With his 1897 novel, Bram Stoker created a timeless character in Dracula and the gothic horror genre has since been dominated by this character for over a century. The 1958 British adaptation Dracula (alternatively titled Horror of Dracula in the United States) directed by Terence Fisher is special in several ways that remain unparalleled to date.

A number of Dracula adaptations into movies were made, starting in the early 1920s, with Count Dracula as the lead or supporting character. But it was Fisher’s Dracula that brought the haunting horror of Stoker’s story to the big screen with the full gothic aura of the character and the setting of the tale. This notable landmark of a vampire film, arguably the best Dracula movie to date, owes the distinction to quite a few qualities.

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