Dracula: The Vampire and the Voivode

Plot Summary

Shot in Transylvania, Whitby, London and Dublin this documentary tells the true story of Bram Stoker and his gothic novel Dracula. The film is produced in association with the Transylvanian Society of Dracula and features interviews with leading international Dracula experts. Over the years there has been much confusion between Vlad Tepes (The Voivode) and Count Dracula (The Vampire). This film separates fact from fiction and looks at both characters in depth. Script consultant Elizabeth Miller describes Vlad’s reign of terror and debunks the association between any Dracula and the iconic Castle Bran. Dennis McIntyre of the Bram Stoker Society takes us to key locations in the author’s home town of Dublin and Tina Rath of the Dracula Society, London visits Stoker’s (and Dracula’s) haunts in the capital city. In Whitby Harry Collett gives a vivid account of Dracula’s association with the Yorkshire seaside town where the Count arrived in England on a stormy night aboard the Demeter. Romania takes centre stage in the film and through the expertise of pioneer Dracula expert Nicolae Paduraru we follow in both Vlad Tepes and Count Dracula’s footsteps and explain why Stoker never left any of his own footprints in Transylvania but instead left an indelible impression of the Romanian region on the Western mind.