A new movie based on the legend of Dracula, Romania’s most famous fictional character, will be released at the beginning of October. The movie, which is produced by Universal Picture, aims to be one of this fall’s blockbusters, with new generation stars such as Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper having the leading roles.

Dracula Untold tells a different story of the legendary Dracula, as the name of the movie itself suggests. It focuses more on the story of Wallach prince Vlad Tepes, played by Luke Evans (known for his roles in blockbusters such as The Three Musketeers, Immortals, Fast and Furious 6 and The Hobbit) and his transformation into the dark Dracula.

The legend of Dracula got worldwide fame due to Bram Stoker’s novel, which was written at the end of the 19th century. The novel was first made into a movie in 1931 and remakes were released in 1958 and 1992. Also, countless adaptations, reinterpretations and parodies on the legend were screened during the years.

The legend of Dracula, the vampire prince of Transylvania, started from the historical character of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Draculea – Vlad of the Devil), which was three times prince of Wallachia in the 15th century (August to October 1448, August 1456 to December 1462 and December 1476, when he was murdered). Although his rulings were short, his story survived the ages and turned into a legend.

Vlad Tepes remained famous for his alleged cruelty, as he supposedly impaled many people, both Ottomans and Christians, which brought him the nickname The Impaler. The legends describe him as merciless and sadistic. However, some historians disagree with the legend and say that this was the first recorded case of bad PR, as printing was at that time starting to develop.

The name Draculea comes from his father, Vlad II, who was also price of Wallachia. Vlad II was named Dracul or The Dragon after being accepted as a knight in the Order of the Dragon, one of the highest military orders at that time.

Apparently, Vlad Tepes’ bad fame was the result of a slander campaign orchestrated by Saxon merchants in Brasov, who had lost their trading rights in Wallachia after Tepes came to power.

They sent fake letters to Hungary’s king at that time, Matei Corvin, who also ruled over Transylvania, showing an alleged alliance between Vlad Tepes and the Ottoman sultan. Matei Corvin, or Matthias I, also a Romanian by birth, feared that Vlad Tepes would claim Transylvania for himself, with the help of the Ottoman Empire. When Vlad Tepes turned against the Ottoman Empire, which was at that time ruled by the legendary Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, and asked for Matthias’ help, the king of Hungary turned his back on him.

Against all odds, the Wallach prince managed to hold an Ottoman invasion of more than 100,000 soldiers, led by Mehmed himself, with an army of no more than 30,000. The highlight of the confrontation between the Ottomans and the Wallach army was the night attack led by Vlad Tepes himself, in the night of June 16, 1462, when Wallach soldiers went into the Ottomans’ camp in disguise and tried to get to Mehmed’s tent. They failed to capture the sultan, but managed to cause so much panic among the Turks that many of them fled.

However, despite this victory, the Ottomans remained in Wallachia and continued to attack and plunder the villages. Tepes was forced to flee to Transylvania and ask again for Corvin’s help, but instead of receiving it, he was imprisoned in Visegrad for 12 years and then held under house arrest in Buda for another two. When he finally returned to Wallachia, in 1476, he ruled less than a month and was assassinated by the Wallach nobles who sent his head to the sultan.

Many Romanians still consider Vlad Tepes to be one of the greatest leaders in the history of the Romanian people. According to some legends, he also used to impale thieves and sloths and during his short ruling Walachia reached prosperity. This is why, some are still waiting for a political leader of his caliber to lead Romania to prosperity.

While the legend of Dracula bring plenty of foreigners to Romania to follow the footsteps of the well known vampire, Romanians themselves are shy to promote the country using the famous fictional character.

Here's the trailer of the Dracula Untold movie to be released in October this year. We also added the trailers of the older Dracula movies, which you can watch bellow.

Dracula 1931

Dracula - 1958

Dracula - 1992

Van Helsing (2004) also starts from the legend of Dracula

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com