Dracula on Holiday

Traveling from Transylvania to Scotland by train, the Count’s two companions Lucy and Renfield start on a series of changes in order to get the Count over his many fears – sunlight, crosses, bibles, running water, garlic, food and drink. Dracula chose Scotland for his holiday because he wanted to visit his maker Bram Stoker’s Castle, which he regards as rightfully his own. Once there he is befriended by two local undertakers Goddaming and Stewart who live in a castle, they attempt to socialize and fit in. Godalming’s teenage daughter Flora is attracted to them and admits that she would like to be a vampire. The Count and Lucy are smitten by her and crave for a daughter of their own. When Stewart’s new wife also turns out to be a vampire, and the undertaker business is booming, the happy band of dead and near-dead can’t help but take advantage of Goddaming and Stewart’s hospitality. This arrangement is delightfully comic in the way it unfolds. When it is not clear that Dracula could ever be reformed from his bloodletting ways, Lucy makes plans to marry Dracula with the hope that his reformation will occur when he settles down into married life or so she thinks. A comic tale for Halloween and beyond into the nether realms of Dracula’s alternative abode. Rather than making Dracula a type of ‘baddie’, this film takes a jovial view of the comedy genre and his character. It is therefore in some ways a relief from the heavy overtones of the serious ‘Horror’ Film and something that will make people leave the cinema with a smile.