Dracula:True Story

Description

The world's most famous vampire has been "undead" for over a century. The famous novel Dracula, written by Irish author Bram Stoker, was a mixture of reality, superstition, fearful fantasies and history. Stoker's role model for the novel was an actual Romanian Prince born in the 15th century: Vlad Tepes or "Vlad the Impaler," so named because of his favorite method of executing his enemies - the horrific medieval torture known as "impaling." And so "Vlad the Impaler" and the Transylvania vampire Count Dracula, became forevermore, one and the same.

The image of the vampire has been seen in novels, films, plays, paintings, and even a new musical, Dance of Vampires, directed by Roman Polanski. This captivating new documentary travels to the heart of Transsylvania, in today's Romania, to uncover the historical truths behind the legend of Dracula. Today, vampire tourism in Romania is booming. A self-described vampire hunter, Paul Daian, believes that vampires lurk in the streets of today's Bucharest and can adopt various forms. A Viennese dermatologist, Christian Honigsmann, discusses his theory that porphyria, a widespread genetic illness in Transsylvania in those days, was behind many vampire superstitions, especially the idea of their fear of sunlight. And Princess Brianna Caradja, a descendant of Vlad Tepes' talks about her famous ancestor.

Customer Reviews:

Don't Bother.......2005-03-06

This DVD was a waste of money. The information was poorly presented and the DVD was not very well done. A couple of interviews with people from the area and lots of clips from Vampire movies but if you are looking for something new or interesting then you are out of luck. I thought that with Polanski involved it might be good but there is no redeeeming value to this DVD. Nothing new and very superficial and boring. I would put it on ebay for a dollar if it wasn''t that I would feel like I was cheating the buyer.

Vlad the Impaler - the true story of Dracula

Average customer rating:

Vlad the Bland

Vlad the Impaler - the true story of Dracula
Starring: Garth Collins
Director: George Angelescu
Manufacturer: C21ETV / Canadian Learning TV and Access TV
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Biography | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

( V ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000C6NOXC
Release Date: 2005-10-01

Product Description

SYNOPSIS: "Vlad the Impaler the true story of Dracula" is a representation of historical reality. The program explores the temporal course of Vlad's life, documenting his real world as objective reality. It shows the house Vlad was born in - standing high in its pride, the ruins of the Court Town of Tirgoviste where Vlad lived in three separate times, reigning over Valachia, the medieval Castle of Hunedoara the only castle that ever connected Vlad to Transylvania, and most importantly documents Vlad had signed as the Ruler of the Principality of Vallachia. This is Dracula's true story as a human being. PROGRAM LENGTH: 51 min. SPLIT CHAPTERS SECTION - for educational and/or research purposes.

Customer Reviews:

Vlad the Bland.......2006-04-09

I bought this DVD to show to my high school students, who are reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. After looking at various websites on Vlad Tepes, they were really anxious to learn more about the real Dracula. One of their biggest complaints was how much time in the video's beginning was devoted to Dracula's castle, which actually was never Vlad's castle at all. The rest is interesting, but is told in a very dry manner. I understand it's a documentary, but it needed a better presentation. There were some interesting facts, such as many of the atrocities attributed to Vlad the Impaler were actually committed by his father, Vlad the Evil. If you want to get some background, I'd recommend the video. It just won't be as titillating as some of the websites out there on Vlad.

DVD:

DVD

DVD