COFFIN BREAK; AFICIONADOS READY FOR BLOODY GOOD TIME AT DRACULA '97.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Wear black. Bring a cape. And leave that briefcase at home.

This isn't going to be any ordinary convention. We're talking fangs, vampire role-playing games and hearses hogging all the good parking spaces.

We're talking Dracula '97, the four-day gathering in celebration of the centennial of Bram Stoker's Gothic vampire novel, ``Dracula.''

The faint of heart might be wise to steer clear of the Westin Hotel, a block from Los Angeles International Airport, Aug. 14-17, when as many as 1,500 attendees are expecting to have a bloody good time paying homage to the author who melded centuries of superstition, folklore and history with fiction to give vampire fans a hero to worship.

Yes, some serious debates about the existence of the ``undead'' are scheduled. But the convention's Halloween atmosphere - complete with tastefully placed coffins, a bloodmobile where guests can part with a pint of plasma, and a bar offering Bloody Marys - is a dead giveaway that this will be more pleasure than business.

``There are 100 scholars coming to present papers on vampires, but it's really a party,'' said J. Gordon Melton, who is organizing the event with Massimo Introvigne. ``The majority of people coming are just like us - people who like vampire and horror movies. It's going to be fun - a bunch of silly people dressing up and biting each other on the neck.''

OK, so they're not real vampires.

While there are some people who believe in the existence of men and women who imbibe the blood of an ever-widening circle of victims to stay alive, the upcoming convention treats vampires as the product of legend, folklore, literature and Hollywood, say Melton and Introvigne.

If there's any doubt how sinister and scary these folks will be, the event's motto - ``It's my party and I'll bite when I want to'' - should dispel it.

Vampire movies in English, Spanish, Chinese and other languages will run continuously. Drac's Marketplace will offer vampire-related goods for sale. Fifteen vampire novelists - that is, people who write novels about vampires - will sign copies of their newest books.

There'll be a creative writing contest, Gothic rock music and theatrical performances that include a newly written episode of the 1960s Gothic soap opera ``Dark Shadows,'' whose most popular character was vampire Barnabus Collins.

And guests are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite vampire for a masquerade party.

It's enough to drive a vampire fan ... well, bats.

Out of character?

Melton and Introvigne aren't exactly the type of fellows anyone would guess would be involved with a subject some regard as silly, others as sinister.

Melton, 56, is a bearded Methodist minister who delivers occasional Sunday sermons at St. Mark's Church in Santa Barbara. He also works as a researcher in religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has written a dozen books on religion - plus two on vampires.

Introvigne, 42, an Italian with an accent uncannily like Bela Lugosi's in the 1931 movie ``Dracula,'' is an attorney who also teaches sociology and religion at the University of the Apostles, one of the 13 universities at the Vatican in Rome. He's penned 20 books, with his 21st - his first on vampires - scheduled to be published later this year.

Just for the record, neither man believes vampires actually exist. (``Hardly any scholars believe in vampires,'' Introvigne said.)

But the two, who meet at religious conferences all over the world every couple of months and make time to share vampire lore, have studied the legendary creatures for years. The connection between the two subjects makes sense once you realize that theologists have been fascinated for centuries by the cosmic ongoing battle between good - represented by God and his angels - and evil - Satan and other dark forces, including maybe vampires.

Melton and Introvigne are among many followers of the fanged type. The Transylvanian Society of Dracula has an estimated 5,000 members.

But interest in vampires these days is fueled more by the fictional romanticism invented by Hollywood's movie studios than the religious superstitions that scholars believe spawned the earliest tales of scary bloodsuckers.

Drink up

The name ``vampire'' is rooted in a Slavic word meaning ``to drink.'' Belief in the creatures that sucked blood to keep alive was rooted deep in superstition from centuries ago, when people latched on to the vampire as a kind of bogeyman to explain the unexplainable, such as unexpected deaths, suicides, deformed babies - even twins born on Saturday, historians say.

Before the Middle Ages, burials were family matters with no coffins used (workmanship and lumber were too expensive) and graves were usually shallow (digging them took less work).

Vampire historians say people with serious illnesses who were near death or had slipped into comas were frequently thought to be dead, and unwittingly buried alive. So, when a hand or arm was found protruding from a grave, the superstitious assumed it was a vampire rising from the dead to complete some unfinished business or do some unspeakable mischief.

But in reality, the phenomenon may have been the result of marauding, hungry wolves or dogs - or a person coming out of a coma and frantically trying to claw his way to the surface.

The answer to keeping a vampire dead and buried seemed clear to people in those days: Make it impossible for him to leave the grave. Many corpses were reburied face-down (if the vampire tried to dig his way out, he'd only dig deeper), and a stake driven through the body to anchor it to the ground, Melton said.

Once undertakers began to handle burials, vampire legends began to die out.

Many of today's vampire beliefs - garlic and wolfsbane keeps them at bay, a cross will fend them off, they can't survive in daylight outside their coffin, their visage won't reflect in a mirror, they bite the necks of their victims with sharp fangs - are largely Hollywood inventions.

(Some people believed to be vampires did drink their victims' blood, but didn't pierce the skin to do it. ``They just sucked it out through the skin,'' Melton said. ``Kind of like giving somebody a giant hickey.'')

Hollywood has cleaned up the vampire image. Bela Lugosi, with his pale skin, black evening clothes and black cape, created the vampire look. (It wasn't until the Christopher Lee films in the 1960s that vampires sprouted fangs.) In literature, there are evil vampires, confused vampires who want to reverse their vampire state, benevolent vampires. All will be welcome at the convention.

``Vampires aren't necessarily evil,'' said Introvigne. ``It's how they use their powers. They're more like Batman, who's scary in appearance but who uses his powers for good. The only people who are afraid of Batman are the bad guys. It's kind of like that with vampires.''

The Facts

The event: Dracula '97.

Where: Westin Hotel, 5400 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: Aug. 14-17.

Admission: Advance registration is $110 for the four-day event. Checks and money orders can be sent to the Transylvania Society of Dracula, P.O. Box 91611, Santa Barbara, Calif., 93190-1611.

Information: Call [phone], fax [phone], or e-mail jgordonrain.org.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--color) Bloodsuckers Unite

Dracula groupies convene to drink in century-ol folklore

(2-3) Bela Lugosi, top left, set the standard in ``Dracula.'' In the '90s, it's Tom Cruise, above, in ``Interview With the Vampire.''

(4) J. Gordon Melton, left, and Massimo Introvigne are organizing Dracula '97, a four-day gathering in celebration of the centennial of Bram Stoker's Gothic vampire novel, ``Dracula.''

David Sprague/Daily News