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/ 3 May 2004

Mystery of the vampires

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German director FW Murnau made the first vampire movie in 1922, liberally ripping off Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and creating a silent classic. What was it called? (Full title please.) (1 point)

  • Werner Herzog made his own version of Murnau’s film in 1979. Who was his bald, bat-like star? And which French actress played Mina Harker, the vampire’s final victim? (2 points)

  • In 2000, Shadow of the Vampire speculatively retold the story of the making of Murnau’s 1922 movie. Who starred as the director, and which actor who once played Jesus starred as the vampire/actor? (2)

  • The first movie to use Stoker’s original title, Dracula, was made in 1931 by Tod Browning. Who was its star? Also, name the 1980s band who wrote a song about his death. And who played the horror actor in Tim Burton’s film about Z-grade filmmaking, Ed Wood? (3)

  • Francis Ford Coppola’s florid version of the vampire story was officially titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Which British actor starred as the chief blood-sucker? Which wooden American played Jonathan Harker, who visits Dracula’s castle in Transylvania? Which British actor, who has also played a bloodthirsty cannibal, was the vampire-hunter Van Helsing? (3)

  • Britain’s Hammer studio reinvented Dracula as an urbane gentleman in well-cut suits and a long black cloak. Name the urbane gentleman who played him in the first Hammer Dracula in 1958. (Clue: He later played an evil wizard in the Lord of the Rings movies.) (1)

  • Hammer’s Dracula and Herzog’s Dracula (see question 2) both appeared in a 1970 Spanish-Italian-German co-production, though there the latter played Renfield, the count’s minion. Name the movie. (1)

  • There have been several spoofs of the Dracula tale. Name the spoof directed by Roman Polanski; the spoof directed by and starring Mel Brooks; and then name the spoof produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey. (3)

  • Which Dracula comedy/romance starred over-tanned smoothie George Hamilton? (1)

  • Roddy McDowell played a nervy TV presenter and vampire-hunter in which successful pair of movies? (Clue: The hero was a teenager.) (1)

  • Which 1972 movie introduced us to a black Dracula? (1)

  • A black half-vampire or “daywalker” who was also a vampire-hunter appeared in Blade and again in Blade II. Who plays Blade? Which grizzled country singer-songwriter plays his human sidekick? (2)

  • Anne Rice’s bestseller Interview with the Vampire was filmed in 1994 by Neil Jordan. Who played Rice’s main vampire, Lestat? (1)

  • Which more recent movie made from a novel in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series focuses on a female vampire and features Charlize Theron’s current boyfriend? (1)

  • Which 1965 B-movie opposed the blood-drinking count and a famous outlaw of the west? (1)

  • The only other known vampire western, Sundown (1989), has a community of the blood-suckers retiring to the desert to try and free themselves of the thirst: which actor, who recently took a major role in a Quentin Tarantino picture, plays their leader? (1)

    Answers in next month’s Movie Monthly, in the Mail & Guardian Friday on May 28