An Interesting Bite of Stoker

Have you ever wondered what was behind the motivation of the Victorian-gothic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker? Just who is Dracula based on and did Stoker have Thanatos syndrome, a romantic obsession with death itself? The narrative style of “Diary of a Vampire: The Legacy of Bram Stoker” attempts to answer these and more questions as it investigates Stoker the author, the stories and historical figures behind his most famous work.

The DVD opens with a cheesy scene of a man dressed in late 19th century clothing carrying a sword. This live action sequence shifts to a computer-generated female vampire. And if you still don’t know what’s going on, then there is the morose, heavy-handed music to have you understand that this is a grave undertaking. After all, this is serious business about a world-renowned writer and a genre of fiction that is currently being ripped off and watered down through other mediums of entertainment. The first few minutes and stilted narration aside, this is an informative and interesting way of viewing Stoker’s work.

We are told a brief history of his family and the possible ideas behind his fascination with the undead. As a child, he suffered from a debilitating illness that for a stretch of time left him bed ridden and gave him the ability to daydream about the stories his mother would tell him of fairies. These weren’t the nice kind, instead they were malevolent beings who would steal your soul. Later on, we are told of one of his papers he wrote. The title “Sensationalism in Fiction and Society“ gives another glimpse into why Stoker would write about a vampire who had the ability to transform into beasts, mesmerize his victims and form psychic bonds with them. It also revealed that Stoker would know how to sell it to an audience who was mired in the stagnant Victorian age.

In his adulthood, Stoker manages a famous actor and the Lyceum theater. He marries and is associated with several people (including one of his brothers) who belonged to secret orders in Britain. One was the Secret Order of the Dawn, another is the freemasons. For secret orders much is known about their practices and this DVD makes a clear and logical connection between these secret societies and what occurs in Dracula.

Essentially Stoker was able to utilize folklore, literature, linguistics, Eastern European history, religion, politics and the occult into what is accepted into the literary canon today. “Diary of a Vampire’s” bare bones production may not exactly excite you, however, if you are intrigued by the possibility of seeing death as a way of “leaving the material world” or viewing it as a traumatic change and not a physical demise, then you should give it a chance.