To Die For (1989 film)
1989 film by Deran Sarafian
To Die For (also known as Dracula: The Love Story) is a 1989 American independent romantic horror film directed by Deran Sarafian and starring Brendan Hughes as vampire Vlad Tepes, Duane Jones (in his final film role), Philip Granger, Julie Maddalena and Amanda Wyss.
Plot
Vlad Tepes, the Prince of Darkness, resurfaces in Los Angeles with a new look, new life and new love. But with the new life comes an old nemesis who has waited an eternity to settle the score.
Cast
Brendan Hughes as Vlad Tepes
Sydney Walsh as Kate Wooten
Amanda Wyss as Celia Kett
Scott Jacoby as Martin Planting
Micah Grant as Mike Dunn
Duane Jones as Simon Little
Steve Bond as Tom
Production
Producer Greg H. Sims wanted to produce a Dracula film that emphasized the romantic aspects of the character as he personally felt prior incarnations had not adequately tapped into that side of the character. Sims had considered titling the film Dracula: The Love Story, but ultimately decided to go with To Die For as downplaying the Dracula connections would help increase the film's commercial chances. Sims cast Brendan Hughes as Vlad Tepes having previously worked with him on Return to Horror High as Sims thought Hughes had all the qualities he wanted to see in his interpretation of Dracula. The film's special effects were supervised by John Carl Buechler.
Release
The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by Skouras Pictures in 1989.
The film was released on VHS by Academy Entertainment in the late 1980s. The film was released on DVD in the United States under the title Bram Stoker's To Die For by Triumph Marketing in 2005.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “To Die For (1989 film)” as 1989 film by Deran Sarafian. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1989 film by Deran Sarafian. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7810897. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989 and 2005.
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This entry incorporates text from “To Die For (1989 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.