According to Guinness World Records, the character most frequently portrayed in horror films is Dracula, with nearly 200 representations (at the present count). With Tod Browning's direction, Universal Studios produced a film version of Lugosi's 1927 Broadway stage success about a blood-sucking, menacing vampire named Dracula (1931), released early in the year. [Lon Chaney, Sr. was one of many actors considered to play the title character, but he died in 1930.] The atmospheric, commercially-successful film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel played upon fears of sexuality, blood, and the nebulous period between life and death. The heavily-accented voice and acting of Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi in his most famous portrayal as the 500 year old vampire was elegant, suave, exotic and stylish - and frightening to early audiences - while the undead villain hypnotically charmed his victims with a predatory gaze.

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The most memorable blending of science fiction and horror was in Universal Studios' mad scientist-doctor/monster masterpiece from director James Whale, Frankenstein (1931), an adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel. Her original 1818 book was subtitled Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus, and she used this allusion to signify that her main character Dr. Victor Frankenstein demonstrated 'hubris' against god/nature in his experimental desire to create life from dead body parts, and afterwards abandoned his monstrous ugly creature. The Invisible Man - 1933Like the Titan god, who stole fire from the gods to benefit mankind, he did not realize the ramifications of his actions. (Although there were civilizing results of having fire, it also brought the ability to work with metals, which could be shaped into weapons, that could then be used in warfare.) Many other derivative works, including numerous sci-fi films, have featured mad scientists, and artificially-created monsters that run amok killing people.

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The first "Lord of the Jungle" was actor Elmo Lincoln - he started the trend in 1918 during the silent era with Tarzan of the Apes (1918). There were a couple of 1920s Tarzan silent serials: the 15-chapter serial The Adventures of Tarzan (1921) with Elmo Lincoln, the 15-chapter serial Tarzan the Mighty (1928), and the 15-chapter serial Tarzan the Tiger (1929). Others who played Tarzan before Weissmuller were Gene Pollar, P. Dempsey Tabler, Jim Pierce, and Frank Merrill.

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Safety Last (1923) earned Harold Lloyd, the bookish, horn-rimmed glasses, straw-hat-wearing comedian and Everyman hero, his nickname "the King of Daredevil Comedy." Lloyd's films of this period often included timeless gags, pathos, and clever visual elements. The film was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, and produced by Hal Roach. Other Lloyd films that featured the same character included Girl Shy (1924), The Freshman (1925) - his most successful film, For Heaven's Sake (1926), and The Kid Brother (1927) - often considered his best film.

This successful film is most remembered for its thrilling, hair-raising climax - a reckless, 'safety last,' humorous stunt on the side of a twelve-story skyscraper above busy city streets. The scary sequence was deliberately shot with most of the camera compositions including views of the perilous drop behind him.

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Other historical swashbuckler films included the retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novels. In Dumas' often-told tale of revenge in The Count of Monte Cristo (1912, 1934, 1974, and 2002), an unjustly imprisoned sailor Edmond Dantes escaped after fifteen years from an island prison and returned to 1820s Paris to find revenge. British-born actor Robert Donat appeared in the 1934 version - the only film he made in Hollywood. Director James Whale's The Man in the Iron Mask (1939 and 1998) was about twin brothers (one - the tyrannical Louis XIV, the other - exiled and imprisoned with an iron mask) in 18th century France separated at birth - one eventually became a swashbuckling member of the Three Musketeers. Alexander Dumas' classic, The Corsican Brothers (1942) repeated the plot twist of twins (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in both roles) separated at birth but later reunited to join together to defeat a tyrannical Corsican baron.

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The success of Flash Gordon inspired other studios to follow suit. Other costumed comic-strip, super-hero characters included:

* Buck Rogers - 1939Zorro (Zorro Rides Again (1937) with John Carroll as the disguised, legendary 19th century title character, the 12-chapter Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), Zorro's Black Whip (1944), Son of Zorro (1947), and Ghost of Zorro (1949) with Clayton Moore in his first masked-western-hero role)
* Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe also starred in the 12-part serial Buck Rogers Conquers the Universe (1939) adventure, shot between Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)) - it proved not as popular as the Flash Gordon series; also the serial Planet Outlaws (1939) with Buster Crabbe as Buck Rogers; later surfaced as the feature film Buck Rogers (1979) with Gil Gerard
* the Green Hornet (Universal's 13-episode serial The Green Hornet (1940) starred Gordon Jones as the crusading hero Britt Reid (the Green Hornet) as the modern 'Robin Hood')
* the Shadow (1940)

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Drama Films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature. A dramatic film shows us human beings at their best, their worst, and everything in-between. Each of the types of subject-matter themes have various kinds of dramatic plots. Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre because they include a broad spectrum of films. See also crime films, melodramas, epics (historical dramas), biopics (biographical), or romantic genres - just some of the other genres that have developed from the dramatic genre.

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A controversial, explicitly racist, but landmark American film masterpiece - these all describe ground-breaking producer/director D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). The domestic melodrama/epic originally premiered with the title The Clansman in February, 1915 in Los Angeles, California, but three months later was retitled with the present title at its world premiere in New York, to emphasize the birthing process of the US. The film was based on former North Carolina Baptist minister Rev. Thomas Dixon Jr.'s anti-black, 1905 bigoted melodramatic staged play, The Clansman, the second volume in a trilogy:

* The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden, 1865-1900
* The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan
* The Traitor


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Cast
Sam Rockwell as Bill
Shareeka Epps as Lisa
Emily Rios as Kathy
Rooney Mara as Wendy
Emma Roberts as Abbie
Meaghan Witri as Tamra
Melanie Hinkle as Mindy
Margo Martindale as Donna
Rob Corddry as Terry
Shana Dowdeswell as Molly
Caitlin Colford as Trish
Connor Paolo as Damon
Brian Berrebbi as Steve, Bill's Manager

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Tyler Posey’s break out summer continued with full gusto. MTV quickly renewed his fantasy drama Teen Wolf due to the show becoming the cable outlet’s highest-rated new series in two years in the 12-34 demographic in its first seven episodes.

Posey’s career ascent continued with Variety reporting on his landing a lead role in the upcoming indie film White Frog.


Download Tyler Posey Joins Indie Film WHITE FROG!