Ever since Roger and I started doing this whole review thing, I’ve made it a point to stay away from other review sites. Don’t get me wrong; There are some awesome sites out there with some pretty great insight on what’s going on in the horror genre — the good, the bad, and the God awful — but I don’t want other writers’ opinions to subconsciously effect mine. Although I’ve stayed away from these full-blown reviews, I still manage to come across various opinions on films from time to time. For whatever reason, the majority of the online world seems to speak negatively of Gary Shore’s Dracula Untold, while I happen to think it turned out to be a fantastic flick with the perfect blend of history, mythology, and monsters!
Dracula Untold melds the fiction of the infamous vampire that we all have watched and read about for years with true historical facts of Vlad the impaler. Horror fans have seen tons of Dracula and vampire flicks, but none quite like this. Imagine some of the great action battle flicks like Troy or Gladiator and mix in your favorite Universal monster and that’s what you have here; An amazingly fun mix of fantasy and action.
As our main character, Vlad/Dracula, we have Luke Evans (No One Lives, Fast & Furious 6). Evans does a brilliant job as the fierce warrior and ruler who is motivated by the love of his family. He plays both sides beautifully and I couldn’t be happier with his performance. Supporting him was a great cast of very talented actors including Sarah Gadon (Antiviral, Enemy), and the great Charles Dance who fans will recognize from the hit television series, Game of Thrones. Dance plays the creepy-as-Hell ‘master vampire’ who looks extremely menacing thanks to the amazing make-up effects team that worked on the film.
Dracula Untold is a dark, but gorgeous film. It is only rated PG-13, so there isn’t the blood and gore genre fans have come to hope for, but it doesn’t matter. There is enough action to keep you entertained the entire time. With creative cinematic battles and flawless special effects work, there really isn’t much to complain about here. I’m not sure what film goers were expecting and I’ve seen this film compared to the likes of Van Helsing and I, Frankenstein, when really, there is no comparison. While I actually enjoyed those films as well, Dracula Untold is in a different class than they. Aside from all the pluses I’ve already listed, this film contains the greatest vampire decomposing I’ve ever seen on film and a vampire army alone is reason enough to sit through this one.
I hope other Dracula fans are as excited about the film’s final scene as I was. It not only introduces a more familiar Drac tale, but also leaves a perfect opening for a sequel, which I will eagerly be awaiting. If this is the new beginning to the return of the Universal monsters, I am completely on board with said reboot.
Be sure to pick up a copy of Dracula Untold on Blu-ray combo pack and DVD today from Universal and let me know your thoughts. Do you love it as much as I do or do you completely and utterly hate it?
I give this film 4 silver coins out of 5.
Sounds good, for quite a while I’ve been trying to find movies with more action in it, so if it has that, I definately need to watch it