MovieChat Forums > Dracula (1979) Discussion > I think he faked his death

I think he faked his death

posted 13 years ago by CountVladDracula
16 replies | jump to latest

1. He tells Lucy that he will come for her when they are no longer hunting him.

2. Van Helsing admits that he under-estimated Dracula's ability to move about by day.

3. They trust Dracula himself when he claims he can't be out in the sun. Really, you trust him to tell you his weaknesses?

4. The weird way the cape moved at the end.

5. The odd smile on Lucy's face at the end, and the way she still seemed disinterested really in Jonathan, the distance in her eyes.

I think he faked his death and planned to return for her. Perhaps, like in the Fred Saberhagen novel The Dracula Tape he planned to let her live out her life but return to her after her death since his blood was still within her, which meant she would become a vampire.

[–] KatharineFanatic 13 years ago

Yeah... I never bought his death at the end. It was intentionally made ambiguous, but we all know he returned for Lucy. ;)

This fanfiction follows that premise (it goes through the film, with some changes, but then takes off in a new direction after the ship):

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7483276/1/Dracula

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www.charitysplace.com

[–] NickMichalak 12 years ago

I just watched the film for the first time today, and I can see an ambiguity in the ending. It could just be his cape fluttering in the breeze, but it does have a more deliberate motion like that of a bat flapping its wings. I would certainly lean more towards Dracula surviving. That he didn't burst into flames also seemed a little off since, in his bat form, he did burst into flames when hit by sunlight. It's a nice ending all around. I liked the film quite a bit. I watched it off cable in pan-and-scan (not preference at all), but I will be buying the widescreen DVD this weekend.

-NJM

[–] CountVladDracula 12 years ago

I'm glad you liked it. I wish they would restore the color.

[–] bellatrix79 8 years ago

Wish they would the color too

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin888 12 years ago

There is always a need to say Dracula somehow actually lived.

But no one notices that they never took care of Lucy in the Lugosi film.

[–] CountVladDracula 12 years ago

I noticed it. In fact at one point I thought the daughter movie dealt with her.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin888 12 years ago

Haha, that's a pretty noticeable change in actress. Though in the book Lucy's hair-color does change.

[–] CountVladDracula 12 years ago

I meant before I actually saw Daughter of Dracula, years ago when I was only ten or so and only knew the title, I figured it might be about Lucy.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin888 12 years ago

I figured that.

[–] ContinentalOp 12 years ago

Dracula didn't fake his death, in my opinion, I think the cloak was simply blowing away and acting as a metaphor for the fact that darkness still exists in the world of the film, and the fact that Dracula has already caused death and suffering and thus has changed the lives of the protagonists. The cloak could be connected to his vampiric soul flying away to be reborn at a later date, but he definitely did die due to being impaled on a hook in direct sunlight. He clearly did, in my opinion.

If you hate Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it copy this and make it your signature!

[–] Skye_Reynolds 12 years ago

I think it's pretty clear that he died. The cape was meant to give us a visual to focus on during the credits and to signify that Lucy was still his. It really is a downer ending when you read between the lines.

As for Lucy in the original film, external censorship at the time would not allow the protagonists to kill a woman. The scene in which the vampiric Lucy is staked appears in the script, and is read on the Dracula '31 audio track, but does not appear in the finished film obviously. Curiously, it can still be seen (or heard rather) in the Spanish language version which had less intense regulations imposed upon it.

The scene is still alluded to in passing, but it's a blink and you'll miss it moment in the film. When Van Helsing and John Harker first spot Renfield, they're seen leaving the cemetary. And this comes after Van Helsing promises to release Lucy from Dracula's curse.

[–] CountVladDracula 11 years ago

I think it's pretty clear that he died. The cape was meant to give us a visual to focus on during the credits and to signify that Lucy was still his. It really is a downer ending when you read between the lines.

There are many visual things we could have gotten but I think that cape floating so strangely indicates something supernatural.

As for Lucy in the original film, external censorship at the time would not allow the protagonists to kill a woman. The scene in which the vampiric Lucy is staked appears in the script, and is read on the Dracula '31 audio track, but does not appear in the finished film obviously. Curiously, it can still be seen (or heard rather) in the Spanish language version which had less intense regulations imposed upon it.

You seem to forget in this version Lucy and Mina's names are swapped. When I speak of Lucy on this thread I'm speaking of the Mina character we see in most versions (and who lives in the book).

[–] CountVladDracula 11 years ago

The two things that make me think he lived is that the only reason we know the sun will hurt him is Dracula, himself, claims this to our heroes and he had just told Lucy that he could only take her once everyone stopped hunting them. What's the easiest way to achieve this than to fake his own death? It's also what he did in Fred Saberhagen's The Dracula Tape, which had been published a few years earlier.

[–] ChristianeK 9 years ago

I really hope so, here was one Dracula I wanted to die in pain!

“Look, you don’t really think that I could be in love with a rotten little tramp like you, do you?”

[–] Whitewraithe 11 years ago

You nailed the five reasons why we know he didn't die.

Dracula will always live on in film.

I had so hoped they would do a sequel with Langella.

HW missed the boat on that one.

"What we do in life echoes in eternity." GLADIATOR

[–] CountVladDracula 11 years ago

You nailed the five reasons why we know he didn't die.

Dracula will always live on in film.

I had so hoped they would do a sequel with Langella.

HW missed the boat on that one.

Agreed.