The Mad Doctor

Season Two of Powers of Darkness turns to the medicine, science, and unsettling ethics behind Dracula. Iris Ichishita and Dacre Stoker welcome physician and film historian Dr. Lokke Heiss to explore Bram Stoker's close ties to the medical world, including his brother Sir William Thornley Stoker, a prominent surgeon whose influence can be found in the novel itself. From Victorian vivisection and experimental brain surgery to Dr. Seward's treatment of Renfield and Van Helsing's willingness to look beyond conventional science, the conversation asks where scientific curiosity crosses an ethical line. And what if Dracula himself is the novel's true mad doctor, experimenting on Renfield, Lucy, and Mina without conscience or restraint? The investigation ultimately leads back to Powers of Darkness, where Dracula's experiments may extend beyond individual victims to society itself, revealing a story less concerned with science versus superstition than with what happens when knowledge is separated from humanity. Powers of Darkness, Season One: www.orwhatevermovies.com/limited-series Lokke Heiss on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lokke_heiss/ The Ally of Madness and Related Horrors by Dacre Stoker: https://a.co/d/0chh6LX5 The Bram Stoker Estate: https://www.bramstokerestate.com Dacre Stoker: http://dacrestoker.com