Like Bram Stoker and his novel Dracula, this short film was created whilst on holiday with my family in Whitby. Shot entirely on a little handheld camera (and with my one year old daughter on my back) I have tried to do justice to the fantastic location of Whitby, to Bram Stoker and of course to Count Dracula himself.

Bram Stoker drew much inspiration for “Dracula” from the town of Whitby. Whilst on holiday there, he learned much of its legend and folklore and subsequently incorporated it into his new novel. An example of this can be seen with the Russian schooner, the Dmitry which ran aground there. In the novel he changed the name of the vessel to the Demeter from which sprang Count Dracula in the guise of a ferocious dog.

For some reason filmmakers have chosen to all but ignore the location of Whitby in the story, normally substituting other locations or worse still have Dracula arrive straight away in London (as in the Francis Ford Coppola version). In Terence Fischer’s classic 1958 Hammer film, we simply have Whitby represented by two men pushing a barrel down a street. (No doubt for budgetary reasons).  Only the 1977 BBC version of the story with Louis Jordan in the title role do we see Whitby as an actual backdrop to the action. Check out the following film clip for an example:

Whitby certainly recognizes its Dracula connection with its twice annual Goth Festival and Dracula Museum. Hopefully my film goes some way in understanding the importance of Whitby both in the narrative and conception of the legend of Dracula itself.

The music is by John Williams and is taken from the 1979 version of the story with Frank Langella in the title role.