[Movie Review] “Dracula Untold” humanises a legendary monster

Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you like fantasy horror.

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 92 minutes (1.5 hours)

“Dracula Untold” presents the origin story of the title character, Dracula, and serves as a kind of prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula stories. It shows us the transformation of Vlad the Impaler, a mere mortal, into Dracula, the immortal horror. It stars Luke Evans (Vlad the Impaler/Dracula), Sarah Gadon (Mirena), Dominic Cooper (Mehmed), and Art Parkinson (Ingeras).

“Dracula Untold” breaks new ground by placing Dracula as the protagonist of the film, and providing us an alternative perspective of the most famous vampire in the world. Because you know what Vlad’s ultimate fate will be, the film doesn’t try to present his transformation as a surprise. Instead, the movie focuses on the tragedy of Vlad’s inevitable journey into becoming Dracula.

So what’s great about “Dracula Untold?”

Humanising Dracula

Dracula has almost always been portrayed as a force of nature, an irredeemably evil creature that requires tremendous effort and sacrifice to defeat. Not so in “Dracula Untold.” Here, we see a pre-vampire Dracula, as Vlad Tepes, and his hopes, dreams, fears, and motivations. We see his noble character, his desire to protect his family and his people, and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good. And that helps us empathise with Dracula, rather than seeing him as the usual one-dimensional villain.

The tension of Vlad’s transformation into Dracula.

The first and second Acts rely on the temptation of Vlad. Will he succumb to the curse of Dracula, or will he overcome it and save his people? Suffice to say that you’ll definitely be satisfied with Vlad’s strength of character, and understand that his curse is born from a desire to protect the people he cares about – ie, love. That Dracula’s origin comes from the noblest of emotions adds another layer of tragedy to the story, and causes us to root for Dracula even more.

Character-driven first and second Acts

The plot is driven completely by the actions of the main characters (as opposed to being a series of scripted events) for the first two thirds of the movie, meaning that each character’s motivations play a pivotal role in the eventual transformation of Dracula. This strong characterisation of all the protagonists helps to firmly anchor the first two-thirds of the movie in powerful, moving drama.

However, some parts of “Dracula Untold” should have just been left untold.

The cartoonish third Act

Once Vlad completes his transformation into Dracula, the entire film takes a complete turn in direction and becomes a melodramatic fanfare of strange special effects and cringeworthy over acting. Villains and heroes ham it up, a curiously artistic falling scene ensues, and there’s just too many slow motion shots of mouths agape in anger, horror, fear, or bloodlust. It becomes a completely different movie in the final Act.

An incredibly cheesy climax

The final battle sees the antagonist face Dracula entirely decked out in silver, which is Dracula’s weakness, including armour and weapons. Despite the havoc surrounding them, the villain still has time to set up a floor made entirely of silver coins, and even some silver coin sacks as traps. It completely defies belief when you see just how shiny and ostentatious the weird final battle is.

“Dracula Untold” starts off strong but ends with a fairly derivative conclusion, presumably to tie in to the next movie. Still, it presents us with a very real, very human Dracula, and evokes a pity for him that will colour future judgements of the monster. It’s rare for us to have a strong connection with legends, but “Dracula Untold” does just that by humanising that legend.

“Dracula Untold” opens in cinemas 2 Oct, 2014.

This review was also published on Yahoo Movies Singapore.