Dracula is so prolific that many of his adventures have been forgotten.  Time for a change, folks!

Let's be honest: there's only one Count Dracula.  The character comes from the famous novel of the same name by Bram Stoker & has inspired dozens of films and other projects.  The guy died in the book, but has lived on for over one-hundred years since!  As such, it's only natural that some of his adventures may not have had the same resonance as others have.  Case in point: 1979 brought three different Dracula films, one of whom is pretty notable (Dracula w/ Frank Langella), while the others are not.  As is typical Mondo Bizarro tradition, let's give these other films a little more of a spotlight, shall we?  We'll cover films from many countries- including Japan, Spain and Turkey- and many eras- from the 1930s to 1990s.  Let's bite right in...

12. The Dracula Saga: Let's begin with a Spanish film that tries to expand the lore of The Count.  A young woman and her dopey husband (aren't they all in these films?) go out to the family estate.  Guess which family it is- I dare you!  At the house, they eventually meet the family, but find lots of half-naked and dead bodies along the way.  The family is a unique one as the two sisters are slutty (flashing their breasts at least twice), the wife is slutty (also flashing at least once) and Dracula himself has the face of a wax dummy!  Oh yeah, they also have a deformed, Cyclops kid locked up in a room.  It all sets up for some bloody death, some sleazy characters and one mean baby.

11. Dracula Rising: Roger Corman + Dracula = crap.  This 1993 film was clearly piggy-backing off of the ideas of Francis Ford Coppola's iconic film.  Doubt me?  Check out the plot, which involves a romantic Dracula trying to get his bride back.  Unlike that film, this one involves long flashbacks, witch trials and, of course, a magic duel.  If you ever wanted to see the guy from Blue Lagoon summon bats to kill a guy who just shot a fireball at him, this is your film!

10. Die Hard Dracula: No, this is not a combination of arguably the 80s greatest action film hero and Dracula.  Instead, this is a comedy film starring Bruce Glover (aka the father of Crispin Glover) as Van Helsing.  It's weird, wacky- but not really funny.  That's pretty much it.

9. Lake of Dracula: Since it's nearly-impossible for me to do a list that doesn't include Japan somehow, here's this movie.  This very obscure film is the only mainstream one I know of to cast an Asian person as The Count.  No, I'm not counting Dracula from The Dragon Lives Again!  While interesting, it does make you wonder if they kept his name the same.  Granted, if the guy from Blue Lagoon can play a guy named Vlad, I guess anyone can.  It just sounds too much like keeping Kenshiro's name in the live-action Fist of the North Star, while casting an Australian in the lead.  Weird call, guys.

8. Count Dracula (1977): Britain finally gets one on the board!  This BBC film is a fairly-direct adaptation of the novel.  More important than that, it stars Louis Jourdan as The Count.  If you're not a child of the late 80s/early 90s like I am, you may not recognize the name.  For those not in the know, Jourdan played the villain in both Swamp Thing films.  You can't get much more evil than Dr. Arcane- except for Dracula himself!

7. Dracula (1968)/Dracula (1973): Why include one TV movie when you can include two?  This pair of films come from two different sources- Britain and America, respectively- but tell basically the same tale.  In the first one, you get Indiana Jones' Denholm Elliot playing The Count.  It's notable for being an early film to write out Renfield and replace him with Jonathan Harker's character.  The second film was made by the creator of Dark Shadows and starred Jack Palance.  It also took some liberties with the material, but was mostly accurate.  Fun fact: Elliot starred in a version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde in 1968 that starred- wait for it- Jack Palance.  Freaky, huh?

6. Dracula in Istanbul: Turkey makes the list and an interesting historical footnote.  Their film was made in 1953, which is just after the rash of them made by Universal (five years after Abbot & Costello Meet The Wolfman), but a few years before Hammer started making them (five years before 1958's Dracula).  Another thing to note is that their lead was balding at the time of the filming.  That's not inherently against the rules, but feels a bit silly.  There are things called wigs, you know.

5. Vampires in Venice: This back-story is a bit confusing, so stay with me.  In 1979, Werner Herzog remade Nosferatu with his buddy Klaus Kinski.  However, in the American dubbing, the character was called 'Dracula.'  So, a few years later, the same company tried to get a sequel made- but without Herzog on board.  Kinski agreed to do it, but didn't want to go through the make-up process and head shaving involved.  So, this sequel has a long, blond-haired version of Kinski running around Europe and killing people.  Just to make matters worse, he's referred to as 'Nosferatu' in the American dubbing!  Aargh, my head hurts!

4. The Living Corpse: As silly as this movie sounds, it's actually decent.  Known by many as Dracula in Pakistan, this 1967 film is a loose adaptation of the story by Stoker.  However, in this one, he gets mutated in a science experiment and becomes Dracula.  Other notable craziness includes a car chase with Dracula, some Brides dancing and a rare case of kids being killed in a film from this Era.  As of this date, I've only seen two horror films from Pakistan.  The other one- Zibahkana- also features the same lead actor, but as a gas station attendant watching- you guessed it- The Living Corpse.  Coincidence?

3. Dracula (Spanish): This has gotten more attention in the last several years, but still remains pretty obscure to most people.  If you don't know the story, here it is.  At night, Universal brought in a group of Spanish actors that shot a Spanish-language version of the film.  It's mostly the same, but is a bit less tame in certain areas due to different cultural standards.  Plus, their Dracula is actually pretty damn good too.  If you think that you've seen everything Dracula-related there is to see, you should check out this 'Mirror, Mirror'-style film.

2. Count Dracula (1970): How can the most famous 'Dracula' actor be in a film this obscure?  In 1970, Jesus Franco decided to throw himself into the 'guys that make Dracula films' pile.  Thankfully, this was years before he made The Killer Barbys vs. Dracula!  This was made during a gap in the Hammer Dracula cycle and was actually an attempt to match the book very well.  As such, this Dracula is old and has a mustache & grows younger-looking throughout the film to show the effects of blood-drinking.  It also features Klaus Kinski as Renfield, almost ten years before he had his turn (see #5).  A decent film, which is something I rarely say about Franco movies!

1. Dracula- Father and Son: You can't more obscure than this if you tried!  In 1976, Christopher Lee made a French-language vampire comedy.  Say it with me now: sure- why not?!?  The film tells the tale of a vampire (Lee) trying to get his son into 'the family business.'  According to Lee, the film was not meant to be a Dracula film, but they changed some lines in post and made it so.  That's the price of being typecast, buddy.

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Up next, I continue the Horror Month with a look at my favorite horror actor of all time: Vincent Price.  What are his best movies?  Stay tuned...