Trama

In 1913, the charming, seductive and sinister vampire Count Dracula travels to England in search of an immortal bride.

When a ship is wrecked off Whitby, the only survivor, Count Dracula, is discovered lying on the beach by the sickly young Mina Van Helsing, who is visiting her dear friend Lucy Seward. Lucy, her fiancé Jonathan Harker (a solicitor), and her father Dr. Jack Seward (who manages the local asylum) attempt to make the Count feel welcome to England. The Count quickly takes the life of Mina, and proceeds to romance Lucy, with the intention of making her his greatest bride. Soon after the death of Mina, the Sewards call her father Dr. Abraham Van Helsing to come to their home. As Lucy falls deeper under the spell of the Count, Dr. Van Helsing almost immediately comes to understand that his daughter fell prey to a vampire and discovers the culprit to be none other than the Count himself. Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and Harker work together to foil the Count's plans to take Lucy away to his native Transylvania.—Hillary Glendinning (jujbee_luna@yahoo.com)

In Whitby, England, the sickly Mina Van Helsing is spending some days with her friend Lucy Seward and her father Dr. Jack Seward in their house that is also an asylum at the seaside. When a ship wrecks on the coast, all the crew is dead and Mina helps the only survivor Count Dracula, who has just bought the Fairfax Abbey through Lucy's fiancé Jonathan Harker. Soon Dracula drinks Mina's blood taking her life. Dr. Seward summons Mina's father Professor Abraham Van Helsing for the funeral but he arrives late. On the next night, the son of a mental patient is attacked by Mina. Professor Van Helsing discovers that his daughter is undead and the Count Dracula is a vampire. Now Van Helsing, Dr. Seward and Jonathan have to protect Lucy from the vampire.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The sailing ship carrying Count Dracula's possessions to Yorkshire perishes in a storm and a bloody frenzy of vampirism. The Count is the only survivor, washed up on the beach and found by instantly besotted Mina Van Helsing, kin and roommate of the Count's new English lawyer Jonathan Harker's fiancee Lucy Seward, daughter of the local doctor Jack Seward, who manages a local asylum. The Count takes up residence in grand, semi-ruined Carfax Abbey, terrorizing his servant, and begins transforming in a bat and drinking blood, dooming his undead victims. The Count also acts as host and guest, hypnotizes Lucy, proves a hard adversary for Mina's Dutch father, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, who arrives for her funeral but also reads up on occult vampirism, then enlists Jonathan and Jack to wield crosses and garlic, even in the old mine tunnels accessed from the cemetery and ultimately back to sea.—KGF Vissers

In Whitby, England in 1913, Count Dracula (Frank Langella) arrives from Transylvania through the sailing ship Demeter one stormy night. Sickly Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis), who is visiting her dear friend Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan), discovers Dracula's body after his ship has run aground. The Count visits Mina and her friends at the household of Lucy's father, Dr. Jack Seward (Donald Pleasance), whose clifftop mansion also serves as the local asylum. At dinner, he proves to be a charming guest and leaves a strong impression on the hosts, especially Lucy. Less charmed by this handsome Romanian count is Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve), Lucy's fiance.

Later that night, while Lucy and Jonathan are having a secret rendezvous, Dracula reveals his true nature as he descends upon Mina to drink her blood. The following morning, Lucy suddenly finds Mina awake in bed, struggling for breath. Powerless, she watches her dear friend die, only to finds severe wounds on her throat. Lucy blames herself for Mina's untimely death, as she had leave her alone while she remained bedridden.

At a loss for the cause of death, Dr. Seward calls for Mina's father, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Lord Laurence Olivier), who suspects what may have killed his daughter: a vampire. Moreover, he begins to worry about what fate his seemingly dead daughter may now have since her encounter with the creature. Seward and Van Helsing investigate their suspicions and discover a roughly clawed opening within Mina's coffin which lead to the local mines. It is there that they encounter the ghastly form of an undead Mina and it is up to the distraught Van Helsing to destroy what remains of her daughter.

Meanwhile, Lucy has been summoned to Carfax Abbey, Count Dracula's new home, and she soon reveals herself to be in love with this foreign prince and openly offer herself as his bride. After a surreal wedding night sequence, like Mina before her, Lucy is now deadly infected by Dracula's blood. However, the two doctors manage to give Lucy a blood transfusion to help prevent her vampirism, but nothing can prevent the inevitable now.

Now assisted by Jonathan, the elderly doctors realize that the only way to defeat Dracula (and save Lucy) is by destroying him. They manage to locate his coffin within the grounds of Carfax Abbey, but the vampire is waiting for them. Despite this being daylight, Count Dracula is still a very powerful adversary. Dracula escapes their attempts to kill him and bursts into the asylum to free the captive Lucy. While there, he scolds his slave, Milo Renfield (Tony Haygarth), for warning the others about him. Renfield apologizes and pleads for his life, but Dracula kills him by breaking his neck. Dracula now makes preparations for him and Lucy to return to Transylvania.

Harker and Van Helsing manage to get onboard a ship carrying Dracula and Lucy cargo bound for Romania. Below decks, Harker and Van Helsing find Dracula and Lucy sleeping together in the coffin. Van Helsing attempts to stake Dracula, but Lucy protests, waking Dracula. In the struggle, Van Helsing is fatally wounded by Dracula as he is impaled with the stake intended for the vampire. Dracula now turns his attention to Harker. Van Helsing uses his remaining strength to throw a hook attached to a rope, tied to the ship's rigging, into Dracula's back. Harker seizes his chance and hoists up the count through the cargo hold to the top of the ship's rigging, where he dies a painful death when the solar rays burn his body.

Van Helsing dies from his deadly wounds. Lucy is now apparently herself again, and Harker comforts her. Lucy smiles as she notices Dracula's cape blow away into the horizon, hinting Dracula may have survived.