MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Dracula Untold"

Time to start off Horror Month 2018 right! And who better to start out with than with the Prince of Darkness himself? Dracula! One of the most recurring characters in all of fiction, likely the one to have the most adaptations across films, books, short stories, and television series as well as other forms of media. Why is it that we, as a culture, find him so appealing? This fictional character based at least somewhat upon Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, a warlord from - you guessed it - Transylvania. Whether he's the antagonist, the protagonist, or something in-between, Dracula continues to fascinate us as a culture to this day.

In this particular instance, Dracula - or, rather, Vlad the Impaler (Luke Evans) - fills the role of the protagonist. Rather than paying any attention to Stoker's original novel, the film attempts to craft an origin story that connects Dracula to his historical influence. Kind of like what Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula had fourteen years beforehand, but I don't think anyone even remembers that beyond Rudolph Martin also showing up as Dracula to kick off the fifth season of Buffy, so never mind that.

Instead, we join Vlad Tepes, the Son of the Dragon and the Prince over Wallachia and Transylvania. One of the most fiercesome warriors in the Ottoman Empire, he became known as Vlad the Impaler for his habit of interior design mastery and light roof repair - just kidding, it's actually bringing a horribly, grizzly death to his enemies by impaling them on spears. Otherwise known as the "Wallachian Hello". Now, though, it's peace time and Vlad is enjoying his time with his wife, Mirena (Sarah Gadon) and his son, Ingeras (Art Parkinson), up until some of his men get slaughtered by a vampire living in a mountain.

...or, rather, that's been trapped a mountain. Vlad seems content to leave him there, but soon the Ottoman Empire comes beating down his door to demand the firstborn sons to serve as soldiers, and Vlad makes a deal with the vampire (Charles Dance). The vampire agrees to give Vlad some of his blood, which will give him the powers of the vampire that he can then use to defeat the Ottomans. If Vlad can avoid the urge to sate his thirst for human blood for three days, then he'll turn back into a human no harm, no foul. If he gives in, however, he will remain a vampire forever and Tywin Lannister will be free to march across the face of the Earth.

And all of us without a Peter Dinklage in sight.

So, the rules are set. Vlad gets a nifty grab bag of abilities from the vampire blood and a terrible, terrible thirst. The rest of the film involves him wrestling with the Beast and contending with the Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper). So, yes, this film is basically Bard of Lake Town vs. Tony Stark's father.

As I stated above, we're going with Dracula as the protagonist rather than an antagonist, so the film centers around him as he attempts to not permanently become a vampire and save both his family and his nation from the Ottomans. As an origin story goes, it's definitely a good one! This film got a lot of critical reviews, the best of them saying that it was just okay and it really missed the mark. Personally, I don't see how. Luke Evans gives an excellent performance as a former warrior who is trying desperately to hold on to what little he has. Now is the rest of the acting great? Not really, but there's nothing that's too terrible and Evans really carries it.

There's real emotion as he tries to struggle with his inner demons and resist the urge to go just that much further in battling the hordes of the Ottomans.

And given that, well...the movie is called Dracula Untold, you can probably guess how well that went. It's a story of great tragedy, very much in the Gothic tradition. It's definitely a very good one. Not one of my favorite films, certainly, but it is always interesting to see the corruption of a noble figure who did what they had to for the best of reasons become...something far darker. Of course, we don't actually see that part of it due to this film not getting a sequel despite the very clear set up for one.

Or, rather, it's set up for the Dark Universe that Universal is trying to make. Another piggybacking attempt off of the success of Marvel's movies, the Dark Universe was meant as a reinvention of classic Universal monsters into a shared universe of movies. A great idea on paper, until you realize that one of the people behind it at its inception was Robert "Khan's Magical Super Blood" Orci. But yes, Dracula Untold's ending did very clearly set it up for something...which is not followed up on in the least.

And that's really a shame. For a tale of a hero who must become a villain to save everything he loves, you could do a lot, lot worse.

Dracula Untold is brought to us from Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures.

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