# Dracula: Dead and Loving It
**Dracula: Dead and Loving It** is a 1995 American comedy-horror film directed, produced, and co-written by [Mel Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-brooks), parodying the Dracula story with [Leslie Nielsen](https://www.edgepedia.org/leslie-nielsen) as a pratfalling [Count Dracula](https://www.edgepedia.org/count-dracula). It was Brooks's return to horror parody after *Young Frankenstein* (1974), and it proved to be the last film he directed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) • [2](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2026/06/29/100-anos-haciendo-reir-cadena-ser/) The film opened on December 22, 1995, was rated PG-13, and ran about 88 to 90 minutes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) • [3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | December 22, 1995, theatrical; PG-13; about 88–90 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) • [3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/) |
| Director and writers | Mel Brooks, with Rudy De Luca and Steve Haberman; based on Bram Stoker's novel[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) |
| Lead cast | Leslie Nielsen (Count Dracula), Peter MacNicol (R.M. Renfield), Steven Weber (Jonathan Harker), Amy Yasbeck (Mina), Lysette Anthony (Lucy Westenra), Harvey Korman (Dr. Jack Seward), Mel Brooks (Dr. Abraham Van Helsing)[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/umc.cmc.2t3zt5arjyccpf8yqlrwh42i4) |
| Budget and gross | Budget reported at $30 million by DV and $25 million by Screen International; US gross $9.9 million[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) |
| Critical reception | 11% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (37 reviews); 49% on the audience Popcornmeter from more than 50,000 ratings[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) |
| Production | Brooksfilms Limited, with Castle Rock Entertainment and Gaumont as financiers; filmed at The Culver Studios[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) |
| Place in Brooks's career | His last film as director, following *Robin Hood: Men in Tights* (1993)[2](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2026/06/29/100-anos-haciendo-reir-cadena-ser/) • [6](https://www.ou.edu/content/dam/finearts/documents/Young%20Frankenstein%20program.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and comic approach
The film follows the broad outlines of the familiar Dracula story. Count Dracula relocates from his Transylvanian castle to Victorian London with his slavish assistant [Renfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/renfield) in search of new blood, which he finds in Mina and her friend Lucy. When Mina's fiancé [Jonathan Harker](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonathan-harker) notices her odd behavior, he calls in his mentor, the vampire hunter Van Helsing.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) An academic study of the film notes that it spoofs the 1931 *Dracula* while following that film's plotline very closely.[7](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=muhonors1110919620&disposition=inline) Scholars of Gothic film parody have also identified it as targeting [Francis Ford Coppola](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-ford-coppola)'s *Bram Stoker's Dracula* (1992) and its many predecessors.[8](https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/24378/1/FulltextThesis.pdf)
The comedy relies on Nielsen playing the vampire entirely straight. Janet Maslin's review, quoted by the IFC Center, described Nielsen as a "charmingly dim Dracula" giving the film "the feeling of an undead Naked Gun," equally good at capturing the Count's hauteur and at falling down a flight of stairs after slipping on bat droppings.[3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/) The film gives Dracula an alter ego in the form of his own shadow: while the real Dracula tangos debonairly on the dance floor, his shadow has raunchier things in mind.[3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/) Brooks himself plays the very Teutonic Van Helsing, who says "attekt" for "attacked" and makes his medical students keel over in autopsy class; when staking a vampire's heart gets messy, Van Helsing observes, "We should have put newspapers down."[3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
## Production
The working title was *Dracula: Dead and Liking It*, announced in a January 13, 1995 *Hollywood Reporter* article as one of eight to ten movies to be financed by [Castle Rock Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/castle-rock-entertainment) following its acquisition by [Turner Broadcasting System](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-broadcasting-system). Co-financier Gaumont changed "Liking" to "Loving" before release.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) Neither Castle Rock nor Gaumont would disclose how much each contributed to the film's $30 million budget, though Castle Rock was said to have provided the majority; an August 1995 *Screen International* article placed the budget at $25 million.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878)
**Casting.** Brooks originally wanted [Kelsey Grammer](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelsey-grammer), then a sought-after film comedy commodity thanks to the television sitcom *Frasier*, to star as Count Dracula. Grammer turned down the $3 million he was offered for the role to star in *[Down Periscope](https://www.edgepedia.org/down-periscope)* (1996) for about $2 million.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) Brooks said he got the idea to cast Nielsen the night he happened to see *Bram Stoker's Dracula* on a double bill with *Naked Gun 2½*.[9](https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/some-biting-humor-from-mel-brooks-director-s-3018400.php) [Anne Bancroft](https://www.edgepedia.org/anne-bancroft), Brooks's wife, makes a brief, uncredited appearance as a very strange Gypsy.[3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
The end credits acknowledge a clip from *Mutiny on the Bounty* provided by Turner Entertainment Co. and a clip from *Premature Burial* courtesy of Orion Pictures Corporation.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878)
## Reception
The film was a commercial and critical failure. Against a budget reported between $25 million and $30 million, it grossed $9.9 million in the United States.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds 11% on the Tomatometer from 37 reviews, with 4 fresh and 33 rotten, against a 49% audience score from more than 50,000 ratings.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) Hal Hinson's Washington Post review, titled "Mel Brooks's 'Dracula': Dead on Arrival," called the material "several notches beyond painful" and judged that the few good lines went to Brooks himself as Van Helsing.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/12/22/mel-brookss-dracula-dead-on-arrival/d019f536-1121-49a9-9780-4e6bb4f7cd2e/) The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads: "Lacking any of the comedic bite that audiences have come to expect from a Mel Brooks farce, this vampire parody just plain ol' sucks."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it)
Some critics found partial successes. Joe Leydon, writing in *Variety*, called [Peter MacNicol](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-macnicol)'s Renfield, the solicitor who develops a taste for flies and spiders after being bitten by Dracula, the source of the film's only real sparks.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) Time Out judged Brooks's Van Helsing one of the more successful aspects while faulting the underwritten roles given to his stock company.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) Maslin's New York Times review called the film "slight but amusing" and noted that Brooks and Nielsen were clearly on the same wavelength.[3](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
## Place in Brooks's career and later standing
The film closed a run of genre parodies that had taken in the western (*Blazing Saddles*), horror (*Young Frankenstein*), silent film, Hitchcock, historical and biblical epics, the *Star Wars* saga, and [Robin Hood](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-hood) movies.[2](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2026/06/29/100-anos-haciendo-reir-cadena-ser/) It paired Brooks with Nielsen, two leading figures of American screen parody.[2](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2026/06/29/100-anos-haciendo-reir-cadena-ser/) A Spanish profile of Nielsen listed the film among the actor's projects that failed to convince critics or audiences, in contrast to his success with the ZAZ team's *Airplane!* and *Naked Gun* films.[11](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-01-17/corpulento-guapo-y-tontorron-el-exito-tardio-de-leslie-nielsen-el-gran-comico-que-jamas-sonreia.html)
Audience appreciation has persisted alongside the poor critical record. The film's Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 49% sits well above its critics' score, and viewer reviews frequently single out MacNicol's Renfield and Nielsen's deadpan Count.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it) Retrospective commentary has argued that the film's close adherence to the novel and the 1931 film, with actors who never break character, gives it a durability its 1995 reception did not anticipate.[12](https://25yearslatersite.com/film/features/dont-dismiss-dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
## References
1. [Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59878)
2. [100 años haciendo reír, Cadena SER](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2026/06/29/100-anos-haciendo-reir-cadena-ser/)
3. [Dracula: Dead and Loving It, IFC Center (quoting Janet Maslin, The New York Times)](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
4. [Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/dracula-dead-and-loving-it/umc.cmc.2t3zt5arjyccpf8yqlrwh42i4)
5. [Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_dead_and_loving_it)
6. [Who's Who Behind the Scenes: Mel Brooks, University of Oklahoma program](https://www.ou.edu/content/dam/finearts/documents/Young%20Frankenstein%20program.pdf)
7. [Honors thesis, Miami University (OhioLINK)](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=muhonors1110919620&disposition=inline)
8. [Doctoral thesis, Brunel University London](https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/24378/1/FulltextThesis.pdf)
9. [Some Biting Humor From Mel Brooks, SFGate / San Francisco Chronicle, December 17, 1995](https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/some-biting-humor-from-mel-brooks-director-s-3018400.php)
10. [Mel Brooks's 'Dracula': Dead on Arrival, The Washington Post, December 21, 1995](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/12/22/mel-brookss-dracula-dead-on-arrival/d019f536-1121-49a9-9780-4e6bb4f7cd2e/)
11. [El éxito tardío de Leslie Nielsen, El País](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-01-17/corpulento-guapo-y-tontorron-el-exito-tardio-de-leslie-nielsen-el-gran-comico-que-jamas-sonreia.html)
12. [Don't Dismiss Dracula: Dead and Loving It, 25 Years Later](https://25yearslatersite.com/film/features/dont-dismiss-dracula-dead-and-loving-it/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Comedy horror films › 20th-century comedy horror films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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