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Part 3 – “I don’t drink…wine” has become one of the most cherished quotes from any horror film and is often used in a joking manner between friends. But when we think about the scene from Bram Stoker’s Dracula this “joke” isn’t quite so funny. It is also more meaningful because the rules in many denominations of Christianity require one to be both a Christian and “free of sin” during the taking of the Eucharist (drinking the wine and eating the bread). In other words, Dracula, in some sense actually cannot drink wine because he has stopped being a Christian and placed himself in league with Satan.

Islam forbids the drinking of alcohol entirely, but in Christianity drinking wine is actually required (although some Christians do substitute non-alcoholic grape juice for wine when they take the Eucharist). However, drunkenness is considered a sin. Drunkenness is not only a sin in itself for Christians, it also puts one in a state of mind where one might commit other sins.

Consider these two scenes from Curse of the Werewolf.

Part 4 – The Marquis di Siniestro is, as you will recall, a symbol of Satan and he uses wine to intoxicate the beggar in order to further rob him of his dignity and humanity. Once he is drunk enough to dance he receives his reward: “Here’s your bone, come and get it like a good dog”. Drunk on the wine, the beggar makes the lewd remark which gets him thrown into the dungeon where he will spend the rest of his life as an increasingly degenerate character, one who will eventually rape the servant girl.

As an adult Leon goes to work in the vineyards, a perfectly honest kind of work, but again he is working for a man who is selfish, rude, and extremely class-conscious. Cristina’s father would never consider Leon eligible to marry his daughter, which is why Leon finds himself out drinking with Jose on Saturday night. His drunkenness and the influence of the full moon are what allow the evil spirit inside him to emerge and kill both the prostitute and Jose. In Western culture, drunkenness is never an excuse for bad behavior.

To Americans (and to Japanese when I first came here), wine had an exotic and sophisticated air (although this was not true in Europe where everyone drinks wine). In America (and Japan) wine used to be a drink mainly for special occasions or the upper classes. This is no longer true, either in America or Japan, or the world where wine production has exploded and wine is actually cheaper than beer in some places! But the fact is, wine can be very, very expensive. A single bottle of Romanee-Conti (1945), a French Burgundy, sold at auction for $558,000. Yikes! When we think of the European nobility we think of them in their castles and every castle in Europe would have had extensive underground basements that included wine cellars. These are the perfect conditions for storing wine, which requires a constant level of mild humidity as well as a cool and dark place to rest. In other words, the wine cellars in the depths of the castle would have been very close to the family crypts where the bodies of generations of the nobility were kept….and where the vampires would be hiding from the sunlight.

Dracula and his wives in the crypt of Castle Dracula

Part 5 – Notice also in the Frankenstein except that we find ourselves in the basements and can see the wine stored there. Then Baron Frankenstein tells us that the wine he is serving on the day of his son’s wedding was put in those cellars by his grandfather. Wine, just like the orange blossoms, becomes a symbol of the Frankenstein family’s great age. The Baron says not to waste the old wine on the servants but does treat each of them to a glass of champagne. But for the villagers? Beer. When we hear the music from the village the Baron says, “It must be the boys and girls of the village”. But it is actually the whole village who have come to his window. The “boys and girls” remark is putting the villagers in their proper place…as his children and dependents. He jokes about there being plenty of beer for all of them (as if they only cared about getting drunk), and he jokes with his guests, “Tomorrow they’ll all be fighting again”…like children. Nor is it just to the peasant villagers that the Baron condescends. He is also openly rude to both Professor Waldman and Herr Vogel, the Mayor of the town.

Part 6 – The Baron and the Burgermeister are obviously not equals even though the Burgermeister is the elected leader of the town. It is obvious that the real power in this village lies with the nobleman, Baron Frankenstein. His concern is with seeing his son married — a “son (and heir) to the house of Frankenstein”.

Blood, wine, and weddings: we now understand the symbolism of the blood and the wine in horror films and it is clear that weddings were crucial for the continuation of the system of hereditary nobility that ruled Europe. 

Part 7 – In old age, the Marquis has physically degenerated and his head is wrapped in bandages. The bandages are a telltale sign that he is suffering from late-stage or tertiary syphilis (a sexually transmitted disease) that can cause blindness, heart disease, liver malfunction, decay of bones, and twisting of the skeletal structure…and insanity. In other words, in late-stage syphilis, someone can end up looking and acting like a “monster”. For example, the great European noble, Cesare Borgia (the illegitimate son of a Pope), was renowned as a military man and statesman but by the time he was killed in an ambush, he was so eaten away by syphilis that he wore a leather mask over half his face.