Which Dracula should you experience?

A solicitor travels to Transylvania to sell a house in London to a nobleman. The nobleman buys it, ships himself to England in boxes of earth, and a small group of people who have been keeping diaries work out what he is. That is the novel, told entirely in letters, journals, recordings and newspaper cuttings. It has also been a silent film made without permission, a Hammer film in colour, an animated series about grief, a video game about the Count’s son, a podcast on the novel’s own dates, and a board game in which one of your friends is Dracula.

None of them is the definitive one. The screen version closest to the novel is a 1977 BBC production that is out of print in the US; the most famous Count shared his sets with a Spanish-language version shot at the same time; two of the books published under Stoker’s name tell a different story altogether. Which one is right for you depends on what you want tonight.

Take the quiz

Or browse every version

If quizzes aren’t your thing, browse instead: 32 versions across reading, watching, listening and playing.

• The Norton Critical Edition, second edition

  The 1897 text, with the reviews, the adaptations and the arguments bound in.

• The Oxford World’s Classics edition (2011)

  The whole novel, notes at the back, and “Dracula’s Guest” at the end.

• The Penguin Classics edition (2003)

  The edition you can find in almost any bookshop tonight.

• The New Annotated Dracula (2008)

  A big illustrated hardcover with notes running alongside the novel.

• Dracula Daily (2021– )

  The novel by email, each entry on the day it happens.

• Powers of Darkness: the Icelandic Dracula (2017)

  A 1901 Icelandic “translation” of Dracula that turned out to be a different novel.

• Powers of Darkness: the Swedish Dracula (2022)

  The Swedish newspaper serial behind the Icelandic version, in English.

• The Audible full-cast recording

  Each diary read by a different actor, with Tim Curry as Van Helsing.

• Manga Classics: Dracula (2021)

  The novel as a faithful manga.

• ’Salem’s Lot (1975)

  An ancient vampire moves to a small town in Maine, and the town does not believe it.

• Hellsing (1997–2008)

  The vampire Van Helsing defeated now works for the Hellsing family.

• Nosferatu (1922)

  The unauthorized one, silent, and still frightening.

• Dracula (1931)

  Bela Lugosi, the cape and the accent — and a Spanish version shot on the same sets.

• Dracula (1958), or Horror of Dracula

  Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Hammer colour, and under ninety minutes.

• Count Dracula (BBC, 1977)

  The screen version usually named as closest to the book.

• Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

  Werner Herzog remakes Murnau, and the vampire is lonely.

• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

  Gary Oldman, Eiko Ishioka’s Oscar-winning costumes, and a love story Stoker never wrote.

• Van Helsing (2004)

  Hugh Jackman hunts Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster in one film.

• Hotel Transylvania (2012)

  Dracula runs a hotel for monsters and cannot cope with his teenage daughter.

• Dracula Untold (2014)

  How Vlad became Dracula, as an origin story.

• Castlevania (2017–2021)

  Dracula declares war on Wallachia after a bishop has his wife burned as a witch.

• Dracula (BBC/Netflix, 2020)

  Claes Bang’s Count, sharp and funny, in a version that does not stay in the nineteenth century.

• Renfield (2023)

  Nicolas Cage’s Dracula, seen by his exhausted assistant.

• The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

  One chapter of the novel — the ship — as a whole film.

• Nosferatu (2024)

  Robert Eggers remakes Murnau, a century on.

• Dracula: A Love Tale (2025)

  Luc Besson’s Dracula: a prince who renounces God after his wife is murdered.

• Re: Dracula (2023)

  The novel as a free podcast drama, released on the novel’s own dates.

• Big Finish’s Dracula (2016)

  Mark Gatiss as the Count, in a four-hour audio drama.

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)

  You play Dracula’s son, exploring his father’s castle.

• Castlevania Anniversary Collection (2019)

  The original Castlevania games in one collection.

• V Rising (2024)

  You are a newly awakened vampire, and Dracula is the last thing in your way.

• Fury of Dracula, fifth edition (2026)

  One player is Dracula, moving in secret; everyone else is a hunter.

Start with the edition question

Which edition of Dracula should you read? compares the Norton, Oxford and Penguin editions, Dracula Daily, the Audible full-cast recording and the two Powers of Darkness.
Every version is the full list.