Dracula's ascension at the end

I saw some older posts on the Internet Movie data base message board insisting that Dracula is damned / went to Hell / ect despite the DVD commentary saying otherwise.

This just shows our modern inability to forgive. It's odd because all of his crimes in the film exist in the novel and yet in the novel the heroes felt they could save his soul, that in destroying his vampiric body he would ascend to Heaven.

The novel even goes out of it's way to say how relieved they were by the look of peace on his face when they killed him. So yes, Dracula's soul ascended. Redemption through love is a thing.

When someone does terrible evil in the name of anger and hate learning love and compassion is all that is needed for salvation according to Corinthians and traditional Gothic literature starting with Goethe's two part versions of Faust where this is what saved Faust too.

The simple fact is Victorians and perhaps God are more forgiving than the disturbingly blood thirsty modern audience...

Disclaimer: I am well aware that in the novel there was no love story between Mina and Dracula. When I speak of redemption through love I am specifically talking about the 1992 movie. However the novel did indicate that Dracula was saved (spiritually) and did ascend to Heaven. It’s what the heroes wanted.