Wrath of Dracula

Mark Topping plays a hesitantly spoken chauvinistic Van Helsing, and Hannaj Bang Bendz is a resilient, modern-looking Mina Harker in this wordy adaption of Bram Stoker's most famous story. The project is helmed by prolific writer/director Steve Lawson, the man behind the equally dialogue-driven 'Jekyll and Hyde', 'Ripper Untold' and 'Mummy Resurrection' among others, all released over the last few years. He specialises in modestly budgeted productions, alongside Creativ Studios who maintain that the limited number of sets and locations look good.

Films like this are an acquired taste. Some reviewers seem offended by the static style of such productions, but they are obviously successful enough to continue. I rather like them - they are invariably well-acted and the stories are interestingly told. This is an adaption that creates an even bigger enemy than Sean Cronin's bullet-headed Count - sexism against women. Mina, always glamorous and confident, interrupts her vampire hunting, where she's hoping to rescue Dean Marshall's wet hubby Harker, to explain how able women generally are, and how the world seems designed to undermine them, often with a raised eyebrow; Van Helsing can only bow his head in quiet agreement.

Some of the action sequences don't work, but other than that, this is up to the usual standard of Steve Lawson's productions. It won't appeal to everyone. But what it does, it does well. The performances are very good (there's a real sense of menace and power from Cronin's Dracula) and the adaption is thoughtfully told. Interestingly, a series of out-takes play under the end credits. My score is 7 out of 10.

Another indie horror flick from Steve Lawson, who seems to have cornered the market in such fare. He has a ready business model: shoot a film on an enclosed set with a couple of actors, release it on Prime and follow that with fake 10/10 reviews to make a bit of cash. Sadly, the end product is inevitably useless, as is the case here. The story is very loosely adapted from the Stoker novel, reducing the character list to Mina and Jonathan Harker, Dracula, Van Helsing and a few brides. Mina learns kung fu at one point, which reveals how silly this all is, and the skinhead Dracula doesn't help much either.

I don't tend to publicly review, due to being an indie filmmaker myself and having to be careful. But after Sean Cronin proved he has the most fragile ego in the world by harassing me - very unprofessional - via various social media accounts (simply for saying I don't rate his work), I felt like I may as well review.

This is one of the most pointless films I've ever seen. The production values are the highlight. The castle actually looks semi-decent. But everything else is abysmal.

The writing is fundamentally terrible - which is a trend with this writer/director and his straight-to-streaming terrible adaptations. I've watched a couple of his films, and they are equally poor.

The highlights though are Cronin and Snow's awful performances. Cronin in particular, for all his experience, remains unable to act on even a basic level. His Dracula has no presence. He has no charisma. His accent is abysmal and the poor dialogue doesn't help him. Overall, it's one of the very worst Dracula's I've ever seen.

Snow is the highlight of crappiness, though. I don't understand how she keeps getting roles. She's always sold as 'sexy', but she really isn't. She looks like she hasn't eaten a meal in a year. Her accent is hilariously awful, and her dialogue is equally ass.

Prime example of 'desperate actors who'll do anything for five minutes of attention'

Absolutely abysmal, from start to finish. A slog to sit through, despite a short run time.

Bottom-of-the-barrel trash.

Anyone remember the "Tales of the Unexpected" series? Well this reminded me from start to rather feeble finish of one of those episodes. It's a pretty straight rehash of the established story that sees "Mina" (Hannaj Bang Bendz) turn up at the remarkably accessible Castle Dracula to try and find her missing husband "Jonathan" (Dean Marshall). Luckily, en route she's allied with "Prof. Van Helsing" (Mark Topping) so when they are admitted to this den of evil blood-suckers, they are armed with four silver bullets - enough for the Count and his three blonde wives who look like they've just finished devouring a rather messy cheeseburger. There's almost nothing here of interest. There are no special effects to appreciate or decry, the photography and writing are the stuff of a decently funded college project and the denouement offers a sense of relief for all concerned - indeed I'm not quite sure why the overly hammy Sean Cronin didn't volunteer for his predictably grisly fate half an hour earlier in this procedural and dull interpretation of a normally dark and menacing story. Not ninety minutes you will ever get back, so I wouldn't bother, sorry.

Jonathan Harker has been a guest of Count Dracula at his Castle in Transylvania, tearing that something isn't quite right, he sends for his wife, who arrives and instantly neets up with Professor van Helsing.

So, the film has a relatively low score, and justifiably so I hear you say, but it's actually not all bad.

So, it looks a little amateur, and feels a little cheap, but late night on Christmas eve, after a few gins, waiting for Santa, I rather enjoyed it. It is very talky, and at times it looks rough around the edges, but there's definitely some creativity behind it.

Considering this was made on a shoestring budget, if actually looks decent at times, some of the sets and costumes are nice, and Castle Dracula looks awesome. There's some interesting mythology surrounding The Count, I liked the ideas about his origins.

It's still better than the third part of Moffatt's BBC series from a few years ago.

Sean Cronin makes for an interesting Count Dracula, he's quite a fishy vampire.

Nonsense, but fun.

6/10.