In 1893, Thomas Renfield, a solicitor from London, travels to Castle Dracula in Transylvania to finalize Dracula’s purchase of Carfax Abbey in England. There, Renfield meets Dracula, who, unbeknownst to him, is a vampire. Dracula casts a hypnotic spell on Renfield, making him his slave. The two set sail for England, and during the voyage Dracula kills the ship’s crew. When the ship arrives, Renfield is found alone and is confined to a lunatic asylum.
Meanwhile, Dracula visits an opera house and introduces himself to his new neighbors: Dr. Seward, the asylum’s administrator and head psychiatrist; Mina, Seward’s daughter; Jonathan Harker, Mina’s fiancé; and family friend Lucy Westenra. Dracula flirts with Lucy and later that night, enters her bedroom, and drinks her blood.
Mina discovers Lucy still in bed late in the morning, looking pale. Seward, puzzled by the odd puncture marks on her throat, calls in Professor Van Helsing. Van Helsing informs the skeptical Dr. Seward that Lucy has been attacked by a vampire. Seward and Harker allow garlic to be placed in Lucy’s bedroom to repel the vampire, though Seward remains skeptical. After a failed attempt by Renfield to remove the garlic, Dracula uses mind control to get Lucy out of her room and kills her.
Van Helsing meets Dracula and begins to suspect him of being a vampire after the two argue in Moldavian, each trying to have the last word. Lucy, now a vampire herself, rises from her crypt, drains the blood from her guard, and tries to attack and seduce Harker, who is keeping watch over her tomb to see if there is any truth in Van Helsing’s belief about Lucy now being a vampire. Van Helsing arrives soon after and instructs Jonathan to lay Lucy’s soul to rest by driving a stake through her heart.
Dracula preys on Mina, wanting her to be his undead bride. Dracula spirits Mina away to Carfax Abbey, where they dance, and he drinks her blood. The following morning, Mina tries to seduce Harker. Dr. Seward assumes Jonathan to be seducing Mina and orders him to leave. Van Helsing notices a scarf around Mina’s neck and removes it, revealing two puncture marks. Though she lies about how she got them, Van Helsing confirms she has been attacked by a vampire by placing a cross on her hand, which burns a mark into it.
Van Helsing devises a plan to reveal the vampire’s secret identity. Both Dracula and Renfield are invited to a ball, where Van Helsing has placed a huge mirror, covered with a curtain, on one of the walls. While Dracula and Mina perform a dance routine, the curtain over the mirror is dropped, revealing that Dracula has no reflection.
Dracula grabs Mina and escapes out of a window. Van Helsing deduces that Renfield is Dracula’s slave, and thus might know where he has taken his coffin after a search of Carfax turns up empty. Dracula locks himself in an abandoned church to finish making Mina his bride. His pursuers break down the door, and fighting ensues. Van Helsing, noticing sunlight creeping into the room, opens the blinds. As his body begins to burn, Dracula then attempts to flee, but is inadvertently killed by Renfield.
With Dracula dead, Renfield falls into despair with no master to serve and scrapes Dracula’s ashes into the coffin. Seward tells him >"you are free, now" and Renfield seems relieved. Dr. Seward calls for Renfield to follow him out of the church, and he follows, responding >"yes, master." Van Helsing opens Dracula’s coffin and yells in Moldavian to ensure that he has the final word between himself and the count. After the end credits roll, Dracula responds in Moldavian, giving him the true final word.
