Folks, I’m pleased to announce that I have a guest post over at Crackle.com. Every month, Crackle.com offers free movies and webisodes for you to enjoy on the web. As part of their Halloween celebration, they’re offering a ton of free horror movies for fans to watch.

When they asked me what vampire movie I wanted to write about, I initially chose FRIGHT NIGHT as my first pick. When they had mentioned that they needed someone to write about BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, I jumped on the chance because it allowed me to talk about something that’s been bugging me for years.

By the time the movie version Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) debuted in theaters, almost a hundred years had passed since Stoker’s novel was first published. Dracula was a household name; he inspired puppet-characters (Count von Count), breakfast cereal (Count Chocula) and, of course, the obligatory cheesy Halloween costumes. As a result, there was a lot of pressure back then for director Francis Ford Coppola. I remember when the movie came out, because there was a lot of criticism around the casting of Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker. Back then, the Matrix didn’t exist, so the audience only had Point Break and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure to base their opinions on. Winona Ryder seemed the perfect choice to play Mina Harker; we knew her from Beetle Juice and Edward Scissorhands. Even though Gary Oldman had some credits to his name, we all wondered — who was this guy chosen to play Dracula? The guy from JFK? — SOURCE: Love, Blood and Fangs: Bram Stoker’s Dracula at Crackle.com

If you’re interested, I invite you to check out my post on Crackle.com’s blog. Remember, you can then watch BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA for free, too. Hope you enjoy their site as much as I do!

Tags | dracula, horror-movies, vampires