At Dawn They Sleep Trivia Quiz

Answer: Count Orlok

Count Orlok was portrayed by Max Schreck in this prototypical vampire film from the early 1920s. An important movie in the silent film era, much of this movie made use of elements of German Expressionism (e.g. shadowplay) and revised the vampire lore outlined in Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel, "Dracula". Notably, the word 'vampire' was never used in the film because the Stokers would not relinquish the rights to the original story. The movie followed much of the novel's original plot including a man's arrival at the vampire's castle and the vampire's visit to London.

This would also happen to be Max Schreck's most famous role which is interesting because the name 'Schreck' translates to 'terror' in German.

Answer: Bela Lugosi

The 1931 version of "Dracula", directed by Tod Browning, would be the first version of the film to feature a plot similar to Stoker's original novel. The movie, however, was based around the stageplay of the novel as opposed to the novel itself. Lugosi starred as Dracula, the suave, exotic vampire from Transylvania, who headed to London to feed. Coincidentally, Chaney was originally supposed to fill the role before his death in the late 1920s.

Lugosi's role in this film and others in the genre would typecast him for many years. "Dracula" became a major hit for Universal sparking a series of horrifying pre-WWII films for American audiences including "Frankenstein" (1931), "The Mummy" (1932), and "Dracula's Daughter" (1936).

Funnily enough, a Spanish version of the film, "Drácula", was released in the same year and was filmed on the same set with a Central American cast. Somehow, it was forty minutes longer despite very similar scripts.

Answer: Horror of Dracula

In order to separate this film from the 1931 version by Universal (which, at this point in time, was followed by a number of sequels and had fallen out of its horror roots in favour of comedy), Hammer Horror retitled the film "Horror of Dracula" in the U.S. upon its release in 1958. Starring Christopher Lee as Dracula as well as Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing, the movie was similar to the original Universal film in only a few respects and it separated itself a great deal from the novel even going so far as to vampirize some of the main characters. Once again, Dracula terrorized visitors to his castle and the citizens of London.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would reappear intermittently in future installments of the Hammer Horror "Dracula" franchise which ended in 1974 with the kung-fu/vampire hybrid "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires". Thankfully.

Answer: Black Sunday

"Black Sunday" was popular and original upon its release in 1960 and soon became a cult classic vampire film. Made in black and white, the movie featured many memorable scenes and was actually censored in numerous countries. It has also been released under the names "Mark of Satan" and "Revenge of the Vampire".

In the film, a vampire's curse was unleashed as per a prophecy recalled by a local, castle-dwelling family. The vampire, Asa Vadja, sought vengeance on the townspeople and planned her return from the grave; she also bore an uncanny resemblance to the main character, Katia, who seemed to be a doppelganger of sorts.

This film was director Mario Bava's first screenplay though he had directed and done cinematography for Italian horror films for 20 years before "Black Sunday" (and he would do so 20 years after). Lead actress Barbara Steele got her start with the film; she'd later star in a series of European horrors from the 1960s.

Answer: George A. Romero

George A. Romero (who made "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968) ended up creating this independent film from scratch in 1978 on a fairly meager budget. Starring mostly-unknown actors, the film followed a modern-day vampire named Martin as he struggled to keep his addiction hidden and live with new, distant members of his family. Oh... and his grand-uncle, Tada Cuda, was a vampire hunter.

The movie was somewhat of a step-forward for the genre. Since the dawning of vampire films in the early days of silent film, the vampire was the mysterious creature from somewhere far away. This was one of the first instances in which the vampire was so utterly 'human'. To be fair, Martin did remain awake during the day - it seemed that many of those supposed 'myths' about vampires were false (e.g. garlic didn't work against them).

Answer: California

"The Lost Boys" clearly illustrated the direction of horror films in the 1980s. With a burgeoning teen-horror audience, Joel Schumacher's movie about acceptance, maturity, and vampires was a box office success and it resulted in a couple of DVD sequels about thirty years later (subtitled "The Tribe" and "The Thirst" respectively). The original featured two boys and their mother moving in with their grandfather in California; the eldest boy decided to hang around with the wrong crowd... of vampires.

The movie also featured Kiefer Sutherland in an early role as one of the main vampires as well as Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Dianne Wiest.

Answer: They set ablaze

Although this vampire film (released in the same year as "The Lost Boys") was quite the original offering, it failed to meet box office expectations and bombed. Nevertheless, Bigelow's offering introduced a blood-thirsty vampire family traveling through the American mid-west feeding and avoiding the sun. Due to this film's western-genre influence, some of the more interesting scenes involved gunfights in which bullets weren't so much of a danger as the bulletholes leaking sunlight into their hiding spots. If exposed to sun, the vampires would set on fire.

Director Kathryn Bigelow later won Best Director and Best Picture for "The Hurt Locker" while actor Adrian Pasdar starred on TV's "Heroes".

Answer: Anne Rice

A true classic series for the vampire lover, Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles" reshaped vampire lore for a contemporary audience beginning with the 1970s book "Interview With a Vampire". The movie was filled with a star-heavy cast including Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst, Brad Pitt, and Christian Slater. Although the film was framed by an interview, it also tracked the history of a group of aristocratic vampires in the United States.

The movie was considered a major box office success. Despite this, many of Anne Rice's works were not adapted soon after. The next one, "Queen of the Damned", was released in 2002 and starred Aaliyah in her final role; it was the third book in the chronicles leaving somewhat of a gap originally filled by "The Vampire Lestat". Lestat was originally portrayed by Tom Cruise.

Answer: From Dusk Till Dawn

Featuring an ensemble cast typical of a Robert Rodriguez flick, "From Dusk Till Dawn" was straight-up and shoot-'em-up in its approach to the vampire genre. When the Gecko Brothers and their hostages arrived at the Mexican nightclub (known as Titty Twister) in the middle of nowhere, they dove headfirst into a battle between humans and vampires unlike many others. The movie also featured Salma Hayek, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo (as is normal for a Rodriguez movie, like I said).

"From Dusk Till Dawn" was followed by two DVD sequels: "Texas Blood Money" and "The Hangman's Daughter". None of the original cast returned except Trejo.

Answer: Resident Evil

"Thirst" was the first to be released (in 2009) and it was a Cannes-released vampire film from South Korea. In this movie, a priest was infected with vampire blood and began his transition into a bloodthirsty creature.

"Daybreakers" also appeared in 2009. In this movie, a dystopian future involved a world of vampires and a monopoly on human blood. Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill starred in this film.

"Let Me In" was the 2010 remake of the 2008 Swedish vampire film "Låt den rätte komma in" ("Let the Right One Come In"). Both movies concerned themselves with the relationship between a boy and a vampiric girl.

"Resident Evil" is the odd one out; no vampires to be found. This zombie movie (and the others in its long-running series) was released in 2002 and was based on a series of video games by Capcom.