Horror On TV: Dracula on NBC

With horror going from the silver screen and becoming increasingly popular for networks to have genre themed shows such as "Bates Motel", "Hannibal", American Horror Story" & "The Walking Dead" it's no wonder more and more channels want to get in on the action.

A few weeks ago we saw the announcement  of "Scream" coming to MTV.

This week we see the announcement of THREE new horror themed shows coming to network TV.

This post is about "Dracula" coming to NBC.

Synopsis:  The series, which bypassed the traditional pilot stage, takes place in the 1890s and finds Dracula (“The Tudors’” Jonathan Rhys Meyers) living a double life in London as an American businessman interested in bringing modern science to Victorian society. But his true plan — to exact revenge on those who burdened him centuries ago — is derailed when he falls in love with Mina (“Arrow”‘s Jessica DeGouw), who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife. Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) is a brilliant professor obsessed with revenge and power. He may be a greater threat to the public than the titular count. Katie McGrath and Nonso Anozie also star.                   

Bloody Disgusting is reporting: NBC’s upcoming “Dracula” has unveiled several looks at the show (via EW) all of whom feature Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the titular character. Looks alright I guess in the sense that it looks like a high budget TV show. We’ll know more soon, I hope!

“Dracula,” a co-production from British Sky Broadcasting, Carnival Films & Television, Flame Ventures and NBCUniversal, hails from Tony Krantz (“24,” “Sports Night”) and former HBO Films president Colin Callender and writer-creator Cole Haddon (who will co-exec produce).



NBC plans to air Dracula in the fall of 2013.

This is the one I am most excited about. I feel NBC has proved itself to be a good home for horror with "Hannibal"


Trailer for Dracula: Dracula Official Trailer - NBC

Today In Horror History

March 11, 1931
On this day in Horror History, Friedrich Wilhelm "F. W." Murnau passed away. As one of the most influential and groundbreaking film-makers of the silent film era, Murnau’s directorial masterpiece Nosferatu(1922) was the unlicensed adaption of the Bram Stoker classic “Dracula” and the predecessor to every vampire film ever made. Cut from another cloth than most directors throughout cinematic history, it was the talent and vision that Murnau embodied that would help shape the future of horror for the rest of time. His ability to convey such sinister and powerfully terrifying emotion in film without the spoken work is a ability that would forever make him one of the most brilliant directorial geniuses in recorded history.

"I think films of the future will use more and more of these 'camera angles', or, as I prefer to call them, these 'dramatic angles'. They help photograph thought." - F.W. Murnau

Today In Horror History

On this day in Horror History, Andy Warhol’s Flesh For Frankenstein (1974) would premier in West Germany. The film which would begin its tour of worldwide releases, was often billed with Blood For Dracula (1974), which had already debuted in Germany and was slated for a March 17th American Theatrical run. Both films were reminiscent of the Pop Artist’s multitude of talent, even though his legacy is more celebrated in other media. With his creative hand in the Producing pool and Director Paul Morrissey to aid in bringing the vision to life, what would occur is some of the most obscure and visually aesthetic adaptations to both horror classics.

“To know death, Otto, you have to fuck life in the gall bladder.”-Baron Frankenstein, Flesh For Frankenstein (1974)


Part 2:

Andy Warhol’s BATMAN DRACULA (1964)

One of the most obscure films of all time, it was the unauthorized film adaption of the popular DC Comics, Directed by Warhol. Only having been screened in the renowned pop artist’s private exhibits, the film would be considered to have become a “lost” film due to absence of archived copies. More recently several scenes have turned up in the documentary film Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2006), however the location of the original reels is unknown, and the film itself has become perhaps the most mysterious and shroud additions to the Batman Legacy, Dracula, and the celebrated works of Andy Warhol.

Truth however begets any fan of the pop culture ingredients thrown into this mix outside of the brilliance of Warhol… The film was purported to be ridiculously horrible. Soundtrack by The Velvet Underground, and random scenes fueled by visual brilliance couldn’t combat the lack of plot in what is considered by the few who know of the film’s existence, to be the first semblance of a campy styled Batman in History.