Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula, the original, is said to have stood the test of time less well than other horror classics of the early Thirties (slow dialogue and a general reticence to be as horrific as it could be).
“Nevertheless...enough remains of a kind of macabre poetry to leave a stronger impression in the memory than many slicker examples since. The whole opening sequence is splendid.... the first sight of the gaunt coachman who takes over for the final part of the journey, the misty ruined castle, the rats and dust, the Count and his three wraith-like concubines...all this is highly atmospheric, and magnificently photographed by Karl Freund....” --Ivan Butler, “The Horror Film.”
At Dracula's close, Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) warns the audience from the screen that vampires really do exist. Curiously, Professor Godard says something similar in talking of Dracula, The Birds, Germany, Year Zero and his own Weekend: “One says, ‘Dracula doesn't exist,' but...(s)till today in all the offices of administration or in high society, people look like that. So, where are the monsters? Who are the monsters?.... For Weekend, it's more interesting to say ‘monsters' than to say ‘politics.'” (in “...Histoire du cinéma,” trans. J.B.)