In an attempt to pump new blood into its poorly developed tourist industry the Romanian government plans to build a Dracula theme park in Transylvania.
It hopes it will attract 1m visitors a year and create much-needed jobs in the region.
But political rivals have put forward an alternative plan and the row threatens to drain the life out of the project.
The tourism minister, Dan Matei Agathon, proposes a £10m state-backed park celebrating Vlad Tepes - Vlad the Impaler - the 15th century count who inspired Bram Stoker's 19th century classic Dracula.
He describes the park, planned for the town of Sighisoara, Vlad's birthplace, as a "tongue-in-cheek theme park, rather than a horror show", aimed at families.
Under the slogan "Welcome Forever", it will feature amusement rides, a spooky castle, and a maze, together with a vampirology centre for international Dracula congresses.
But the Liberal party bared its teeth this week with its own proposal for the Transylvanian town of Brasov, near Bran castle, which is mistakenly known to tourists as Vlad's home.
It has the snappy name Dracula-Rasnov-Brasov-Transylvania-Park, and the Liberals say it will cost £4.3m less than the government scheme.
Religious leaders and environmentalists have joined in, arguing that hordes of Satanists will flood Romania, and that the large number of visitors will damage the environment.
Seeking to appease his opponents, Mr Agathon pleaded: "I am not building a new Chernobyl."
Then the government discovered that the bloodbank lies in Hollywood: Universal Studios, which made seven Dracula films between 1930 and 1960 owns the rights to Dracula's image and told Bucharest that the theme park would cost it a fee.
At least four other Dracula projects are believed to be in the pipeline in Romania.
Nicolae Paduraru, president of a Transylvanian society set up in 1991 to run Dracula tours and congresses, condemns them all.
"The idea of a specific theme park cheapens and belittles the image of Dracula and suggests to me that the politicians are not particularly cultured - they are offering us a plastic toy on the level of America's Disneyland."
