Those recent on-set photos of Nicolas Cage’s flashy interpretation of Count Dracula for Renfield were glorious—and made us think back on previous portrayals of the world’s most celebrated vampire, which run the gamut from eerie and scary to campy and ridiculous. Here are 24 memorable big-screen takes on Bram Stoker’s iconic character, presented in mostly chronological order.
First up, just to get him out of the way because he’s so obvious: Bela Lugosi, star of Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula. The first entry in the Universal Classic Monsters series (Frankenstein followed later in 1931), Dracula popularized the character in pop culture and continues to be hugely influential to the vampire genre. He never drinks… wine!
