Despite being the originator of the most popular vampire story of the past 100 or so years, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is incredibly restrained with its vampire nastiness. Dracula, in the novel, is a spectre, a mystery, an intriguing incitement to delve deeper into dark horrors that unfold slowly.
Karyn Kusama, who is taking on a new film adaptation of the book, hopes to bring some of that mystique back to the film, according to an interview with the Stephen King podcast The Kingcast (h/t to Syfy Wire). Leaning on the book’s more broad structure, which incorporates multiple voices and perspectives, Kusama’s adaptation will, hopefully, stand apart from the rest.
“Something that gets overlooked in adaptations of Dracula in the past is the idea of multiple voices,” Kusama said. “In fact, the book is filled with different points of view, and the one point of view we don’t get access to, and most adaptations give access to, is Dracula himself. So I would just say, in some respect, this is going to be an adaptation called Dracula, but it’s perhaps not the same kind of romantic hero that we’ve seen in past interpretations of Dracula.”
We know Dracula. We see him all the time. We even get flashbacks to how he raised his kid. And known quantities aren’t nearly as interesting as unknown ones, especially in horror. Kusama’s Dracula might be one we see much less of, and who we end up not fully understanding. Which could, frankly, make for a much better film.
Kusama, who also directed Jennifer’s Body and The Invitation to horror perfection, is working on Dracula with The Invitation writers Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay. It doesn’t have a release date yet.