Buffy The Vampire Slayer

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Book: Dracula

Adaptations to date: Oh, so many. F.W. Murnau’s landmark 1922 film Nosferatu was an unauthorized, albeit somewhat loose, adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. The first official film adaptation arrived in 1931, courtesy of Universal Studios, director Tod Browning, and star Bela Lugosi. (Lugosi had already had great success with the character on the stage.) And then came the deluge of sequels, remakes, and spin-offs: Dracula’s Daughter, Son Of Dracula, The Horror Of Dracula, Zoltan: Hound Of Dracula, and so on.

Definitive version: Not to talk ourselves out of our own argument, but there really aren’t that many bad adaptations of the original novel. Nosferatu, the 1931 version, and Horror Of Dracula, starring Christopher Lee, are all classics. Even Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version has much to recommend it. And for a really neat version, check out Guy Maddin’s silent homage/filmed ballet Dracula: Pages From A Virgin’s Diary.

Why steer clear? See above: Dracula has been done well so often that it’s probably time to let it rest. What’s more, vampires have moved on. Like all great monsters, they’ve proven themselves adaptable to new eras, and different sorts of stories. Whatever you think of Twilight or True Blood, vampires have clearly come down from their gothic castles, and it’s a tough squeeze to put them back. The Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode “Buffy Vs. Dracula,” which portrays Dracula as simultaneously alluring and out of step with the times gets it right: We’ll always have Dracula, but we don’t necessarily need him anymore.

What to adapt instead: No one’s ever adapted Fevre Dream, a vampires-on-the-Old-Mississippi novel by George R.R. Martin. Give that a try, somebody.

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http://www.avclub.com/articles/put-the-book-back-on-the-shelf-literary-works-that,38199/2/