Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula was first published in 1897. Ever since, the book’s vampire hunter, Van Helsing, has been often overshadowed by the Count in terms of recognition. For more recent generations, Van Helsing is rivalled by Buffy Summers as the preeminent vampire slayer. Yet Stoker’s Dutch professor has proved resilient. Van Helsing’s ongoing screen career suggests there is more at play than the mere recycling of a well-worn character.
This book examines the numerous screen versions of Van Helsing, showing the range of the character and its portrayals, and shedding further light on a neglected cultural figure. It also explores how the archetypal ‘warrior savant’ came to be adopted and adapted by film and television over the decades, progressing from supporting player to leading role. Van Helsing has been played by a variety of distinguished actors, including Edward Van Sloan, Peter Cushing, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins, David Suchet, Hugh Jackman, and Dolly Wells, in varying forms and styles.
The book also looks beyond the name and explores screen depictions that feature the essential characteristics in veiled form, or reconfigured for productions that bear little relation to the original Dracula. Ersatz Van Helsing types appear in films from the early 1930s onward and if some are no more than carbon copies, others exhibit fascinating variations of the classic savant figure.
Join us as we go vampire hunting …
‘O’Brien’s coverage is truly impressive – as is, of course, his informed and enthusiastic analysis of both “respectable” and cheapjack versions of the character. It’s a fascinating read for those interested in the horror genre.’ Barry Forshaw, dvdchoices.co.uk
321pp. 6×9 paperback
ISBN: 978-1-84583-273-5
Published 25 September 2026
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel O’Brien is a part-time lecturer and tutor in film studies. Since 1989, he has worked as a freelance writer, largely in the field of cinema, producing articles and reviews for journals such as Film International and Shivers. His books include Clint Eastwood: Film-Maker (1996), The Frank Sinatra Film Guide (1998), SF: UK – How British Science Fiction Changed the World (2000), The Hannibal Files (2001, 2008), Spooky Encounters (2003), Daniel Craig: Ultimate Professional (2007, 2008), Classical Masculinity and the Spectacular Body on Film (2014), Black Masculinity on Film (2017), and Muslim Heroes on Screen (2021).
Barry Forshaw –
One might have thought that there were no areas of genre cinema which had been left untouched in terms of bookish studies (this writer has tackled a couple), but Daniel O’Brien seems to have a particular knack for finding subjects that invite investigation, as in his earlier book, Classical Masculinity, discussed below. The new one, Van Helsing and his Kin, takes a highly unusual premise and forges a scholarly but totally accessible study of an unusual subject. Van Helsing, of course, is the vampire hunter of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, and while people will be familiar with his bloodsucking nemesis, Van Helsing has long been the template for the forces of good ranged against those of evil. But as O’Brien notes, his progeny are many, extending even to Buffy, a vampire hunter of the modern generation. However, there is a positive army of such figures, and they have been played by actors from Edward Van Sloan and Peter Cushing as perhaps the cinemas Best known incarnations of the Figure and played by actors from Laurence Olivier to Hugh Jackman. The variety of iterations stretches far and wide, and in a book of 320 pages, O’Brien’s coverage is truly impressive – as is, of course, his informed and enthusiastic analysis of both ‘respectable’ and cheapjack versions of the character. It’s a fascinating read for those interested in the horror genre.
Barry Forshaw, https://www.dvdchoices.co.uk/?p=2300