by Bram Stoker
This blood-curdling tale of thirsty vampires continues to hold audiences spellbound more than a century after its publication.
Summoned to assist with legal matters regarding a real estate transaction, young Englishman Jonathan Harker journeys to the dismal, dreary castle of Count Dracula in Transylvania. The fledgling solicitor is completely unprepared for what he will discover in the days to come—and the horrifying chain of events sparked by his unsettling stay with the mysterious Count.
The Dracula mythology has inspired a vast subculture, but the story has never been better told than by Bram Stoker. He succeeds entirely in his aim to terrify. His myth is powerful because it allows evil to remain mysterious, unconquerable by strength of mind or virtuous action.
Van Helsing's high-thinking and scientific skill cannot resist the dreadful potency of the undead. The high virtue of Lucy can simply be drained away, as her blood is drained away, until she too joins the vampire brood. Only the old magic—a crucifix, garlic, a wooden stake—can provide effective weapons against the Count's appalling power.
This blood-curdling tale of thirsty vampires continues to hold audiences spellbound more than a century after its publication.
Summoned to assist with legal matters regarding a real estate transaction, young Englishman Jonathan Harker journeys to the dismal, dreary castle of Count Dracula in Transylvania. The fledgling solicitor is completely unprepared for what he will discover in the days to come—and the horrifying chain of events sparked by his unsettling stay with the mysterious Count.
The Dracula mythology has inspired a vast subculture, but the story has never been better told than by Bram Stoker. He succeeds entirely in his aim to terrify. His myth is powerful because it allows evil to remain mysterious, unconquerable by strength of mind or virtuous action.
Van Helsing's high-thinking and scientific skill cannot resist the dreadful potency of the undead. The high virtue of Lucy can simply be drained away, as her blood is drained away, until she too joins the vampire brood. Only the old magic—a crucifix, garlic, a wooden stake—can provide effective weapons against the Count's appalling power.
Reviews-
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The world's best-known vampire story comes to life in this expert performance by Robert Whitfield. No music, no special audio tricks detract from the chilling, gruesome tale of the un-dead. Whitfield's minimalist narration suits perfectly. His subtle shading of voice gives complete personality and motivation to each of the eight protagonists, with exaggerated accent reserved for the Dutch Dr. van Helsing, and, to a lesser extent, Count Dracula himself. His women come across as sweet, yet intelligent. With the same understated clarity, he brings full voice to the voluptuous vampiresses' seduction of their victims and to the malevolent machinations of the Count. For a classic performance of a classic work, this production must not be missed. R.P.L. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from April 27, 2015
This full-cast production is a masterly depiction of the Victorian gothic ethos in Stoker’s classic tale. Told through a series of letters and diary entries, the novel begins when Count Dracula lures a young English lawyer named Jonathan Harker to his castle in Transylvania under the pretense of a real estate transaction, but Harker soon discovers the count is a vampire and the diabolical intent in the real estate deal. It falls to the resourceful Professor Van Helsing, along with a handful of intrepid heroes, including Harker and his fiancée, Mina, to stop the count’s evil plans. The readers each have a distinctive voice for their characters and do a perfect job of conveying the emotional content of the assorted letters and diaries. Jamie Parker’s portrayal of Harker is particularly stirring, especially as the character slowly pieces together the horrific truth about Dracula. Alison Pettitt succeeds at providing a gamut of emotions for the voice of Mina throughout the story. Each reader hits the mark with precision. For anyone who has never read (or for anyone looking to revisit) this classic tale of gothic horror, this is a fine way to do so. -
DRACULA is one of the most well-known stories in the world, yet Britisher Richard E. Grant manages to wring new life from the Bram Stoker classic. Whether he's voicing the naive Jonathan Harker or any of the frightened townsfolk, Grant is a master storyteller. He effortlessly takes on more than a dozen characters, including the deliciously evil Count Dracula himself, with ease and skill. It comes as no surprise that Grant has appeared in numerous films, including DRACULA. Even in this abridged form, the familiar story of the blood-sucking Transylvanian monster is a chilling testament to the ability of the author who wrote the story more than a century ago. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
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Followers of the popular vampire literary and film interpretations of recent years might be blasÄ about another performance of the exquisitely written novel that started it all. But listening to this full-cast performance turns out to be remarkably suspenseful and chilling. The superlative cast lends this powerful production the diversity that is required by the structure of the novel, which includes journal entries and letters. Each actor employs various accents, infusing into the characters vibrant emphasis, urgency, and dread. The famed vampire Count Dracula leaves a swath of exsanguinated bodies in his wake as he attempts to relocate from Transylvania to England in 1897, stalked by the brave Van Helsing. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
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The BBC's full-cast dramatization of Bram Stoker's classic horror novel has all the promise of a stirring presentation. Not so, however. While the actors certainly present distinct vocal characterizations with the requisite amount of fear and dark sexuality and while most of the technical elements are more than satisfactory, this adaptation is extraordinarily difficult to follow, even for one who knows the story well. The dramatization has a few moments of terror and more than a few moments of hysteria, but in the final analysis it sounds like a film sound track rather than a dramatic presentation designed to be heard. M.R.E. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
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Stoker's familiar classic is presented in truly memorable ways. The vampire himself, Count Dracula, is made chillingly bloodcurdling by narrator Greg Wise, but the other characters he reads are equally on target. Speaking of targets, the damsels whose necks the count would love to kiss are flawlessly rendered by Saskia Reeves. This is an audiobook tour de force, a seemingly full-cast recording of many voices and accents, set amid exquisitely handled elements of drama, fear, puzzlement, and resolve. Daytime listeners will hate to see it end; nighttime ones may hesitate to turn off the lights and will keep their crosses and wooden stakes handy. T. H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
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Robert Powell brings this Gothic tale to life. His voice is clear and his tone rapturous, moving from bubbling hysteria to growling resolve. His pace is as steady and definite as Stoker's writing style, a dramatic pause emphasizing each new, horrid fact. Through Powell's dramatization the women and men of the story gasp, swoon and plunge into the heart of danger. The abridgment retains the essential development of the story. Harpsichord, piano and other instruments at suspenseful breaks add to the dark and playful elements of the story. E.S.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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The Golden Age of Canadian radio drama arose later than that in America and was led by one Edward Allan, director of this 1949 CBC adaptation of Bram Stoker's creep show, starring Lorne Greene as the count. Too corny to be frightening, the production is nonetheless great fun, far richer sonically and less conventional than stateside radio of the same era. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
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This is the original text of the classic macabre tale of an attorney who visits a remote castle in the Carpathian Mountains to give legal advice to a count who is something more then he appears. John Lee gives a superb performance of the malevolent Count Dracula, the original vampire. His relaxed low tone, while unexpected for a horror reading, works perfectly. Precise timing and eerie vocal inflections ratchet up the fear factor in each scene. Lee's crisp articulation of Serbian and British accents and the menacing personalities of the female vampires are all distinct. Even Dracula's ghoulish Transylvania accent induces chills and maintains suspense. This haunting performance makes it easy to understand why the story of Dracula has not ceased to thrill after 100 years. A.L.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
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This dramatized version of DRACULA rushes the story's beginning to concentrate on the vampire's period in England, where those he's blighted, with the aid of Dr. Van Helsing, take up battle against him. After the initial haste, the adaptation grows more and more effective. Early on, the audience laughs at perceived hokeyness--the story is old and well known--but the laughter dies away as the chill and creepiness mount. The acting is uniformly solid, though David Selby's accent, as Van Helsing, is inconsistent. The sound effects--such as a wolf's howl--are excellent. The story is old but far from dead; it rises up to instill dread and grab you by the throat. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
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Stoker's classic gothic novel is restructured as an efficient, entertaining audio drama, complete with chilling sound effects and eerie music. Phyllis Logan offers up a strong and feisty but still appropriately vulnerable Mina, and Finlay Welsh perfectly captures Professor Van Helsing's dry and morbid sense of humor. Frederick Jaeger's Count Dracula, when not in full vampire mode, sounds rather like a stuffy businessman, which is a fresh and insightful alternative to the Bela Lugosi stereotype. While knowledge of the novel helps fill in the gaps between scenes, this careful reimagining works on its own and provides a wonderful opportunity for fans to revisit this much-loved story. A.H.A. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
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Narrators David Horovitch, Jamie Parker, Joseph Kloska, and Alison Pettitt and cast adopt the identities of the well-known characters of Bram Stoker's classic: Jonathan Harker, Mina, Lucy, the Count, and others. As the story is told in a series of diary entries and letters, Dracula himself comes off as both charming and caring--until his true form is revealed. Highlights of this production include a childlike portrait of Mina and bone-chilling portrayals of Harker and Van Helsing as the tension of the twisted plot rises and Dracula's sinister powers and needs are revealed. Fans of the genre will be reminded just how psychically unsettling this horror story is. R.O. SYNC 2015 © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
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There have been many audio versions of this classic novel, but it's hard to imagine a better one than Nick Sandys's. His pacing is gripping, his skill with accents and voices impressive, and he is respectful of the text, of what it's trying to do, and what it succeeds at so well after all these years. Bram Stoker's style is sentimental and hyperbolic by current standards, and the plotting creaks in predictable places, but, nonetheless, this is a masterpiece of horror fiction, and there's a reason it endures. From Jonathan Harker's arrival in Transylvania to the last pulse-pounding race to thwart the Count's escape and save poor Mina Harker from a fate worse than death, Sandys has you in thrall. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2018 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
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Curiosity and dread creep up on the listener as Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender leads a fine group of English and American actors in narrating this crisp and concise BBC Radio adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 vampire classic. The production adheres closely to Stoker's rich nineteenth-century prose as the story is told through diary entries, personal letters, and newspaper clippings. A young lawyer travels to Transylvania to meet a mysterious client and discovers an unbelievable and bloody secret. He races back to England only to find that Count Dracula has already arrived and is threatening the woman he loves. Can Professor Van Helsing, performed wonderfully by the late James Greene, come to the rescue? A great- sounding way to get reacquainted with the original gothic tale of the undead's thirst for blood. B.P. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
