Quotes from David J. Skal

Most monsters take and trample. Dracula alone seduces, courting before he kills.

Bram Stoker, working in a largely intuitive manner, and no doubt propelled by more than a few personal demons, managed to tap a well of archetypal motifs so deep and persistent that they can assume the shape of almost any critical container.

Her former suitor having been none other then Oscar Wilde, Florence had effectively captured the imaginations of the creators of Svengali, Dracula, and Dorian Gray. ... Rarely, if ever, has a woman been the focus of quite so much literary demonism.

Horror movies -- of the genuinely fantastic, supernatural variety -- had not been invented yet, at least not in America, where convention dictated that supernatural occurrences always be "explained away," usually as the disguise or machinations of a criminal.

Browning cut, trimmed, ignored and generally sabotaged the screenplay's visual potentials, insisting on static camera setups, eliminating reaction shots and special effects, and generally taking the lazy way out at every opportunity.