.

It's a different thing.

Like he gets Lucy because she,
you know, she's like, Hey,

Dracula, please bite me, please.

You know, and there's, there's nothing
really like in the, in bra Stokers

Dracula, there's a lot of to-do
made out of his, like all of his

crazy supernatural powers, you know.

And in this case, Dracula is
just a really extra rich dude.

Jeremy: Yeah.

I

Emily: And e Mina at the beginning even
is like, Lucy, that rich dude that you

were talking to really fucking extra

Jeremy: he really, he's really good
at staring at people and making them

do what he wants, but he doesn't
even have to do that with Lucy.

It seems like Parker's.

Like, yeah, that uh, Abby could be
real nice if you got the property

brothers in there fix shit up and
Dracula's like, It reminds me of the

ruined battlements of my homeland.

And Lucy's like, I'll let
him ruin my battlements.

Like it's, that's like
the whole conversation.

And then, you know, they cut to that
night and Mina going, yeah, I bet you

wanted him to ruin your battlements.

Emily: Lucy's like, shut up.

Yeah, I do, but like seriously I do.

He's so cool.

Ben: really wanna do a version where
Lucy is just so cool that it just

Dracula fol, like Dracula and Lucy
just run off and do crazy shit.

Dracula and

Lucy do hot girl stuff in London.

Jeremy: there's no reason given
for it to be Mina in this story.

Like

Ben: there's no reincarnation.

Jeremy: He doesn't even seem particularly
into Mina when they meet the first time.

Ben: Like, honestly, like
Mina's kind of a dud.

Lucy's way better in this movie,

Emily: yeah, I think that
just Lucy, he went overboard

with Lucy and just killed her.

And if Mina, he's like, oh, okay, so this
is how much British people have blood.

I'm

gonna drink the right amount.

Jeremy: there's a lot of
people dying in this movie.

They all die off screen
sometimes ridiculously.

The whole bit with the ship is hilarious
to me because first of all, they uh,

just straight up cut a scene on the
ocean from a silent film and stuck

it into the middle of this and just
voice overed it cuz you can tell

it's at a different speed than the

Emily: yeah, it's a,

Ben: that that's, are you
working hard or working smart?

Jeremy: when they have to illustrate
that there's a bunch of dead people

on the ship, they just like hand over
the ground and some feet and there's

voiceovers of people going, man,
these guys sure are real fucking dead.

Look at how dead these guys are.

Real dead in here.

Emily: I mean it's classic except for
maybe the uh, the montage element.

It's pretty classic for some something
that is so directly taken from the stage.

Ben: nothing beats.

Martin for me to like, him just
reading out an entire horror

short story from a newspaper.

Emily: Yeah.

And then the, yeah, the Lucy becoming
the woman in white and, and like

killing children and stuff like that.

And they talk about killing
her van Halen's like, well, we

Ben: gets completely
dropped from the movie.

Emily: They

don't say,

Ben: forget about Lucy,

Emily: yeah, they, they apparent that
happened off screen too, I guess.

Which, you know, unfortunate.

But

Ben: or she's just alive and universal
is just sitting on a Lucy, the

white lady, goldmine, parentheses
come up with a better title,

Jeremy: parenthesis, but not like that.

Ben: but not actually Lucy,
the White Lady, you know?

But better.

Jeremy: Yeah, I just, I mean
obviously there's a lot of

stuff with with class in here.

As far as like anything dealing with
race in this movie, it's maybe negative

because, you know, we have this sort
of classic, Eastern European Dracula

that's here to steal all our women.

Ben: I'm not sure if this is like
class or race, but like, I guess it's

race, but it's all European people.

But again, you do have this very Hungarian
for like other who, well I don't believe

it is a star of David, does wear a
vaguely star of David shaped pendant,

don't think, I didn't fucking clock that.

Emily: Well, I think that, I
mean the, the pendant comes from

like old European royalty, mainly
turn, turn to the century royalty.

And it is a cross.

It is a type of cross that he's wearing.

It's just not a crucifix.

That said,

Ben: does that matter?

Who fucking came up with
these fucking rules?

I was hanging on by a thread about
the week to cross stuff, and now

it's only certain kinds of crosses.

Emily: I

Jeremy: but really theoretically it
should have to be a sanctified item.

Like the, you know, crucifixes are
blessed by the Catholic church, so

like that makes sense in the same
way that Holy Water makes sense.

But Hammer

Dracula

Ben: Oh, so is that why he
fucking went to England?

Because Dracula doesn't recognize the
authority of the Church of England.

Jeremy: mean, who does?

Emily: Yeah.

that's a good point,

Jeremy: Yeah.

A hammer really plays fast and loose with
it because they definitely have moments

where somebody just grabs two pieces
of wood and make a cross out of it.

And Jackie was like, oh.

Ben: hammerhead fucking
nine movies to fill.

They were just doing
whatever would kill runtime.

Emily: I will say that back in the
day, especially in, the early 20th

century , and before, different kinds
of crosses are very, very important.

the different

Ben: I, no, I, I'm calling
veto on treating the savior

execution method like Pokemon.

Emily: Sure.

Ben: all, catch all the different crosses.

Emily: No, no, no, no, no.

But I, I do wanna, I, I do want to
come back around to the idea that

he was wearing this kind of other

Ben: Yes.

Cuz it, no, that would be important
to know, like, cuz if that wasn't

similar, like a little like, and
he's extra foreign, cause Jewish,

Emily: Yeah.

I

mean, there's.

Ben: yeah, that would be good context.

Emily: Yes.

But I believe that his, you know, he
would qualify as other the same way that a

Jewish character would qualify as other in
a movie like this especially at this time.

So I think that that's valid,
even though if he's not, he's not

wearing legit a star of David.

He is wearing a cross.

But it is, you know, at this point,
it might as well be a star of David

because it is so different from the
the prevailing form of Christianity

that we're seeing this through.

Ben: So there's that.

And then there I do think, again, as
amazing as Martin is, it is a, and I I

think this is a little bit of class in
everything you got with England or region.

I don't fucking know.

But again, it is a bit of a stereotypical
choice to have the one cockney character

be this very like, slapstick comedy
figure who is kind of presented as like

a little like as lower intelligence.

Like sort, like I said, like, you
know, I think it's a deliberate

choice that they use like a
cockney accent for this character.

The way we might, you know, you might
see like a southern accent used in a lot

of, stereotypically like low intelligence
characters your Cletus from Simpsons

Emily: Yeah.

Ben: that vein of character.

Emily: Yeah.

I wanna say that, I mean
the, Traven locals in Bram

Ben: well, who doesn't love a classic
superstitious village full of peasants,

which I guess I always just treat it
as something so hokey and throwback

it, like it's not real enough to be
commented on, but I guess this is what

parts of Hungary still were in 1931.

Emily: I think it's, it's
definitely less cartoony.

Ben: superstitions are a
hundred percent accurate.

Emily: The people of the village
are a lot more developed.

We see a um, a glimpse
into their lives, you know?

Yeah.

They have they kind of
read as superstitious and y

Ben: So they're not just weird
grunting thieves who then throw

merchants outta carriages for no
reason to start a hammer film.

Emily: that's what I'm saying is Yes,
exactly like the, in this case, they

are people in this movie, you know,

Ben: Yes.

Emily: they are Dracula's minions,

you

know, or,

Ben: are fully fleshed.

I'm not fully fleshed out, but they
are re human beings who are presented

as human, like they are intelligent.

Again, all of their wards
to drive off Dracula work.

Emily: Yes.

Now let's talk about another strange bit
of representation in this film, which

is Dracula's menagerie of Creatures.

We see bats on strings.

We hear wolves, we see pipe cleaner
spiders, but the real creatures

that star in this film are the
native fauna of apparently there's

a very specific microclimate and
dracs castle where you have North

American marsupials and armadillos.

Ben: That was great.

The Draculas armadillos.

Why have Draculas armadillos never shown
up as a pa as enemies in a cast game?

Emily: So, yeah, I mean, mainly because
armadillos and, and a possums which

both appear are strictly animals, like,

Ben: Implying that there's a whole
separate adventure where Dracula

went to America and brought back
a few pet like armadillos and a

possums to live in his castle.

I wanna see Dracula and his
marsupial sidekick friend adventure

I don't know, nighttime, Arizona.

Emily: Near dark

Ben: And yeah, that does describe.

Emily: There you go.

So I found, an article on medium
by a username tooth pickings where

there's a little bit of research
done into the reason why perhaps

armadillos appeared in this film.

There's no mention of the possum which
I think they just want us to think

is a big rad, which is, you know what
a lot of people think possums are at

the be, you know, if they've never
seen a possum before, very different,

very important parts of our ecosystem.

Like they eat ticks and
they don't carry disease.

Jeremy: I appreciated in
watching the Spanish Dracula is

there's completely different.

Of the animals.

They're all still represented there,
but the possum in, in Spanish, Dracula

is walking across the surface and
totally fucking wipes out in the image.

The possum is just walking along and
just tanks off the side of this wall.

Emily: Oh no.

Jeremy: I was like, that's
an interesting take to keep.

Emily: Yeah.

I hope he was just playing.

So this is, a lot of, this is speculation
from what I can tell, but one of the

explanations that does kind of have says
carry some weight is that armadillos,

especially in the American Southwest
where they are known are the only other

animal than humans that carry leprosy.

And so they are associated with
plague, much like rats and bats.

So, There was, there's a theory that
because they had armadillos and because

that they, they also carry disease,
that they are some sort of they're,

they're another form of disease carrying
creature that also they, they also

frequent graveyards because they like,
and they're nocturnal because they

like to, you know, eat grubs and stuff.

And anywhere where there's a lot of
fertile soil or, or you know, tilled soil,

Jeremy: Yeah, they, they.

they dig and they were
associated with, with graveyards.

And I know like at one point it
was thought that they, you know,

dug into graves and ate cadavers,
which is obviously not true

- knowing armadillos as we do now..

Ben: Oh, dang.

Well, I'm, I'm glad this movie did not
use real cadavers, probably for the.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Emily: And, you know, vampires and
disease, especially like the S T D.

Conversation that Mina had with Jonathan.

the disease theme is there for sure,
but I thought it was interesting.

I also think it was because they're in
Hollywood and they have, armadillos around

. But yeah, Jonathan, speaking of Jonathan-
after Mina gets attacked by Dracula, she

is talking about her symptoms and I guess.

Courtesy, she has the scarf around
her neck to hide her puncture

wounds, which we never really see.

And she's talking about all of her
symptoms of, you know, waking up

feeling anemic and things like that.

And Jonathan says, why don't
we talk about something nicer?

Why don't we think about
something more charming?

Ben: Fucking

Jonathan

Emily: Yeah.

Ben: John.

Ugh.

Oh, I hate Jonathan in this movie.

Emily: Yeah.

And,

and his like utter shock that
she has anything to say that

is interesting or individual

Jeremy: Like it's this, this movie.

So different from Bram Stoker's
original it's not at all

full of potential gay icons.

It doesn't have,

Ben: No,

Not a sexy cowboy in the land.

Our fucking Richard E.

Grant doctor became Dr.

Dad and not even a hot dad.

Just a boring British dad.

Jeremy: yeah, I do wonder how much of
that is a result of it being adapted

from a play, cuz like, if you're doing
this as a play, I mean, having a a full

on cowboy in a play, I think doesn't,
doesn't quite play play as well.

Um,

Ben: Disagree.

Jeremy: have him on
stage writing a cowboy.

Ben: of the play,

Jeremy: Yeah.

Ben: there should be layman,
should have just had fucking a

cowboy swinging with a knife also.

How great is it?

Just like instead of like, again, points
for Bram stokers Dracula, where instead of

just being staked off screen, we just get
like a, like so many shots of Dracula just

getting fucking knife, the fucking pieces.

They spend so much time showing
Dracula getting stabbed and slashed.

At the end of that, they

Emily: I mean,

Ben: him up.

Good.

Emily: Nosferatu also had a lot
more, like Nosferatu was more

Jeremy: German

Emily: heavy,

really

Jeremy: violent.

Emily: violent.

It, there was a lot more monster
man sucking on next that movie.

yeah, Ben, you're right that, you know,
they could have gotten a lot more.

Running out of vocabulary.

Just gonna say, uh, neck sucky.

Ben: I mean, I'm always the
one here who advocates for more

gore and blood and violence.

Emily: I mean, that's, that's valid,
but you know, they could have done

like actual neck sucking in this

Ben: bill Lagosi doesn't get to suck neck.

Emily: yeah.

Ben: Lagosi suck neck.

Jeremy: every time we see, the closest we
get is we see him close his cape around

people which is, you know, iconic in its
own right, but not, not particularly sexy.

This is a pretty unsexy Dracula overall.

Especially, you know, after seeing
. The bra, Stoker's Dracula version.

it, yeah, it's, it's, it's
not particularly sexy.

It's less queer, it's less feminist.

Ben: No matter

how much I try to monkey wrench,
van Haling, Dracula into something.

Jeremy: Yeah.

I mean, and you know, Mina has
very little of a personality

Ben: I mean, are, are you saying it's not
sexy that like a solid 15% of the movie

is just extreme closeups on Bela Lagosi
looking like he's trying not to fart.

Emily: I thought he was sexy.

I thought his looks.

The look that he gave Mina as
he approached her, like coming

into the camera seemed a bit
like sad, which is weird.

Ben: Have we gotten a true sad boy?

Well, I guess yeah, Gary
Oldman is the sad boy.

Dracula.

Jeremy: absolutely.

Emily: yeah.

Jeremy: I like the shadowed
face with the highlighted eyes.

I don't like that.

Clearly somebody shining a light in
his eyes from offstage, you know,

look as much of them trying to make
it look like his eyes are glowing.

Um,

Ben: That's some real 1931 being
like, we don't know how to do this,

but we're gonna just try something.

Jeremy: yeah, the, the only thing I
think that this movie did better as

far as the progressive politics side is
class like Graham Stokers Dracula could

give a flying fuck about poor people.

Ben: I do like that, like
Renfield plays more of a plot.

Emily: Yes.

I, I like this.

I feel like this movie is
a lot more about Renfield.

Ben: Yeah.

Like it's not just Tom White showing up
every now and then to eat some worms.

Emily: I mean, Tom, Tom, Waitz is a pretty

fucking

Ben: not that.

Yeah.

Not that I don't fucking love that.

Emily: Oh yeah.

Ben: I did.

Jeremy: doesn't ever leave
London in this movie.

Ben: yeah,

like,

Emily: it's all renfield.

Renfield going, Renfield coming back.

Ben: you know, like I really like
when he's introduced back in the

asylum like, and he is saying like,
no one would want to eat flies.

And Martin's being like, you do like
not if I can get a fat, juicy spider.

these two, like are ready
for a Three Stooges routine.

Emily: I mean, yeah.

But that scene where he talks about
Dracula bringing him the army of rats,

Ben: Oh, great.

Emily: he really like painted

the wall with

Ben: Also, I like how this establishes
Dracula's Mist Cloud is red and

not green which I think is way

Emily: I mean, yeah.

It feels like a, it looks
like a, a blood mist almost.

But

Ben: blood mist is better
than the stink cloud

Jeremy: Alright.

Do, do we think there's movies
we're seeing guys, do we

recommend people check it out?

Emily: yeah,

Ben: I if you were like, again, like
it has great historical context.

If you're like feeling yourself as a
film buff and you wanna like really

see how things developed and started
and evolved, like, it's definitely,

it's super, super fucking essential,
like for the history of film.

But honestly, like if you're just
looking for, if you're looking for

like a fun horror movie to like put
on on a Saturday, there's a, there's

better Dracula movies out there.

Emily: It's not a fun Dracula movie.

It is a it's downbeat, it's, it.

atmospheric, and that's
what we have going for it.

And

Jeremy: it's,

Emily: it's very important
to see Bela Lagosi in action.

Jeremy: it's much better to look
at than it is to watch, honestly.

Like it's, it's, you know, it has
some good shots and some very,

I, like we said, iconic stuff.

It is, you know, shorter than
an episode of Stranger Things.

So like, you know, you can just
chuck it in and, and watch it and

just a little more than an hour.

I would definitely
recommend Spanish Dracula.

It's kind of wild.

It's , you casually mention that they
just had to, they just had to kill

a lady who was turned into a vampire
between scenes at one point and it's,

yeah, I actually think I actually think
the Spanish version is a little better.

Carlos Viez, who plays Spanish
Dracula is extremely expressive.

Emily: He looks great.

Jeremy: Give some big eyes.

They also do the shot of his of him
examining people a lot different.

I'm gonna send you guys an image
of what it looks like when you

get glamored by Spanish Dracula as
compared to English speaking Dracula

Emily: we should, we should definitely
post these images when we post the

episode because I think you know, our
listeners deserve to see this incredible

glimpse into our Dracula.

Jeremy: Yeah.

This

Emily: Spanish Ava Or Spanish Mina.

Ben: Spanish mean it.

Got it going.

Emily: Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Jeremy: yeah, she's unsurprising.

Spanish Dracula is just as a
movie is much hotter than Dracula

Emily: I'd fucking hope so.

But so would that be your
movie that you would recommend,

I

mean, you've already

Jeremy: I,

Emily: but it, it's one of
your recommendations for

Jeremy: I think,

Emily: under Dracula.

Jeremy: I think that that's worth checking
out is like, just, just for the the

strange trivia of it, if nothing else, but
also because I think it's actually better.

And I, I, if you find the right, you
know, D V D or whatever, you can probably

watch it right there with that one.

But has a little interview.

The version I watched has a little
interview with Lupita Tovar who played

Ava about like them coming in at
nights and filming on the same sets.

And you can see there are a couple
of places where like, they must have

filmed after the American crew because.

Spanish Van Helsing does
not destroy the coffin lid.

It just doesn't have a lid.

And then he picks a piece of it from
behind the coffin to stab Dracula.

Um, I was like, oh, they
were only paying for

Ben: Yep.

Jeremy: coffin.

Okay.

Ben: Oh man.

He, he couldn't afford the three.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Emily: a less.

Jeremy: Yeah, I think
that's worth checking out.

Ben, what recommendations
do you have for this one?

Ben: I'm gonna recommend the bear.

It has absolutely nothing to do with
Dracula or horror, but it's real good.

And if you haven't seen it
yet, you definitely should.

I, I drew a fucking blank
on this one this week.

I'm sorry y'all.

Jeremy: It's fine.

Uh,

Emily: Yeah, no.

Jeremy: I'm sure, I'm sure Dracula
likes a good chopped steak sandwich.

Emily: I, I would,

Ben: Does Aju sauce clo, is that
close enough to blood for Dracula?

Emily: I

think it should be,

Jeremy: Oh, as you?

Emily: I never, Ooh, that can be
translated the delivery of that

It's a bit rough.

Ben: I like, I liked it.

Emily: I mean,

Be sad if Dracula could never drink a.

Ben: That's definitely the wor
that I keep coming back to.

Like I keep coming back to, I'm like, I
think I could be okay not seeing the sun.

I feel like not getting to eat food
again, like only being stuck to blood,

like unless they're no blood was fucking
amazing or had a whole bunch of different

varieties like, oh, I'd be really missing.

Just like, you know, like

Oreos.

Jeremy: So you'd be cool being RA though.

Ben: Oh yeah, definitely.

Ralph can even go out during the day.

There is no downsides to being
a vampire in the Roula universe.

Jeremy: Yeah,

it's just Ralph's life in particular.

That sucks.

Ben: Yeah.

Which has nothing to do
with being a vampire.

It's just because he is Ralph.

Emily: to do with being Ralph.

Jeremy: It's because this

hot mom keeps

arranging for his

Ben: Yeah, you could be.

You could be the hot mom and your
life is amazing and apparently

has been for hundreds of years.

Emily: I mean, especially if you're a
Dracula mom and you're not actually like

giving birth to the, to your Dracula son.

You just like find some kid and
you're like, you're my son now.

Like interview with a
vampire, but not creepy.

Hmm.

that's

that's a bit challenging.

But anyway,

Jeremy: Emily, what,
what's your recommendation?

Emily: No tu uh, definitely
the, the silent version.

The Verna Herzog version.

Hopefully we'll get to it, is
kind of interesting as well.

But what I really wanna recommend now that
you've mentioned the Dracula in Spanish

is the series those spooks, which is a

Ben: I've been, very much meaning to see.

Emily: very fun.

Lauren Michaels produced show almost
all if not all in Spanish about a

Mexican family and the mostly this
one guy that just really likes to make

special effects and and his friends.

So it's, it's about several families
actually, and it's very goofy.

And Matt, yeah, you have some good down
to earth character work and then you

have some people talking to like DY and
getting trapped in mirrors and shit.

So it's it's all over the
place and it's, it's very good.

It's very funny.

I love it.

10 outta 10.

And that's on H b o Max.

I don't know where else you can see it,
but I've seen a bunch of episodes and it.

So

Jeremy: Nice.

Emily: spooky

Jeremy: Yeah.

Lot of spooks.

That's, that's definitely one
that's on my list to check out.

I think it's on FX originally.

but yeah, it's on easily
accessible on, on h hp max.

Well, I, I think that's
about it for us on this one.

And if you uh, wanna find us online
and get up with us about this, you

can uh, reach Emily at Mega Moth
on Twitter or mega underscore moth

on Instagram or mega moth.net.

Ben is on Twitter at Ben the Con
and on their website@benconcom.com.

Uh, And you can find me on Twitter
and Instagram at j Rome five eight,

and on my website@jeremywhitley.com.

And of course, the podcast is on Patreon.

It progressively horrified our
website@progressivelyhorrifiedtransistor.fm

and on Twitter at Prong Horror Pod
where we'd love to hear from you.

And speaking of loving to hear from you,
we'd love if you'd rate and review this

podcast wherever you're listening to it.

Five Stars helps us find new listeners,
helps the podcast continue to grow

and us keep doing what we're doing.

Thanks again for all
of you for joining us.

Thanks to Ben and Emily as always.

And until next time, stay horrified.

Alicia: Progressively
horrified as created by Jeremy.

Amy Whitley and edited by Alicia Whitley.

This episode featured the horror squad,
Jeremy Ben and Emily, all opinions

expressed by the commentators are solely.

solely.

their own and do not represent the
intent or opinion of the filmmakers

nor do they represent the employers
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music is epic darkness by mario Cole.

Oh six.

and was provided royalty free from pixabay
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Thanks for listening Bye.

Emily: I forgot to mention the
Velma girl in the beginning