Brides of Dracula

For the 1960 Hammer film, see The Brides of Dracula

The Brides of Dracula are the three seductive female vampires, minions of the infamous King of Vampires, Count Dracula - who inhabit his castle in Transylvania with him, in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Sometimes two are described as dark haired and the other is blonde(Dracula Chapter 3) while mostof the time one is red-headed, one is blonde, and one is brunette. They are not married to Dracula in the social sense of the word. In their interactions with humans, they are typically sadistic. Dracula brings victims to the Brides for them to feed upon, mainly infants and children. In many later interpretations, they are seen in flowing nightgowns, acting as sexual predators to those that come after their master. Men like Abraham Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker are both attracted and revolted by their seductive movements. Like Dracula, they are shapeshifters and immortals, are negatively affected by religious objects, and avoid the light at all costs.

Although missing from the silent Nosferatu, the Brides made silent appearances in the 1931 Dracula and the Spanish Dracula made the same year. Likewise the three brides were present but silent in the Jack Palance television adaptation. They had lines in the BBC production of Count Dracula (1977).

In the 2004 film Van Helsing the brides names were Marishka, Aleera, and Verona and they were played by actresses Josie Maran, Elena Anaya and Silvia Colloca, respectively. In the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola the brides remained nameless. They were played by Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu and Florina Kendrick and (uniquely so far) spoke in Romanian. The concept was in a way also enacted in the horror comedy The Monster Squad, where Dracula has abducted three teenage girls and turns them into his vampire brides.

Very often, portrayals of all three Brides show one blonde and two brunettes (as per the novel) but this is not always the case. Several adaptations (such as Dracula: Dead and Loving It) show less than three.