DRACULA UNTOLD (review)

DRACULA UNTOLD

Ingeras: If the heart is strong enough, the soul will be reborn everyday.

Big budget studios have a way of taking our favourite movies and giving us prequels to every story we have ever liked growing up, and this is especially true in the horror and superhero genre. Remakes of movies like HALLOWEEN, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and even THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy have all given audience goers an almost clinical background of characters that completely removes any mystery that might have shrouded their particular tale (I am especially eyeing you, Christopher Nolan). And now, just when you thought that the Dracula story had finally been put to rest, Hollywood has gone and unleashed DRACULA UNTOLD, a supposed beginning to the famous vampire tale that actually (and shockingly) isn’t that terrible… for a monster/superhero hybrid movie anyway.

Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans), has been given the livable nickname of Vlad the Impaler (where Bram Stoker got the idea for his creature of the night) because of the numerous battles he has lead, and come out victorious, often leaving his enemies empaled on giant wooden stakes.  All is peaceful in the kingdom, until one day, Mehmed, the leader of the Turks (Dominic Cooper) demands that Vlad offer up 1,000 young men to fight in his army for him. Unwilling to give in to Mehmed’s demands, Vlad takes himself to the top of a treacherous mountain where he makes a deal with a dark creature in order to save his family and his entire kingdom. Now given new powers and strengths he had never before imagined, Vlad takes on the Turks singlehandedly, but not without consequences as now the entire army is after him. As Vlad attempts to move his kingdom to a safer location, it has started to become apparent to his wife (Sarah Gadon) and son (Art Parkinson) that something isn’t right with their beloved husband and father. Even his followers have begun to suspect a change in their leader, but Vlad only wants to protect his kingdom.

If you have any romantic, sexy notions of what a vampire movie is, or even how a story about Dracula the master seducer should be, it’s time you throw them all out the window. There are no sexy razor toothed vixens summoning men to their love chambers to be found here; no sitting by the fire and discussing the painful existence of eternal life either. No, what we have here is Dracula, imagined as an action hero who resembles a superhero more than the mythical vampire we love. While the outcome may be a disappointment to some, for many (myself included) DRACULA UNTOLD is simply an entertaining action movie with killer effects. Nothing more. We care very little about the characters, and presumably we already know the outcome of Dracula himself, so why should we? Dracula’s origins will just be reimagined in another form before too long anyway.

Your turn!

How many sheep would you give Dracula Untold?

[kkstarratings]