This past weekend I watched several different vampire films that I'd DVR'd during Halloween week. One of them was
Kiss of the Vampire, and while I know the film has come up on the forum many times, I don't recall any discussions as to whether or not it was the first or at least one of the first vampire films to refer to vampirism as a disease? I thought that was interesting because as far as I can recall, vampirism was almost exclusively a supernatural condition back in the days when that film was made, as well as prior to it.
I also watched 1970's
Count Dracula with Christopher Lee and Herbert Lom, which shouldn't be confused with any of Lee's Hammer films because to say it was dull would be a huge understatement. In fact, it may just be the dullest adaptation of the Stoker novel that has ever existed. And the only reason I stuck around through the whole thing was because I was hoping it would get better once Lucy became attacked, turned into a vampire, was dispatched, and Dracula turned his attentions to Mina - but no such luck. However, the reason I bring the film up is because I found it very interesting that the building used for Dracula's castle had a ton of the same design flourishes that Collinwood did in the Depp/DS film. I recall that Production Designer Rick Heinrichs used several different buildings as his inspiration for Collinwood (he even pinned photos of many buildings on a caulk board), so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the inspiration for Collinwood's design came from that building in
Count Dracula. Frankly, that location was probably the best thing about the film.