Today on Discovery Enterprise
we would like to wish our dear readers all over the world a Happy Halloween and
frightful and delightful night of terror.
For our ghoulish holiday offering we come face to face with the real Count
Dracula in two wonderful documentaries features and the classic horror motion
pictures Nosferatu (1922) and Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi in the title
role.
Vlad the Impaler
Lost Worlds - The Real Dracula
Vlad the Impaler, the sadistic real-life ruler behind Bram Stoker's
fictional Dracula, left behind mighty fortresses that survive today. Computer
graphics reveal how they originally looked.
In a country torn by bloody civil war, a young man seizes power. In his
native tongue, he is called Dracula. This is not the vampire, Count Dracula,
but a real historical figure: a Romanian prince. Dracula was a warlord who
became known all across Europe for both his
breathtaking courage and his terrifying cruelty. But he also left an enduring
legacy. Not just in blood, but also in brick, mortar, and stone. He constructed
palaces. He founded the city that was to become his country's capital. He also
built one of Eastern Europe's most
breathtaking mountaintop castles. Now, with state-of-the-art computer
animation, we'll bring Dracula's lost world back to life: his birthplace in the
fortified town of Sighisoara; the gothic
splendor of Transylvania's Bran Castle; the sumptuous palace of Targoviste;
and the real castle Dracula, Poenari.
Lost Worlds is a documentary television series on The History Channel
produced by Atlantic Productions that explores a variety of "lost"
locations from ancient to modern times. These locales are revealed through the
use of archaeological evidence, interviews with relevant experts, and CGI reproductions.
These visual re-creations take the form of rendered 3D environments and photo
manipulated overlays, allowing the "lost world" to be seen over its
present-day state.
Lost Worlds is currently available on DVD from Amazon.com.
Dracula: The True Story
The Irish novelist, Bram Stoker, gave the world Dracula in 1897. This
documentary explores the historical figure behind the fictional figure of
horror and examines medical explanations for the myths of vampires. This documentary is also available on DVD from Amazon.com.
Nosferatu (1922)
An iconic scene of the shadow of Nosferatu
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror or simply Nosferatu) is a classic 1922
German Expressionist horror film, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max
Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. The film, shot in 1921 and released in
1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with names and
other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the
novel (for instance, "vampire" became "Nosferatu" and
"Count Dracula" became "Count Orlok").
Dracula (1931)
Dracula Movie Poster
Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and
starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal
and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L.
Balderston, which in turn is based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Dracula (1931) - Kostika Çollaku from glass000 on Vimeo.