Earlier this month, Audible had everyone in a bit of a tizzy by releasing a video snippet from its Hollywood star-studded adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The video featured Fallout star Ella Purnell and Jurassic World Rebirth actor Jonathan Bailey performing a scene from the book in which Dracula haunts damsel Mina. The clip can best be described as horny as hell. Bailey was massaging his chest, and Purnell bit a chunk of an apple to, you know, add to the ambiance the scene required to punctuate all the whispering and moaning that transpired.
Being a bit of an audiobook listener myself with six hours to spare on a long weekend, I signed up for an Audible trial to check out Bram Stoker’s Dracula for educational purposes. From a production standpoint, the Audible Original might be one of the most intimate ways I’ve ever experienced the vampiric tale.
First clip of Jonathan Bailey and Ella Purnell recording lines for Audible's audiobook adaptation of ‘DRACULA’. pic.twitter.com/8IrbtRGyYb
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 1, 2026
Despite its Bailey-narrated content warning, Audible’s take on Dracula, written by Robyn Ahern and directed by Mary Lambert, never disturbed me. But the Hollywood cast’s performances mostly succeeded in immersing me in its adaptation of the 1897 Gothic tale, though much of the audiobook hinges on you, if not having a vivid imagination, having a fleeting familiarity with either Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film or Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu to make heads or tails of some of the action and settings in the six-chapter audiobook. It doesn’t have narration. Instead, the audiobook has its cast fully embody their characters as if an ASMR-grade microphone were pressed right up against their lips.
Still, I was never lost while listening. Much of that was thanks to the superb sound design. Sound effects like doors opening and closing, footsteps stomping on wood, and doors creaking were a boon, elevating the actors’ performances. It was so good that I even went the extra mile, turning on head tracking on my Nothing headphones to make it feel like danger was lurking over my shoulder while I listened by candlelight in my bedroom.
While the unbridled horniness of the snippet above was enough of a price of admission for folks like me to burn a free Audible trial to hear what the audiobook had in store, another point of intrigue is its cast. Far and away, the clear standouts are its stars, Purnell and Bailey. This comes as no surprise, given that the two are fantastic voice actors who have starred in video games and animated series like Arcane and Final Fantasy XIV. You can practically see the smarmy smile on Bailey’s face every time Dracula lets slip a playfully threatening line while haunting his prey. Likewise, Purnell is a force of nature as the perpetually perturbed Mina shifts from chihuahua-shakey terror to steely resolve as the story progresses.
Joining them are The White Lotus‘ Aimee Lou Wood as Lucy Partridge, Alien: Romulus‘ David Jonsson as Dr. Seward, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Van Helsing. Most give performances that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the central stars. My favorite, though, was Wood’s scream-queen-worthy performance as Mina’s bestie. Unfortunately, not everyone delivers as riveting a performance in the voice acting department. Disappointingly, Gyllenhaal’s performance as Van Helsing is wholly incongruous with her castmates’ full-body performances. Most of her lines sound as if Gyllenhaal is half-heartedly reading from the script, like it’s a table read.
Although not everyone is cut out for voice acting, the audiobook was a nifty, immersive experience. As a fan of vampires and actors who put their whole foot in their performances, I was pleased that the Audible Original not only lived up to the marketing hype about how horned-up its cast was in getting into character, but also that its audio production, sound engineering, and effects adapted the horror classic for my listening pleasure. That is to say, the screams were hella believable, to the point that I jumped at times; the actors’ vocal fry as they were getting their blood drained was strangely alluring; and the performances from its mostly Hollywood cast didn’t feel wholly hampered by limiting their tools to their voices.
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