Director: Gary Shore
Writers: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless
Stars: Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon
Run Time: 1 hour, 32 Minutes
Synopsis
We are told in the voiceover narration that there were a bunch of young boys who grew into warriors, and one was especially good: Vlad the Impaler, future ruler of Transylvania.
Human Vlad warns that there may be a Turkish invasion soon. They find a cave, and it’s full of bats; something’s in there that scared the bats out– could it be the Turks? No, it’s not the Turks. It’s some kind of angry growling demonic monster. It kills Vlad’s men, and he only escapes by stepping into the sunlight.
The monk explains to Vlad later that the creature was a vampire. A greedy man who was tricked by a demon’s bargain and was cursed to live in the darkness forevermore. The vampire will remain alive until he finds another to set him free. After talking to the priest, he goes back to his castle and his wife and young son. It’s a happy family in what looks like a happy land; there’s been peace for ten years!
The Sultan’s man comes, and he wants their tribute. He accuses Vlad’s men of killing their scouting party, which Vlad denies. The man also requires 10,000 boys to join his army. Vlad doesn’t want to do it, but his men recommend going along with it for the sake of peace. Vlad talks to the Sultan, and offers himself in their place. The sultan wants the 1,000 boys as well as Vlad’s own son. Some men come for the boy, and Vlad kills them all. Now he’s in trouble. The advisor says, “War will come– you can’t protect us!” Vlad can’t fight them all alone. Where can he get the power he needs?
He goes back to the cave where the vampire lives. Vlad wants to become a vampire to save his people. “Men do not fear swords, they fear monsters,” he explains. He makes Vlad drink from him, and he will get all the vampire’s power. If he can resist drinking for three days, he will revert back to human. Otherwise, Vlad will take the vampire’s place forever. Vlad insists he’s up to the challenge. Vlad drinks.
When he awakes, he is very strong and can heal very quickly. He’s got super hearing. He can turn into a swam of bats and fly. Vlad returns home to find his castle under siege by the Sultan’s men. Vlad gives a little speech, and then it’s time to kill some Turks. He takes on their army alone. Before long, Vlad is standing in head of hundreds of bodies. He won. “Negotiations failed,” he says.
The sultan is not pleased; he finds his army impaled on spears. He vows to send a hundred thousand men next time. Vlad says he will win this war in three days. He makes love to his wife, and she notices all his scars are gone. He wants to bite her, but stops himself. A Renfield-wanna-be brings him a cup of blood, and he struggles to resist its call. In the morning, he finds out that sunlight burns him. “In two days, I’ll be restored. I just need to resist.”
The sultan attacks, and there’s a battle in the woods. Vlad’s second in command, Dimitru, defends Vlad’s family, but dies in the battle. The next morning, the sultan tells his men to fight blindfolded, so they can know no fear. Meanwhile, Vlad hangs out in the shadows, avoiding the sunlight. The monk sees this and exposes Vlad to his men, who run away in terror. The men set his house on fire and turn against him. When he comes out, he questions their loyalty and gratitude.
He goes into the church and prays to endure for one more day of the test. The sultan’s main army arrives. Vlad calls on about a billion bats to swarm the castle and kill the soldiers. Vlad sees the sultan in the middle of the army and dives after him, but it’s a decoy. The real sultan is inside the castle preparing to kill Vlad’s family as the sun rises. Vlad arrives too late to save his wife; she tells him to drink her blood to save their son. He does it, and simultaneously the old vampire goes out into the sunlight; his time is over and his curse is lifted. Vlad then turns several of his own loyal men into vampires too.
Then he opens his secret room and puts on his dragon armor from the old days. This is handled like some kind of big reveal, but it’s just armor.
“Shouldn’t the sun have risen by now?” The sultan’s man asks. Vlad is coming for the sultan, and he’s not alone. There’s another battle. Soon, it’s just Vlad versus the sultan, one-on-one. The sultan uses Vlad’s aversion to silver against him, but Vlad’s no quitter. Vlad ends up impaling (or staking) the sultan, as he explains that his name is no longer Vlad, it’s now “Dracula, the son of the devil.” Dracula leaves with his son.
His own men want to eat Dracula’s son; he’s the only human left to eat. Vlad kills one of the new vampires, but he can’t stop them all. He ends up handing over his son to the priest, who will take care of him now. Vlad gives his son a tearful goodbye. The sun comes out and kills all the vampires.
Later, we see the Renfield-dude cutting his hand and pouring blood into Dracula’s mouth. We fast-forward to modern times, and we see Dracula in a modern city, obviously still alive. He meets a girl named Mina, who looks just like his dead wife. We also see the master vampire watching all of this, who clearly isn’t as dead as we were led to believe.
Commentary
I love that they finally give Dracula a backstory beyond just a name. It looks good, and it’s a reasonable origin story; he was a great leader with a tragic case of hubris. We’re told he’s a cursed monster, but we never see him do anything explicitly evil. He defends his people agains the enemy and gets revenge when that doesn’t work out as expected. I don’t know where Universal planned to go with their “Dark Universe” idea, but clearly, Dracula wasn’t going to be a complete villain.
It’s got a lot of action, and the story never slows down. The battles clearly look influenced by the Lord of the Rings films, and Vlad’s motivations all make sense, even if we do know he’s making all the wrong decisions. The bit at the end hinted at sequels that never came.