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Despite these excesses, Rumanian historians note, Vlad effectively maintained law-and-order in his realm and ably defended it against foreign aggression. It so happens that Vlad's virtues, not his vices, are similar to those attributed to Rumania's present-day dictator. While ironhandedly ruling his country, Ceausescu credits himself with keeping both Western imperialism and Soviet expansionism at bay. Summing up the lessons of Vlad's reign, one Rumanian historian notes, "The country can only prosper under authoritarian rule." More turgidly, another Communist analyst contends that Vlad exemplifies "love for the fatherland, undaunted support for the high ideals of the people [which] represent a material force capable of curbing the surge of even the mightiest power."
Vlad met a fitting end not always stressed by Rumanian historians. After being captured by Turks in 1476, he was decapitated. His head was sent to Constantinople, where it was publicly displayed on a stake—the impaler impaled. Dracula's headless body is said to be buried in the monastery of Snagov, near Bucharest. It was there last week that a party-line-conscious priest observed of Rumania's new hero: "Vlad was a good Christian and he loved the truth. If he impaled people it was just to put a stop to injustice by noblemen at home and Turks from abroad." With chilling assurance he added, "Traitors have to be punished, and Vlad was very efficient."
* Including F.W. Murnau's classic 1922 Nosferatu, the celebrated 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, Roman Polanski's 1967 black comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck, a 1970 skinflick called Does Dracula Suck? and the 1974 X-rated Andy Warhol's Dracula.