The Horror Show
Dracula Untold
by Gary Shore
When I heard the news about Universal’s plans to jump start their fledgling monster characters again, I was a bit skeptical at first. The last time they attempted this was back in 2004 when Stephen Summers (fresh off his stints from The Mummy and The Mummy Returns) was given the task of reinvigorating the line, but that failed miserably at the box office.
Flash forward 10 years later and now the task of another attempt comes fresh to us as Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans (Immortals, Fast & Furious 6) as Vlad. This time around the story takes place at the turn of the century where the Turks have come to Vlad’s small kingdom demanding boys to fill the ranks of the Sultan’s ever growing army. Of course our dear lord has settled down now with a lovely wife and young son, but he finds himself backed into a corner with these demands.
At first he concedes to the Sultan’s wishes, but when they demand he turn over his son as well, Vlad breaks down – reverting momentarily into the savagery when he was once known as Vlad the Impaler. His act of defiance results in an all-out war with the Turks and the only chance Vlad has to save his Kingdom is to make a deal with a Master Vampire he found earlier condemned in a cave up in the mountains.
Obviously this sets up the proverbial deal with the devil story plot, and it bodes well for the remainder of the film. I won’t give you the full gist of the reasons why the Master is kept locked up in the cave, but let’s just say it will come full circle at the end of the film, when the possibilities of an intended sequel are set up. In the meantime, we get to see Vlad deal with vampiric affliction as he battles the Sultan and his hoard to the death, while struggling desperately to save his family and Kingdom in the process.
If you are looking for a film that is historically accurate this won’t be it. In fact it’s only loosely based on the Vlad Tempes legend and I do mean loosely. I can’t even say it holds any similarities to the Gary Oldman film from 1992. What you get here is a more heroic prototype of the character and what with the recent slew of Marvel movies gracing the screens across North America, it’s not a surprise they went in this direction. The film is more action oriented, engaging enough and visually satisfying as far as I am concerned.
Gary Shore’s direction was tight, and paced well for the 90 minutes of run time and I enjoyed the use of CG for the gathering of the bats scene and the battles with Turks. Gary is relatively an unknown from Dublin, Ireland, but he came to Hollywood’s attention in 2009 with a faux trailer he directed called Cup of Tears. This earned him a deal with Working Title films and in turn landed him the deal with Universal. It’s unknown at this time if he will be back for the sequel, but judging from what I saw I really hope he signs on for another go around.
At times, Dracula Untold reminded me of late horror/sci-fi author Fred Saberhagen (whose own Dracula series portrayed the vampire in a similar light). I think turning the character into an anti-hero makes perfect sense, so if you do plan on catching this on the big screen keep that in mind.
Kenneth Gallant, HMS
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