Dracula Untold

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.

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”