Hollywood's Dracula War

[WyldeMan45]

The only project I am interested in right now is Vlad, for the fact that one, it was written by Charlie Hunnam, and 2, it's a story I've never seen. I am not interested in another Dracula the vampire story, it's been done way too many times. I am however interested in seeing Vlad the Impaler do his work. Click the photo for the original source.

Until 1992, this budding horror fiend's diet of Dracula films was abundant with Universal's output in the '30s and '40s and Hammer's vibrant, sexual revival in the '60s and '70s (I was never a fan of the John Badham version in '79 with Frank Langella). Then Francis Ford Coppola came along with Bram Stoker's Dracula, amplifying the sex and violence and introducing audiences to the back story of Vlad the Impaler (aka Vlad Dracul or Vlad Tepes), the man who inspired the Dracula legend.

In this bloody, creature-filled, hyper-stylized fever dream of an adaptation, Vlad is a knight in the Order of the Dragon who fights against the Turks and returns home to find that his woman has killed herself over some misinformation. He freaks out and renounces God. Stabs a cross (which bleeds). Says he'll avenge her death by defying his own, furthermore, when he returns from the grave he'll have "all the powers of darkness." Hence the whole drinking blood, crawling walls, sleeping in a coffin, shape shifting thing that follows… But prior to Coppola's version, written by James V. Hart, the Vlad/Dracula-as-we've-always-known-him connection was never fully realized except for in a 1975 documentary called In Search of Dracula in which Christopher Lee played Vlad. Yes, Lee, Hammer’s regal and deadly Dracula.

Bram Stoker's Dracula took creative liberties with the Vlad/Dracula story, naturally, and it certainly re-opened the crypt door to other filmmakers eager to explore the legend even further. In 2000, Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula aired on television starring Rudolf Martin (strangely enough, that same year he played Dracula in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Dimension Films' Dracula 2000, with Gerard Butler, rewrites history and posits the bloodsucker is really Judas Iscariot (wowie wow wow!). 2003's Vlad finds Francesco Quinn playing the eponymous warrior. And David Goyer reworked the Dracula history to meet his universe's needs in Blade Trinity.

Now, thanks to pop culture's rekindled fascination with vampires (a tip o' the hat to you True Blood and Twilight), Hollywood is eager to resurrect Count Dracula. Four projects are on the horizon. Two have been in development for a few years, another one is on the fast-track and another is a tale currently in book form that's actively seeking a production company. Two scripts are similar in nature in that they are origin stories, recalling Hollywood's competitive streak when Volcano went up against Dante's Peak and Armageddon took on Deep Impact. But how many Dracula stories do we really need? I sat down with this quartet of bloodsucker stories to see if any of them are worth anticipating or if they should have a stake driven through their hearts. Read on for a breakdown!

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Company: Phoenix Pictures

Written By: We can thank Season of the Witch's Bragi Schut for this offshoot tale of Bram Stoker's novel. Robert Schwentke (Flightplan, The Time Traveler's Wife) came in with Mitch Brian to do a revision. And later, Phoenix hired James V. Hart, of Bram Stoker's Dracula, to put his touch on it.

Director: Phoenix first courted FX artist Patrick Tatopoulos (Pitch Black, Godzilla) and Demeter was going to be his feature debut. The project stalled, however, and Tatopoulos moved onto Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Meanwhile, Marcus Nispel slipped into the director's chair shortly after Friday the 13th's release in 2009. Stefan Ruzowitzky is the latest director to climb aboard. He helmed 2000's Anatomie, its sequel in 2003 and 2007's The Counterfeiters.

The Story: Taking its cue from a section of Stoker's tome, Demeter focuses on the events that occurred on the ill-fated ship that transported Dracula to England. Alec Radu, the main character, is a Romanian hard laborer whose son is stolen away by a mysterious figure. He follows his son's kidnapper to the seaport of Varna where the Demeter is being loaded with unusual cargo in preparation for its departure. Convinced his son is on board the ship, Alex convinces Captain James to be a part of the crew. It doesn't take long before Alec finds his son drained of blood and the hunt for the vampire aboard the Demeter begins before it reaches Whitby Harbor.

Who is Dracula? Although the Dracula name is sparsely used, he's often referred to as Nosferatu - an old warrior "who spilled enough blood to become death itself." And make no mistake about it, he is a creature that remains in the shadows for a good portion of the story until his reveal. He's human, yes, but the script calls for a ghastly guise of long, tangled air, a split lip and sharp teeth. He demonstrates various powers and the cargo he's brought aboard with contains a black mold that slowly spreads across the ship and shouldn't be underestimated...

Bottom Line: Of the four projects, this is the one worth bringing to the screen. It's eerie, clever, introduces a few good twists and hosts an array of great characters - from the hot-headed Tisma to the superstitious brute Moluko. Furthermore, it gives us something we haven't seen before. The story runs a bit long, however, and could use some trimming.

Dracula Year Zero

Company: Universal Pictures

Written By: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless - both were recently strapped with updating Flash Gordon for Breck Eisner.

Director: Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot) has been attached since 1997, so the man is committed to getting this made. He's got producer Michael De Luca at his back - good company to keep.

The Story: A bit of 300, a slice of Conan, a touch of Mike Mignola and more than a few heaping spoonfuls of Dracula lore, this one tells of Prince Vlad Dracula and his consistent efforts to save his land from the greedy Turks. One day, the Sultan's emissary demands Vlad hands over not just the usual taxes he pays but land and soldiers, too, in anticipation of an invasion of Europe. When his son is brought into the equation, Vlad is conflicted between his duty to his people and his duty as a father. Vlad's fate, however, is set on a new course when he winds up on Broken-Tooth Mountain where he encounters a number of bloodsuckers. From here, writers Sazama and Sharpless have a ball rewriting Dracula's history as they create explanations for how Vlad can change into a bat or wolf, why he can't stand sunlight, why he must sleep in a coffin, why he can't cross running water and why a wooden stake is necessary to kill him. They riddle their story with various familiar characters like Caligula and Baba Yaga.

Who is Dracula? A warrior and a family man, he's resourceful and a bit brash. At times, he reads like King Leonidas with fangs, to be honest. Vlad is flawed in many respects and as his problems with the Turks mount, he dives headlong into an exploration of his newfound and familiar powers which leads him to an epic battle. Knowing Proyas, it will only be festooned with CG mayhem.

Bottom Line: Steeped in the supernatural and filled with cool action set pieces, I'd give it a chance on the big screen. Granted, there are some tacky moments but the big budget horror-adventure vision this asks for outweighs the bad. It's an origin story that infuses facts and whole lot of fiction and some folks might get a kick out of this detail-by-detail account of how Dracula became the legend we all know, even if the writers cleaned the slate and did it their way. Sam Worthington (Clash of the Titans, Avatar) was said to be "in talks" to star as Vlad - I can't picture it myself.

Vlad

Company: Summit Entertainment

Written By: Son of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003's Scott Kosar was attached to do a rewrite the week his take on The Crazies hit theaters.

Director: Anthony Mandler, whose only credits include directing an episode of and executive producing the series Snoop Dogg's Father Hood. Oh, and he was "puppy boy" in a 1985 take on Bridge to Terabithia.

The Story: A no-nonsense spin on Vlad Dracul that picks up during his adolescence when he, and his brother Radu, are handed over by their father to the Sultan Murad as part of a peace-keeping treaty. The boys grow up - Radu remains dutiful to the Sultan and his son Murad; Vlad, is a wild card who escapes the Ottoman empire, returns home to find his parents have been killed, and claims his father's throne. He falls in love, makes allegiances, imprisons enemies and, of course, fights back against Murad and Radu.

Who is Dracula? Call him Braveheart, Gladiator or Robin Hood, but don't call him a vampire. There are no fangs. No bloodsucking. No touch of the supernatural. This is a straight-up biopic of Vlad, a man who suffered tremendous loss and was pushed to the limits (there's a shitload of gruesome impaling in the film's final chapter - ouch!).

Bottom Line: Not as big of a bore as I expected, but this contains plenty of borrowed dramatic elements we've seen in similar epic hero stories. The parallel running journeys of Radu and Vlad that ultimately converge works well. Vlad's life, however, isn't interesting enough to arouse excitement in me. There is a single reference to the supernatural Dracula mythology, yet it feels shoehorned in. I hear Summit is eager to get this on the screen before Dracula Year Zero. As far as I'm concerned the two projects are like night and day. Sure, they share a few similar beats and characters, but they couldn't be more different.

Dracula the Undead

company: None

director: None, although ernest dickerson (tales from the crypt: Demon knight) was attached very early on.

Novel written by: Dacre stoker (great grandnephew of bram stoker) and ian holt

the story: Set 25 years after the events that took place in "dracula," mina and jonathan harker are having serious martial woes and they have a son, quincey (named after their fallen comrade in the first story), who wants to be an actor. When the drug-addicted dr. Seward is killed at the outset of the story, the harkers, arthur holmwood and dr. Van helsing are pulled back into another vampire-ridden scenario. Except this time, dracula is only partially part of the problem. The story's main villain is countess bathory. Stoker and holt map out a sordid back story for this gal and tie her into the dracula legend. There are a number of surprising turns, including a few notable deaths. And because of mina's tryst with the count, she has a few powers of her own that come into play when bathory's revenge scheme intensifies. It should be mentioned that bram stoker is a character (!) and the "dracula" novel exists - how and why? Read the book...

Who is dracula? Oh yeah, dracula! He does have a presence, in spite of his supposed death (there's a twist regarding his persona that you see a mile away). He's physically weak and not the immortal he used to be, and he's still pining for mina. The question really is "who is countess bathory?" the answer there: A cold-hearted ***** who likes to dress in men's clothes and can change into various guises, whether its red mist or a giant winged demon.

Bottom line: Let this "official sequel" rest in peace on the page. As a book? Okay, i'll roll with it just a little. The story starts strong then descends into a mess that would not work on the screen. Stoker and holt pull a lot of tricks, they test your level of acceptance and try to cram way too much into their story. I didn't mention above that there's a narrative thread pertaining to the jack the ripper murders, too! The novel accrued some heat leading up to its release last year. I haven't heard much about the realities of it being adapted.

[nefilim]

Now new contender : HARKER directed by Eli Roth - ok no chills there but as Dracula - the man himself Russel Crowe ! I`m in !

http://sciencefiction.com/2012/07/11...ula-in-harker/

...all in the planning stages but me likes. I like how Russel seems to like to take a different roles these days (see : The Man with the Iron Fists, man of steel, noah) and now maybe this...

[MykeHavoc]

Dracula in the genre equivalent to Batman for me. I never get bored watching the various incarnations of the character (well...except for Dracula 2000...yuck).

[Hubunkey]

Originally Posted by MykeHavoc

Dracula in the genre equivalent to Batman for me. I never get bored watching the various incarnations of the character (well...except for Dracula 2000...yuck).

I take it you've never seen Dracula 3000 lol