In Search of Dracula

Product description Nestled in the Carpathian Mountains of the Transylvanian region of Romania is the castle that once was the stronghold of Vlad Dracula. Indeed Dracula did exist but unlike the blood-sucking monster of popular myth the real Dracula was a fifteenth century prince who tortured and killed thousands - savagely impaling his victims on sharpened spikes.Christopher Lee (the actor who has portrayed the vampire more times than any other) traces the roots of the Dracula legend back to their horrifying historical origins. Based on the best-selling book by Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu In Search of Dracula exposes the fictional monster and his real-life counterpart "Vlad the Impaler" while also showing for the first time on film the infamous Borgo Pass vampire bats feasting on blood and exorcism rites for the undead. System Requirements: Running Time 82 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: PG UPC: 720917538822 Manufacturer No: FLV5388 Amazon.com Christopher Lee is looking very 1970s cool in this documentary portrait of the world's favorite vampire. Himself a great interpreter of the role, Lee performs multiple duties here: he narrates, appears in clips from Hammer films and Jess Franco's Count Dracula, and plays evil tyrant Vlad the Impaler in new footage. The rest of the film is a cobbled-together look at origins of Dracula, both historical (the life of bloody Vlad is recounted) and literary. The latter includes a brief account of Bram Stoker's source novel, plus a sidebar for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In fact, along with some good Transylvania footage and folklore, there are many peculiar sidebars, including a dramatization of a modern blood-drinker. It's all pretty slapdash, but undeniably a useful introduction for people unaware of the Dracula family tree. Plus, you get to see how truly hideous-looking a vampire bat really is. No wonder they've been demonized. --Robert Horton