Dracula: The Dark Prince

Is the main actress hot? Does it really matter to the movie watching experience you are about to have? The first question I think most will tend to answer with a yes. The second one though ... well I don't think many will swing to a yes vote for that. The CGI is not really great, but that is to be expected with the budget this movie has. It does look like a million other movies with a C-budget (or is it D?).

The fact that they can release this under the Dracula banner is almost an insult I guess. Especially when you think that really good movies had no rights to the name (see Nosferatu amongst others). But if you really have too much time and love those sorts of movies, I won't stop you from watching it. Don't say I didn't warn you (and you waved it away like all those traveling through Transylvania)

right of the bat this is a rape of a classic love story with after school special violence, skimpy costumes, poorly written characters, fake looking sets, and in many cases just plain bad acting, needless to say i did not enjoy what i saw one single bit

and why the hell is the Liech king(Wrath) from war-craft one of Dracula's minions?

all movies has their audience, and this one is directed towards children, and hillbilly's born with 6 fingers on each hand (the only reasonable explanation for the brief nudity in Dracula's castle)

there are a lot of question raised around why anyone would make certain decisions during the production of this made for TV movie.

-10/10 not even worthy of ironic appreciation

This is probably more like fantasy than horror. It does make Dracula himself appear sympathetic and how he became what he was: a vampire. The castle looked pretty good, and some of the costumes were nice. The armour of Wrath was World of Warcraft style. I didn't expect a band of misfits to go vampire hunting, when we already saw Dracula was a tragic character who lost his beloved. It just makes you not want him to die. Beside the story, the characters were like comic book people. The vampire hunter Van Helsing was too bumbling for this job so he made way for the hero thief! Then the demon slayer who looked like a wildling straight out of Game of Thrones. Then two little girls who can beat men!, Yeah they're both warriors. Even though knights are wearing full armour, these two sisters are dressed in ripped sexy Victoria Secret style outfits. We get more of these Victoria Secrets inside Dracula's castle. I did enjoy the romance and the sadness of Dracula who mourns his beloved, but the rest is double cheese!

One thing that can be said confidently is that there has never been any shortage of Dracula themed movies. Even after Hammer Horror were laid to rest we got wall to wall films cashing in on the popularity of the worlds favorite Transylvanian.

This is one of those efforts that presents him as almost an anti-hero, forced into the darkness through anger at the loss of his true love.

Trouble is this one simply isn't very good, it's a combination of classic mythology and modern nonsense that simply doesn't work.

It looks shoddy, it sounds poor and poor Jon Voight looks very out of place.

With a blonde dracula, practically no bites/blood/vamperic action and more Christian references than a priest could shake his tallywacker at this is a poor piece of Dracula cinema.

The Good:

A few decent designs here and there

The Bad:

Far too much christianity

Incredibly dull

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Jon Voight must have lost a bet

In the Sixteenth Century, a group of warriors are vanquished by Wrath (Vasilescu Valentin) and other demons in Romania. The teenagers Alina (Kelly Wenham) and her sister Esme (Holly Earl) flee with a box, but they are surprised the a group of thieves commanded by the young Lucian (Ben Robson) that wants the box. They disclose that inside the box there is the Lightbringer, the only weapon capable to kill Dracula (Luke Roberts). Soon the vampire hunter Leonardo Van Helsing (Jon Voight) comes to the camping of the thieves and when he is explaining the power of the Lightbringer, Wrath returns with the creatures and attack the group. They are defeated but Wrath kidnaps Aline and brings her to Dracula in his invisible castle. Her resemblance with Dracula's bride that was killed by traitors one century ago makes him believe that she is her reincarnation. Now Dracula wants to seduce Alina and he asks his assistant Renfield (Stephen Hogan) to take care of Alina. Meanwhile Van Helsing and Esme team up with Lucian and the hunter Andros (Richard Ashton) that seeks out Dracula to revenge the death of his sister Demetria (Poppy Corby-Tuech) and the unlikable group heads to the castle using a compass in the Lightbringer to rescue Alina from the vampire.

"Dracula: The Dark Prince" might have been an entertaining movie with improvements. Dracula blonde is ridiculous; the decrepit Jon Voight is annoying and also pathetic in the role of a vampire hunter. The two "Xenas" protecting the valuable box is also terrible. The modern haircut of Lucian is laughable. The female vampires in Dracula's harem seem to be in a fashion parade or beer advertisement. But the movie is watchable and makes laugh. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Drácula - O Príncipe das Trevas" ("Dracula - The Dark Prince")