What's with the Bee comeing out of the little Mini-Coffin??? - Dracula (1931) Discussion

[–] bebedepaz 12 years ago

Anyone know? I'm curious too..

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One of those odd detials

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It wasn't supposed to be a mini coffin, even though that's what it obviously is. It was supposed to be some monstrous creature climbing out of a human sized coffin. Unfortunately, with our modern eye for dated effects it looks exactly like what it is...an insect crawling out of a match book sized coffin.

First I rip your clothes off, then you rip my clothes off, then we rip Lindsey's clothes off.

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[–] Mithrandir-Olorin22 12 years ago

Still seems kinda random throwing an Insect monster into it.

Who's Lindsey?

"It's not about money.... It's about sending a Message..... Everything Burns!!!"

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[–] paulphoenix85 12 years ago

Thats it, its supposed to be a monster! Always wondered that since i saw this when i was in school. On blu-ray it really does look like a bee coming out of a matchbox lol But rewinding it and looking at the surrounding bit you realise they were trying to go for that giant monster bee look. Was that in the novel then about dracula having monsters in the basement?
Still really random though a giant monster bee in a huge coffin?? hmmmm :)

PS Lindsey Wallace from halloween :)

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[–] bradford-1 11 years ago

I always found it very eerie. Just like seeing those armadillos running around. When I was a kid, I thought there were armadillos in Eastern Europe!

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[–] porfle 11 years ago

I disagree. I really doubt if either Tod Browning or Karl Freund intended for this to be some kind of big "monster bee" emerging from an actual coffin. More likely it's just an odd, puzzling little detail thrown in as a touch of black humor.

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[–] smitthhh 10 years ago

I jokingly pondered the idea it was a baby vamp. I'm glad someone else pointed this out.

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[–] Simian_Jack 10 years ago

Pause the shot. Behind the coffin you'll see the wall is also miniature, in scale with the coffin. It is meant to be seen as human-sized. One could conjecture that the bee is a normal vampire having transformed into a bee, possibly inspiring Argento's WTF mantis in 2013.

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[–] Mississippi20 10 years ago

My opinion - I don't think it was suppose to be miniature. The armadillos, possums, and whatever else was in there were not supposed to be giant human-sized creatures. It makes no sense for the bee to be human-sized. Apparently these animals are under the "spell" of Dracula (aka vampires). The film mentions later how Dracula is in control of thousands of rats with red eyes.

In any event, a vampire bee in a minature coffin? That's comedy gold.

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[–] sage2112 9 years ago

^^^ this

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[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 8 years ago

Interesting

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[–] jasonbourneagain 8 years ago

When I first saw it, I said WTF because of the opossums, armadillos and bee but looking at it again it is supposed to be a monster bee. Who would build a miniature coffin? But then how did the bee get so large and how did a small bee become a vampire?

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[–] fritzfassbender 8 years ago

It's definitely meant to be a bit of dark comedy, though I have no idea if people viewed it that way in 1931. It's very in keep with director Tod Browning's sense of humor.

BTW, before anyone brings it up, the reason there are armadillos in that scene is because rats were considered in bad taste to show on screen. Horror was not even established as a film genre in 1931, much less a genre that reveled in bad taste.

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[–] Strannger (2007) 7 years ago

Dracula entering his coffin through a loophole

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7393) 6 years ago

It's funny. I always thought it was just a really big cockroach. I always thought the point of that scene was to show that vampires aren't clean like people. They don't care what animals get in their homes. Nor feel the need to clean up anything.

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[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 5 years ago

Where is this shot in the movie? I have it on DVD and I'm waiting for Halloween to watch it again. I love this movie so much. It comes from that era right between silents and what almost all mainstream movies became and still are. I love how simple it is. I love how it has no musical score. I love Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye.

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7393) 5 years ago

Right after the opening scene they show Dracula and his brides rising from their coffins and you see a close up what looks like a coffin with a giant bug crawling out of it.

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[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 5 years ago

Ok, I just watched the opening again. To me that looks like a rat but I remember an armadillo or something later.

I don't think this was meant as humor at all. I agree with Mississippi20 that all the animals were under the spell of Dracula. Female bees are known for working all day to feed the queen and each other and to keep the colony going. For a bee to rise as the sun sets is unnatural, perverse even. That theme is far more prevalent in the novel, as one would expect.

I really like this touch now! Thanks for bringing it up, OP.

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[–] HorrorMetal (833) 3 years ago

It was actually a potato bug, and not a bee. As for why it was coming out of a coffin and whether or not it was supposed to be giant sized, I have no idea.

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[–] So20thCentury (1) 3 years ago

Yup, you are right. It is a type of potato bug.
Thanks much for the clarification. Thought it was a bee for all of these years until I paused it on the scene and finally noticed that it had no wings.
I also never realized that it was most likely supposed to be viewed as a giant insect until I read this thread.
It's always given me a good chuckle.
Oddly funny for sure.🦇

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[–] pazuzu9 (296) 3 years ago

I see HorrorMetal has beaten me to it.

The "bee" was actually a potato bug and the so called rat was an Opossum.

I think the bug was supposed to be human sized.

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Jesus Christ, that miniature looks like SHIT!

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[–] millsey72 (9527) 2 years ago

Yea, Dracula turned that bee into a vampire bee. There were talks of that vampire bee getting its own movie but it never panned out

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7393) 2 years ago

Forget remaking this. I want to see a sequel to this set in Transylvania where the vampire bee is still terrorizing everyone and after some deaths and the main characters mourning over them, they finally get up the courage to go to the castle to face it.

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