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Popular Culture Review
repulse the Turks from his native land. The coup de grace occurs when Vlad’s
beloved Elisabetta (Winona Ryder) receives a false message claiming Vlad has
perished on the battlefield and, overcome by grief, commits suicide by hurling
herself out the nearest castle window. Upon returning victorious, Vlad is enraged
by the news that his beloved cannot be buried in hallowed ground due to her sui
cide. He renounces the church for which he has fought by slashing the chapel cross
with his sword, thus causing blood to flow from the wound from which the wa