BloodyFM Blog
The Bloodthirsty Brides of ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ [The Lady Killers Podcast]
BloodyFM Blog / Updated: April 09, 2025
“I feel confused and lost. Perhaps, though I try to be good, I am bad. Perhaps I am a bad, inconstant woman.”
Few villains in the world of horror are so feared as the vampire. Our modern understanding of this folkloric figure stems from Bram Stoker’s iconic novel Dracula, which repackages the real story of Vlad the Impaler. For centuries this literary creature of the night torments his native Transylvania, drinking the blood of those living in the Carpathian mountains. Francis Ford Coppola brings this iconic story to life in his decadent 1992 film, but is it the women who actually drive the story?
Mina (Winona Ryder) plans to marry her heart’s desire, a level-headed solicitor named Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves). While he travels to the mysterious home of Count Dracula (Gary Oldman), Mina visits her childhood friend Lucy (Sadie Frost), a wealthy debutante currently sifting through a trio of handsome suitors. But when dark force arrives in London, both women find themselves tempted by a mysterious creature of the night with an insatiable desire to drink their blood.
In the latest episode of Bloody FM’s The Lady Killers podcast, co-hosts Jenn Adams and Sammie Kuykendall are joined by special guest Rachel Reeves to unpack the imperfect feminism of Coppola’s mesmerizing film. Is Lucy’s story reductive or empowering? How does costuming inform each character? What does it mean to be a Bride of Dracula and who really drives the action of this story?
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
