We meet again the name "Nosferatu" in 1979, resumed by director
Werner Herzog. This time the stars that animated the story of the terrible
vampire were Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani.
But these aren't all the movies made about count Dracula. We can enumerate
more: House of Dracula (1945), Horror of Dracula (1957), Dracula Vs. Frankenstein
(1969), Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (1971), Blood for Dracula (1974), Blood of
Dracula (1957), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), Dracula: The Satanic Rites (1973),
Evil of Dracula (1974), In Search of Dracula (1974), and we haven't reach
half of the list yet. The existence of all these movies can tell us a thing:
people, in general, showed themselves passionate concerning these horror movies,
but indifferent concerning the historical truth. On this foundation, Vlad
the Impaler's sad fame was built.
Vlad the Impaler's sad fame brought popularity to Romania, known, side by
side with Transylvania, as Vlad the Impaler's homeland. Sure, this popularity
transformed certain places, like Bran Castle ("Dracula's Castle")
and Sighisoara ("the home town of Vlad the Impaler"), into touristic
amusements. Of course, Romania took advantage of this popularity and, during
many decades, Bran Castle, Sighisoara and other famous places (the cities
Targoviste and Bucharest, the fortress Poenari, Snagov Monastery) enjoyed
the visits of Romanian and foreign tourists. Now, Romania plans a new fructification
of Vlad the Impaler's fame, through the construction of the pleasure ground
"Dracula Land", near Sighisoara; it is heard that it will rival
with the famous "Disneyland"-s.
But, for us, the Romanians, Vlad the Impaler represents more than a ruler
that had to resort to cruel punishments and more than a bloody character from
movies or books. He is a national hero, a defender of Europe, of Christianity
and of his homeland, a man that managed to organize his
people in order to defend them.
