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Countess Dracula
How far would you go to stay young and beautiful? A new novelization of the classic Hammer film, Countess Dracula.
One can do anything in Hollywood and be forgiven, anything except grow old. It's the 1930s and cinema stands at the dawn of a new age—the silent era is all but dead, talkies are here, and Technicolor is on its way. The whole world loves movie icons Frank Nayland and Elizabeth Sasdy, lapping up each new picture and following their romantic life story both on and off the screen; but all is not as perfect as it appears. Not only has the advent of talkies meant torturous sessions with a vocal coach to try and remove Sasdy's Hungarian accent, but she's starting to spot the first few grey hairs, and the lines on her face get deeper every day. If she loses her looks she'll lose everything, but even a woman as powerful as Elizabeth Sasdy can't fight nature—can she? A chance accident reveals the solution. But just how far is the Queen of Hollywood prepared to go to stay beautiful forever?
One can do anything in Hollywood and be forgiven, anything except grow old. It's the 1930s and cinema stands at the dawn of a new age—the silent era is all but dead, talkies are here, and Technicolor is on its way. The whole world loves movie icons Frank Nayland and Elizabeth Sasdy, lapping up each new picture and following their romantic life story both on and off the screen; but all is not as perfect as it appears. Not only has the advent of talkies meant torturous sessions with a vocal coach to try and remove Sasdy's Hungarian accent, but she's starting to spot the first few grey hairs, and the lines on her face get deeper every day. If she loses her looks she'll lose everything, but even a woman as powerful as Elizabeth Sasdy can't fight nature—can she? A chance accident reveals the solution. But just how far is the Queen of Hollywood prepared to go to stay beautiful forever?
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 2013
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109 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 23, 2024
I expected a novel based on the old Hammer film of the same title to be a little more like its source material. But whereas the movie told the story of the infamous Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who supposedly lured young girls to her castle to bathe in their blood, this book focuses on an ambitious and unscrupulous actress in the early days of Hollywood who will do anything to hold on to the youthful good looks that once made her a star. I suppose the basic idea remains the same, but the original legend with all its Old-World gothic trappings makes for a far better scenario. There are some interesting observations about the amoral, vice-ridden world of Hollywood, but the story never reaches the nightmarish heights of its source material and is further handicapped by a cast of characters that lacks a single person worth rooting for. An absurd twist ending wraps everything up on a highly unsatisfying note. The novel is passably well-written, but in this case, you'd do better to either look up a different book derived from the Bathory legend or else simply rewatch the old movie starring Ingrid Pitt.
June 13, 2013
Based on a Hammer Horror classic this book is captivating, it draws you in. A blood thirsty book which doesn't go the way you would expect. A great read.
November 24, 2013
This is the hammer film in a more modern setting
October 5, 2022
3.5/5 Stars.
TBH! I actually enjoyed it! I mean for me the title was a bit deceiving but in the end, you will know why the title is there and all.
The story is about Elizabeth Sasdy and how she wants her former Hollywood glory after 5 years of not appearing on the screen in the 1930s. And how her Husband Frank Nayland was involved with on what she was doing.
The book starts in the modern day time you can say with a Hollywood tour and from there on it starts the story of Elizabeth Sasdy from someone who was close to her which will give u somewhat of a shock by the end of the book.
For me I honestly wanted more when u have a title of Countess Dracula, I mean its a bit different story if you want to put the "Vampire Element" to it while it was on the same time when "Bela Lugosi" Count Dracula was released.
I can't really spoil the book for everyone but if you want a quick read "Even though I started the book in Aug, LOL Blame a reading slump for it" and Octobery/Halloweeny feel this is the one.
TBH! I actually enjoyed it! I mean for me the title was a bit deceiving but in the end, you will know why the title is there and all.
The story is about Elizabeth Sasdy and how she wants her former Hollywood glory after 5 years of not appearing on the screen in the 1930s. And how her Husband Frank Nayland was involved with on what she was doing.
The book starts in the modern day time you can say with a Hollywood tour and from there on it starts the story of Elizabeth Sasdy from someone who was close to her which will give u somewhat of a shock by the end of the book.
For me I honestly wanted more when u have a title of Countess Dracula, I mean its a bit different story if you want to put the "Vampire Element" to it while it was on the same time when "Bela Lugosi" Count Dracula was released.
I can't really spoil the book for everyone but if you want a quick read "Even though I started the book in Aug, LOL Blame a reading slump for it" and Octobery/Halloweeny feel this is the one.
February 7, 2020
Rating between 3 & 3.5
An interesting 'modern' novel using the core of the original Hammer film - beautiful woman losing her looks, cannot accept it, amoral if not immoral character, will to do anything to get what she wants.
The twist of using that basic story and applying it to the movie world of the early talkies era works very well I thought. This reuse of an older story idea is exactly the sort of thing that Hammer studios should have been doing back in the 1970's/80's - if only they had had the money and confidence of their producing partners.
On the flip side of my thoughts - I admit that I didn't really like the writing style of GA and if the story hadn't held my attention quite so successfully could have given up on the book,
Overall I would recommend this to fans of the original Hammer production as a good updating, reinterpretation or whatever you want to call it.
An interesting 'modern' novel using the core of the original Hammer film - beautiful woman losing her looks, cannot accept it, amoral if not immoral character, will to do anything to get what she wants.
The twist of using that basic story and applying it to the movie world of the early talkies era works very well I thought. This reuse of an older story idea is exactly the sort of thing that Hammer studios should have been doing back in the 1970's/80's - if only they had had the money and confidence of their producing partners.
On the flip side of my thoughts - I admit that I didn't really like the writing style of GA and if the story hadn't held my attention quite so successfully could have given up on the book,
Overall I would recommend this to fans of the original Hammer production as a good updating, reinterpretation or whatever you want to call it.
November 29, 2021
So..this is a gift from my friend, maybe because he saw me being obsessed with Twilight series lol. But anyway, this story is a flashback story..not to my liking but can go on with it because the plot starts to get better in the middle. Towards the end, I think it was too fast-paced and not clear. I don't understand what happened to Nayland. Is he taking the blood of the passengers or what? On the bright side, it have useful quotes that I like.
"pancakes are dessert - why shouldn't breakfast come with dessert? Every other damn meal does"
"sometimes you have to knock something down so as to build it back up stronger"
-Fabio, the Manager
"pancakes are dessert - why shouldn't breakfast come with dessert? Every other damn meal does"
"sometimes you have to knock something down so as to build it back up stronger"
-Fabio, the Manager
March 30, 2021
I rather enjoyed this book and nearly finished it in one sitting. The premise was new and fresh for this type of story and even though I know we have all read something like it before, the way it was layed out on the page was exciting and fun to read. This would make for a great movie or short story type like the tales of the crypt. The characters are well defined and the scenery is rich with California history and imagery.
September 9, 2022
The story is telling in flashback, 3 main long chapter (i don't like long chapter). Telling the story about Elizabeth Sasdy and Frank Nayland the biggest stars in the silent movie's era but in the 1930s they're old and expired. Elizabeth is a cunning, evil, egocentric, bitch. Poor Frank... But the ending is good.
July 18, 2023
Decent horror story, a good retelling of an old legend
October 28, 2013
Technically a 2.5 star rating.
When I first heard that Hammer were optioning reworkings of some of their films in book format, I was hesitant. I love Hammer films, and while I thought it was a good idea on the business side of things as a fan I worried about the treatments that the films would receive. No one film more than Countess Dracula, one of my all-time favourites, and so I started this expecting the worst - especially since I found it in the YA section of my local library.
In truth, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The reworking of the plot to 1930s Hollywood was a fairly well-contrived one, and it manages to keep a small amount of parallels to the original film while making something entirely new (it even makes reference to the Elisabeth Bathory myth and the film itself briefly). The writing was solid, moderately effective but not especially skilful or difficult, which is why it was probably placed in the YA section despite some of the sexual content (either that or the pretty cover made them think it was another Twilight-inspired paranormal teen novel). I could probably go into some depth regarding the treatment of gender in the novel but I won't bother here (in short, beautiful women are evil, men who fall victim to their wiles are weak, women who are killed are unimportant especially if they are 'lower class' or prostitutes etc).
One issue I had with the writing is the persistent use of film terminology and techniques in a script-like fashion, which begins each section and pops occasionally in and out of the prose. I hope this was just a gimmick of this particular book, which would make some sense given the setting - but really that sort of thing works better in films, overused tropes as they were. Overall, the book might've made a better film but it's not exactly a disaster in print.
When I first heard that Hammer were optioning reworkings of some of their films in book format, I was hesitant. I love Hammer films, and while I thought it was a good idea on the business side of things as a fan I worried about the treatments that the films would receive. No one film more than Countess Dracula, one of my all-time favourites, and so I started this expecting the worst - especially since I found it in the YA section of my local library.
In truth, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The reworking of the plot to 1930s Hollywood was a fairly well-contrived one, and it manages to keep a small amount of parallels to the original film while making something entirely new (it even makes reference to the Elisabeth Bathory myth and the film itself briefly). The writing was solid, moderately effective but not especially skilful or difficult, which is why it was probably placed in the YA section despite some of the sexual content (either that or the pretty cover made them think it was another Twilight-inspired paranormal teen novel). I could probably go into some depth regarding the treatment of gender in the novel but I won't bother here (in short, beautiful women are evil, men who fall victim to their wiles are weak, women who are killed are unimportant especially if they are 'lower class' or prostitutes etc).
One issue I had with the writing is the persistent use of film terminology and techniques in a script-like fashion, which begins each section and pops occasionally in and out of the prose. I hope this was just a gimmick of this particular book, which would make some sense given the setting - but really that sort of thing works better in films, overused tropes as they were. Overall, the book might've made a better film but it's not exactly a disaster in print.
February 21, 2015
This is not what you think. Despite having an introduction about the Hammer film, this has nothing to do with the Hammer film. It is a story with the same source material, the Countess Bathory legend. That makes this a bit of a bait and switch. But taken on its own merits, the book is average at best. It isn't really a horror story or a thriller, the writing style is too matter-of-fact. This fits more in the crime genre, as the plot is basically about a pair of serial killers. (But don't get too excited- that description promises more than the book delivers.) For a book with "Dracula" in the title the novel is particularly bloodless. Oh, there is plenty of blood in the book, but you'll feel no real emotion in the reading. It is also a short read, 248 pages in a large font. If it were the same font as the other Hammer books I've read (I've read three others.) this would top out at maybe 220 pages. Plotwise and pagewise, this is a very lightwe4ight read.
Despite all that, I gave it two stars, but I'd really give it 2 1/2 if I could, because it never bored me, and the old Hollywood setting was interesting, if largely unexplored.
Despite all that, I gave it two stars, but I'd really give it 2 1/2 if I could, because it never bored me, and the old Hollywood setting was interesting, if largely unexplored.
December 13, 2013
This is fairly short, under 250 pages, so I should have whizzed through this, but I just couldn't really get into it. Part of the problem is that I didn't realise it was a movie novelisation of the 1971 Hammer Horror film starring Ingrid Pitt as Elisabeth Bathory, well, actually it's not even that either! It's a reboot of the story, updating it to the early Hollywood talkies era. I just felt I'd been sold shoddy goods under false pretences, there's no vampires, no countess, and it's not even the story of the actual classic Hammer film. I think in it's own right, this reboot would make a decent film, but that's not going to happen either, so I'm not sure what Hammer are trying to achieve here . . .
August 25, 2014
A real pot boiler of a B feature, bringing the story of Countess Elizabeth Barthory into 1930s Hollywood. It's a pretty basic plot, lots of blood and gore and with a nice (or nasty) little twist at the end. Considering the author was apparently once an actor himself, the entire cast of actors are all appalling characters-vain, deceitful, hedonistic and, in some cases, murderous! Either he doesn't like actors or he has his tongue firmly in his cheek! Recommended for all Hammer Horror fans-far too cheesy for sensible readers!
August 2, 2013
A fairly lightweight and fluffy read, enjoyable enough but with no real surprises or invention. The writing is strangely erratic, the mostly simplistic prose and dialogue occasionally punctured by a nice turn of phrase or interesting metaphor.
Overall not bad but nothing to stand out either.
Overall not bad but nothing to stand out either.
March 5, 2014
Simple but enjoyable for any Hammer or horror fan, liked the Hollywood idear.
February 26, 2014
It was very much the book equivalent of the films. Entertaining fluff.
January 7, 2018
Sex, murder, alcoholism, old Hollywood somehow don’t mesh. A mess.
See my other ten word book reviews at my blog: https://tenwordbookreviews.wordpress....
See my other ten word book reviews at my blog: https://tenwordbookreviews.wordpress....
March 9, 2013
From what I read of the book it is really good.
October 28, 2014
The old story reimagined in 1930's Hollywood, where beauty, image and adoration is everything.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews