Dracula - Prince of Darkness - DVD

Content: It is the year 1453: While the young Romanian prince Dracula (Luke Roberts) tries to defend his kingdom from the Turks, his adversaries try to ascend the throne. In the process, Dracula's great love Elizabeth is killed. The prince swears eternal revenge. Centuries later, as an undead vampire, he still causes fear and terror in the forests of Transylvania. When he meets the young crusader Alina (Kelly Wenham), he believes he recognizes his Elizabeth in her. And so there is only one goal for him: he kidnaps Alina to his castle, where he wants to win her heart for himself. But the young warrior Lucian (Ben Robson), together with Alina's little sister Esme (Holl Earl) and the vampire hunter Van Helsing (Jon Voight), wants to prevent this at all costs...

Singapore-born filmmaker Pearry Reginald Teo tries with Dracula - Prince of Darkness to put a new spin on the most classic of all vampire myths. To do so, he mixes the familiar story with elements from Beauty and the Beast, fantastic adventure series like Xena and Hercules, and then spices the whole thing up with a little pinch of the currently so popular Twilight vampire romance. Shot on atmospheric locations in Romania, this Dracula reincarnation would have had definite potential for an entertaining horror-adventure-fantasy mix. But for that the film lacks not only the necessary budget, but also the quality of the script.

The low budget means that the effects look laughably cheap at times, and that make-up and costumes are also only partially convincing. But a good script with the right mix of suspense and humour could well have made up for that. Instead, the book is not stingy here with thin dialogue and a somewhat muddled story. The film tries to make up for this with things like the use of some naked skin, but that doesn't quite work either.

The biggest mistake Teo made, however, is his attempt to make Dracula into some kind of romantic hero. With his flowing blond hair, he doesn't come across as particularly menacing, or attractive in any way, but unfortunately just extremely silly. And even veteran star Jon Voight, who has just won a Golden Globe, can hardly reveal anything like acting quality under his less than flattering makeup as Van Helsing.

Admittedly, there are some moments in Dracula - Prince of Darkness that can definitely be called successful. The beginning, presented with some animation sequences, shows potential and also in between the visuals leave a really good impression every now and then. And then there are one or two scenes where this bloodsucker tale even starts to be fun. But overall, the less successful aspects unfortunately outweigh. With a little more budget, a better script and a more charismatic, threatening lead actor, the intentions of the authors could have become a really entertaining vampire adventure. As it is, however, it's only good enough for a poor B-movie that can only be recommended to diehard fans of romantically-infused bloodsucker adventures.

Picture + Sound: The film is always clear to note that the creators had only a relatively small budget available. Thus, no masterpiece should be expected from the audiovisual realization. The sharpness of the picture and the colouring are on a good level, and there are no problems with the picture or dirt. Nevertheless, there would have been a lot of room for improvement in all areas. The same applies to the sound, which has some decent, but just not stunning surround moments to offer. Good!

Extras: Except for the trailer for the film, the DVD unfortunately has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Dracula - Prince of Darkness seems a little as if the makers have tried to the classic vampire legend with set pieces from Beauty and the Beast, Xena and Twilight new sides to wring. But the result is unfortunately only partially successful, because neither the wooden acting of the actors, nor the script or the effects can really convince. Even some naked skin and a few successful ideas don't help to free the final result from mediocrity. But if you can't get enough of romanticized bloodsucker adventures, you can at least risk a look

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp