{"id":1094955,"date":"2026-01-25T16:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=507232"},"modified":"2026-01-25T16:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:40:15","slug":"in-the-wake-of-nosferatu-let-us-not-forget-the-horniness-of-bram-stokers-dracula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-the-wake-of-nosferatu-let-us-not-forget-the-horniness-of-bram-stokers-dracula\/","title":{"rendered":"In the wake of Nosferatu, let us not forget the horniness of Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If your takeaway from Robert Eggers\u2019 Nosferatu<\/em><\/a> was \u201cDamn\u2026 Ellen is lowkey a freak \ud83d\udc40\u201d, I need you to know that Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) is far from the freakiest character in a Dracula<\/em> adaptation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[Ed. note: <\/strong>Spoilers for Nosferatu <\/em>(2024), Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> (1992), and Dracula in general.]<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve seen split reactions to Ellen\u2019s desire to get down with vampiric Count Orlok<\/a>. Some people think Nosferatu<\/em> was just the right amount of horny<\/a>. Others think it was too<\/em> horny<\/a>. And some, like myself, think it could\u2019ve been hornier! <\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s just because the entire time I was thinking about Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> (1992) in all its horny, campy glory. <\/p>\n

Starring Keanu Reeves in what is widely regarded as one of his worst roles<\/a> (along with Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman), Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em><\/a> is unabashedly campy and over the top \u2014 something I personally believe all Dracula<\/em> adaptations ought to strive for. Director Francis Ford Coppola played up the decadence and hedonism in the film, with gorgeous set design, lush costumes, and a lot<\/em> of characters getting their freak on.<\/p>\n

Unlike in Eggers\u2019 Nosferatu<\/em>, almost every character in Dracula <\/em>(1992) is horny. There\u2019s Miss Lucy Westenra and her three prospective suitors that she cannot possibly choose between (one of them is a cowboy; not that it\u2019s important for the horniness meter, but I just need to emphasize that there is a cowboy in Dracula<\/em>). She and Mina also have a deep, intimate, homoerotic friendship. Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) has a strange ghost orgy with Dracula\u2019s monstrous brides.<\/p>\n

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But the scene that I think best represents the difference between Nosferatu <\/em>(2024)\u2019s horniness and Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> is the one where Dracula (Oldman) visits Mina Harker (Ryder). <\/p>\n

In this version of Dracula<\/em>, the Count believes Mina is the reincarnation of his beloved bride Elisabeta. His fixation on her isn\u2019t just because he hungers for her blood, but because he wants to turn her into his immortal lover. It\u2019s a bit like Orlok and Ellen\u2019s psychic connection in Eggers\u2019 version, but what makes it even juicier is that Mina doesn\u2019t<\/em> have any link to Dracula. He just swooped in \u2014 all suave, charismatic, and European \u2013 to woo her, and even though Mina loves Jonathan, she\u2019s entranced by this mysterious stranger and falls under his spell.<\/p>\n

So when he comes to her room late at night to feast on her blood and change her into a vampire, it\u2019s intense and tortured and just delicious<\/em> \u2014 and they never even actually have sex. But they writhe in bed as Mina moans in his arms. Dracula has second thoughts, not wanting to damn the woman he loves to this unlife. But she begs him to make her his and then looks him right in the eye as she lowers her head and licks blood out of an open wound in his chest! <\/p>\n

MAN! <\/em><\/p>\n

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