Blumhouse’s “New Take” On Dracula Gets Emotional Reflection From Director 4 Years After Cancellation

While numerous adaptations have made their way to the screen in recent years, one Dracula movie found itself shelved prematurely, and its director laments losing out on its “new take.”

First announced in early 2020, Blumhouse began development on a new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s iconic vampire novel with Jennifer’s Body director Karyn Kusama and The Mysterious Benedict Society duo Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi penning the script. Described as a contemporary version of the story, putting the primary focus on Mina Harker instead of Jonathan, as in most adaptations, and shifting the setting to Los Angeles, the film ultimately was shelved in April 2022.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant’s Grant Hermanns for her work on AMC+’s The Terror: The Devil in Silver, Karyn Kusama has opened up about her Dracula movie’s cancellation. When asked if she and Jason Blum have had any further conversations about reviving the project, the director confirmed that “we haven’t talked about it recently,” but still feeling that it “would be an amazing thing to get to make that movie.”

Kusama went on to describe her Dracula movie as having been a “fresh take that still has not been cracked” on screen, finding it to be “so interesting” it has yet to get made. Despite there being no further conversations at the moment, the Emmy-nominated director hasn’t entirely closed the door on making the project at some point:

Karyn Kusama: Yeah, I’m really hopeful that someday maybe it gets made, because people deserve a new take on Dracula. It’s so funny. We love vampires. Yeah, we love that story for a reason, I guess.

Unlike many projects that find themselves scrapped early in development, the cancellation of Kusama’s Dracula adaptation proved to be something of a shocker. The filmmaker had already found her Mina Harker with Emmy-winning Hamilton star Jasmine Cephas Brown, and production had been set for a May 2022 filming start, only for the cancellation to come just three weeks beforehand.

While no official specifics have been given on the film’s cancellation, reports previously indicated that Dracula didn’t move forward due to a difference in visions between Kusama and the producers at Miramax. Kusama herself previously shared that her desire to deliver a new take on the property is what drove the production company away, feeling they “lost their nerve” in the adaptation and that was why they pulled out, despite the aforementioned production start window and budget already set.

At the time of its initial development, Stoker’s Dracula novel was enjoying a hefty resurgence as numerous new adaptations were in various stages of development and release. Universal had the back-to-back releases of the Nicolas Cage-led Renfield and the more horror-tinged The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Nosferatu remake, the first two of which bombed at the box office, while the latter became Robert Eggers’ highest-grossing film to date.

Even beyond the studio, Sony has continued their Hotel Transylvania franchise, previously led by Adam Sandler as Dracula, before swapping to Brian Hull for its fourth installment, and having both a spinoff TV series and a new movie in development. Titus Welliver also led an adaptation of Joe Hill’s Abraham’s Boys, a sequel to Stoker’s novel in which he starred as an older Abraham Van Helsing, while Luc Besson teamed with Caleb Landry Jones for the divisive Love Story.

While it may have been a few years since it was scrapped, that doesn’t mean Kusama’s Dracula adaptation couldn’t get off the ground at some point. Blumhouse was the one who originally acquired the project, which means they’re likely the ones to still have the rights to it, and with Miramax having pulled out, they could turn to partnering with someone else if Stoker adaptations remain popular.