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12 reviews for:
Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen
David J. Skal
4.0 AVERAGE
12 reviews for:
Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen
David J. Skal
4.0 AVERAGE
It was a strange journey for Dracula and I didn’t want to miss a second of it. Plus, I’ll take Bela Lugosi stories any way, anywhere I can. Amazing how a moderately successful book could build and build into the most recognizable character in fiction.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
5 stars
The first “grown up” book I ever read in my life was Dracula, around age 10/11. It was the first book to give me nightmares and the beginning of my lifelong fascination with Vampyric lore and Vampiric media. (I mean, I actually got a vampire tattoo literally a week ago)
This was exactly what I wanted it to be. Immensely interesting and filled with fun facts, this book tells the story of Dracula’s long lived Hollywood legacy. I was thoroughly impressed with Skal’s research, and the story structure made it easy to follow over a century of Dracula history.
Of course, as an avid Dracula fan, I did know a few pieces of info prior to reading this book, but so much of this story was new to me that it didn’t feel redundant.
I definitely will be picking up some more of Skal’s books in the future.
The first “grown up” book I ever read in my life was Dracula, around age 10/11. It was the first book to give me nightmares and the beginning of my lifelong fascination with Vampyric lore and Vampiric media. (I mean, I actually got a vampire tattoo literally a week ago)
This was exactly what I wanted it to be. Immensely interesting and filled with fun facts, this book tells the story of Dracula’s long lived Hollywood legacy. I was thoroughly impressed with Skal’s research, and the story structure made it easy to follow over a century of Dracula history.
Of course, as an avid Dracula fan, I did know a few pieces of info prior to reading this book, but so much of this story was new to me that it didn’t feel redundant.
I definitely will be picking up some more of Skal’s books in the future.
funny
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
Written with respect and intrigue to its source material, this non-fiction book is the pinnacle exploration of “Dracula” and its ever-reaching effect on our cultural climate, even to this day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Cursing, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury
Be aware that this book goes into depth about the financial disagreements and copyrights laws with Florence Stoker and the original text. Plus there are mentions of sexually-transmitted diseases, repression, and loveless marriages.
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Invaluable resource for anyone who is interested in the tangled road that this story took to get to the film we know now. This book is extremely thorough in its treatment of the details, full of extra stories that really make it a treat for any fan of Dracula and the Universal Monsters.