Many of you
know that I am a massive fan of The Universal Monsters and especially of the
Trinity which consists of Frankenstein, The Wolfman and Dracula, and we all
know that the classic monsters are resurrected far more times than their
namesakes and I am loving every minute of it.
Now as far
as vampires go there have been some interesting interpritations in recent years
and some are better than others.
I am not
even going to try to tell you how many times or incarnations that Count Dracula
has taken on the silver screen or how many interpretations of Bram Stoker’s
original novel have been adapted over the years, which I find quite ironic
considering what the first film Nosferatu went through when Bram Stoker’s widow
ordered that all copies be destroyed as she would not allow for any screen
adaptations of her husband’s work.
Needless to
say There have been plenty of adaptations of the novel and personally I prefer
Bela Lugosi’ performance in the 1931 Film and have been highly loyal to the
film.
Film audiences
in recent years are not stupid. Along with the invention of the internet which
is referred to as “The Information Super Highway” for a reason and we are all
aware that Dracula actually existed, therefore most of the incarnations in the
past decade have featured not just Dracula but Vlad the Impaler as well.
Prince Vlad
III, Prince of Wallachia is an interesting character in history. In College I
dated a young girl from Romania and was interested to learn that where Dracula
is viewed as a villain in both history and film he is regarded as a hero in
Romania and in my time with her I found some other interesting facts about the
“Son of The Devil” such as that there is no real Castle Dracula in Romania
and…well Vlad’s real method of Impaling his victims.
The fact of
the matter is that when I first learned of Dracula Untold I really wasn’t all
too interested since as far as I was concearned I had seen the films 1,000
times over and this just looked like just another merging of the Legend of Vlad
the Impaler with Vampires.
Honestly
since the fire I have been seeking to reclaim my movie collection and I soon
learned that The Universal Monsters were receiving the full DVD boxset
rerelease and I went ahead and ordered the set rather than pay what the going
price for the set that I lost would have cost. (Trust me that was a being talked
off the Roof experience)
When I did receive
the boxset I noticed that it came with a free ticket for the film and I did
some further research and I soon found that Dracula Untold is to be the first
in a series of films that will reboot the Universal Monsters films for the
current age and that all of the films will be Rebooted. (Including the Wolfman
and Mummy films but We will discuss that later).
Needless to
say I decided to check out the film and I did go in with expectations low especially
after some good folks at the Alamo Drafthouse were bashing the film while MCing
some of the events and I have to tell them that they were Dead Wrong.
This movie
is Awesome!
I honestly
think that with the exception of Love at First Bite and The Munsters this flick
is the first time that Dracula is portrayed as the protagonist rather than the
antagonist in a film.
Once Again
merging the legend of Dracula with the Vampire mythology the film shows Vlad as
a devoted husband, father, and ruler of Transylvania where after growing up
with the Turks and learning Warfare and strategy returns to his home where he
maintains piece.
When the
Sultan that Vlad grew up with refuses to honor a peace treaty and demands 1,000
boys to use as solders in their army along with Vlad’s son the prince defies
the Sultan’s orders and begins to create a full scale war on his people. Out of
desperation Vlad Returns to a cave where earlier He and his men were attacked
by what was later revelaed as a Vampire in which Vlad was the lone survivor.
This
particular Vampire is trapped in this cave until he can find a willing
replacement to be turned and will take his place and looking the strength to
defend his people Vlad chooses to take this position temporarly if he can avoid
feeding on Human Blood that will permanently turn him.
Trust me you are going to get to know this Character in more films and I am looking forward to them.
Armed with
this new power Vlad soon becomes a formidable opponent for the Sultan and his
armies but must still defend his wife and son from his childhood nemesis.
There are
many twists in this flick that I am not going to spoil for you here but this
flick is definetly worth a look.
The scene
where Vlad fights an army of 1,000 troops is worth watching alone and fans of
the Underworld films will like this film for the NEO Goth aspects and
characters.
Also Sarah Gadon is both Hot and great in the role of Vlad's devoted wife.
The film has
received the fill Blu-Ray Treatment as it is available in a set that included
DVD BluRay and Digital copies from both ITunes and Ultraviolet avalibility.
In what is a
rare treat today the film also features Extras that make the purchase worth the
price with a special Video Commentary from Star Luke Evans where he discusses
the film and the experience as an actor.
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Also
included is a day in the life of Luke
Evans where a day of shooting is shown for the actor as well as the History of
Vlad is shown and Deleted that show a slight subplot that was cut from the film
and Much More In the set.
2,000 Dead
Bodies
0 Breasts
15 Beasts
Impaling
Clawing
Slashing
Ripping
Heads Roll
Arms Roll
Gratutious
use of Green Screen Locations
4 Stars
Check it out
and...
“Let The Games Begin”
