While on the one hand, the characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer rarely make direct references to any underlying religious sentiments and eschew contact with churches or other religious organizations, the series contains numerous references to what might be seen as a new religiosity. Buffy's encounter with Dracula, the villain of a dying Christian worldview, invites examination of that new religiosity which includes Willow's witchcraft, the frequent interaction with a supermundane world of demons and vampires, visits to hell (and heaven) and the overarching forces that called forth the Slayer and granted her the powers to do her job.

The various screen adaptations of Dracula (and other vampire films) culminating in The Buffy series constitute an independent fictional genre, the dark romance, with its own set of audience expectations centering on death and eroticism. Vampires, be it Dracula or Angel combine immortality and sexuality. The vampires of Buffy, such as Spike, become metaphors for the questions and fears that young and old alike have about sex and death in a time of AIDS.

It was inevitable that sooner or later, Buffy would confront Count Dracula. In what that has been dismissed by many as an insignificant episode, “Buffy vs Dracula” is a manifestation of the power of what literary scholars have termed the “anxiety of influence.” It pays homage to the Count while it clearly (and self-consciously) re-establishes its own parameters. In doing so, “Buffy vs Dracula” draws on not only Bram Stoker’s original narrative but also its interpretation and redefinition during decades of popular culture and scholarly analysis.

Genres operate as each succeeding author copies the past (to the extent that his/her work can be viewed as existing within the genre) while at the same time creating something new and different that pushes the genre forward. Often, in an enthusiasm for the latter, the former is neglected. Joss Whedon's reliance upon the past is most evident in his construction of the Buffy universe using elements drawn from the novel Dracula, Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos, and the early 90s television drama, Forever Knight.