Dracula 2001 film review

certificate_15

DRACULA 2001

Bram Stoker must be spinning in his grave. Inexperienced director Patrick Lussier has transformed his timeless tale of bloodlust into bloodless and campy schlock horror. No wonder it's taken the picture six months to wash up on these shores (undergoing a name change from Dracula 2000 in the process).

Count Dracula (Butler) has been sealed in a vault for more than 100 years, watched over by his captor, ageing vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Plummer). The legendary bloodsucker is unleashed upon the modern world by a group of ill-prepared thieves, led by Marcus (Epps) and sultry vixen Solina (Esposito), who break into the vault.

Free to wander the Earth, Dracula heads for New Orleans to hunt down virginal beauty Mary Heller (Waddell), with whom he shares a mysterious bond. Thankfully, Van Helsing is wise to the count's plans and gives chase, enlisting the services of trusted friend Simon (Miller) to kill the vampire hordes.

Forces of good and evil collide beneath the bright lights of the carnival, where Mary struggles with her attraction to Simon and Dracula, and a series of terrifying premonitions. With a few well-placed gags, Dracula 2001 could have been one of the year's most uproarious comedies - but it's a shame everybody treats the material with such seriousness.

Lussier throws in a pseudo-religious sub-plot explaining Dracula's aversion to sunlight, crosses and silver, which is clumsy and deeply unconvincing. The one or two nice touches - Dracula hunting his prey in Virgin megastore - are lost in the turgid mix. Shocks are few and far between, and the violence brief.

Butler exudes a feral sexuality as the toothy villain clad head-to-toe in black leather and he transforms staring into an art form, but there is little in the way of pathos to his character. Waddell simpers pleasantly, staring right back at her leading man, and Miller practises his Dick Van Dyke London accent, eliciting plenty of unintentional laughs.

Avoid Dracula 2001 at all costs - the only screams you're going to here are other cinemagoers fleeing from the theatre, demanding their money back.