Search

Dracula Untold (2014)

thereviewers
May 2, 2015
2 min read

Dracula Untold focuses on Prince Vlad III ‘The Impaler’ who must make a deal with a demon in order to gain the power needed to protect his kingdom from the advancing Turks.

Overall Review Score

6 out of 10

Review

Dracula Untold, also known as Dracula: Year Zero, is a dark fantasy action film that tries to create an origin story for much loved and overtly popularised 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The film focuses on Prince Vlad III ‘The Impaler’, who must sacrifice himself by doing a deal with a demonin order to gain the power needed to protect his family and kingdom from a ruthless Turkish army determined to destroy the kingdom. As Gary Shore’s feature film debut, Dracula Untold blends character development with a rich, dark storyline. However, at times it does repeat some vampiric clichés and its ending is predictable from the start...probably due to the mass amount of Dracula-related films that came before it. Overall, while Dracula Untold will entertain the audience, die-hard Dracula fans will walk away feeling like it was a re-hash of Dracula-related films.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 5 out of 10

Comments:

While this film does uniquely show the young Prince Vlad (Luke Evans) struggling with internal and moral dilemmas from his choices during the story ultimately the film adds nothing new to the fantasy genre. Dracula Untold features a predictable storyline and repeated clichés concerning the vampiric powers and limitations imposed upon Vlad, it does keep the audience entertained with its use of special effects and heavy focus on the emotional aspects of the story. All in all a decent remake of Dracula, though I expected much more.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 7 out of 10

Comments:

The film surprised me. Everyone has heard of the story of Dracula and there has been countless films showing Vlad the Impaler as a merciful Dracula, a sadistic Dracula and as an evil, I want to kill everyone, Dracula. However, this film moves away from these norms and brings a breath of fresh air to the Dracula story. The film creating the origin of Dracula, the unique use of Northern Ireland as the location and Luke Evan’s portrayal of Dracula impressed me.