Transylvania is a historical region that is located in central Romania. Historically, most or all of Transylvania has been part of other countries, primarily Hungary, which relinquished all control in 1918. Bound on the east and south by its natural borders, the Carpathian mountain range, Transylvania proper extended westward to the Apuseni Mountains. The broader definition of Transylvania also encompasses the western and north-western Romanian historical regions Crișana and Maramureș, and occasionally Banat.
The region of Transylvania is known for the scenery of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history. It also contains major cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Brașov, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, Alba Iulia, and Bistrița.
The Western world commonly associates Transylvania with vampires because of the influence of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1897) and the many films the tale inspired.
Although Transylvania is not mentioned in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, many film adaptations of it are set there, particularly those set in "shared universes" that enable meetings between Shelley's characters and those of Stoker. Van Helsing (2004) is one such example.
A few locations in North America bear, or historically bore, the name Transylvania, including a large region of Kentucky. As far as is known, this fact has not been used as a plot point in a Frankenstein movie.
Young Frankenstein (1974)[]
Mel Brooks' film is set primarily in Transylvania, which has very little resemblance to the real place. While nominally located in Romania (as implied by a brief reference to Bucharest), this Transylvania is inhabited by people who wear traditional Bavarian clothing, have German names, and speak with German accents, except for a few who speak in Cockney English accents and have English or Slavic names. As the film (and nearly every other Mel Brooks film) is a satire riddled with deliberate anachronisms and factual errors, attempting to find verisimilitude in its world-building is probably a fruitless endeavor.
At one point, Frederick Frankenstein is at a railroad and asks a shoeshine boy where he can find the Transylvania Station. The dialogue in this scene includes lines from the 1941 novelty song "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," with Transylvania substituting for Pennsylvania.
Rocky Horror[]
In Richard O'Brien's play The Rocky Horror Show (1973) and its film adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Transylvania is the foreign galaxy containing the planet Transsexual, where Frank-N-Furter, Riff Raff, and Magenta come from. As with the previous item, attempting to analyze the world-building seriously is probably futile.
Van Helsing (2004)[]
The 2004 fantasy-horror-adventure film Van Helsing sees Victor Frankenstein operating in Transylvania in 1887. Count Dracula commissions him to build the Monster, and murders Frankenstein when the latter refuses to take part in Dracula's plans to conquer the region. Frankenstein's assistant Igor defects to Dracula's side. In 1888, Gabriel Van Helsing arrives in the region and joins forces with the Monster to overthrow Dracula and liberate the countryside.
Transylvania is said to be part of Romania in 1888, whereas in actual history it was part of Hungary in the 19th century. However, the movie is set in a steampunk fantasy world which might not have our exact history, so some leeway may be allowed.