Dracula 2000 (2000) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Patrick Lussier
Producers: W.K. Border, Joel Soisson
Writers: Joel Soisson
Date Released: December 22, 2000
Cast:
Jonny Lee Miller as Simon Sheppard
Justine Waddell as Mary Heller/Mary Van Helsing
Gerard Butler as Count Dracula/Judas Iscariot
Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick as Lucy Westerman
Jennifer Esposito as Solina
Danny Masterson as Nightshade
Jeri Ryan as Valerie Sharpe
Lochlyn Munro as Eddie
Sean Patrick Thomas as Trick
Omar Epps as Marcus
Christopher Plummer as Abraham Van Helsing
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story starts with an antique collector, Van Helsing, being robbed by an insider thinking there is something valuable in a highly-secured chamber. Instead, they found a tightly-sealed silver coffin surrounded with booby traps. They still took it thinking that all the treasures are hidden inside. While in the plane, the coffin was opened and Dracula came out. He bit everyone on board and they crashed in New Orleans where Van Helsing’s daughter, Mary, lives. Dracula has been chasing this woman because she carries his blood. Van Helsing came after him and tried to protect his daughter but failed. His apprentice, Simon, took the lead in the hunt for vampires but was too late when Dracula had the chance to bite Mary and show her his true identity. Dracula is actually Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. Though Mary was turned into a vampire, she still managed to save Simon and kill Dracula. She became the new guardian of his remains.
Gore Factor
For a vampire movie with a classic Dracula plot, this movie lacks blood and gore. Only the first part has the most blood spill when Dracula’s coffin was stolen and he awakened. The spiked booby traps in Van Helsing’s chamber were brutal especially the one where the coffin was pushed away. In the airplane scene, the most notable disgusting part is when Nightshade was removing the leech and it went straight to his eyes. The vampire bites are not bloody enough. The corners of the mouths do not even show blood spill.
The Grave Review
Out of all Gerard Butler characters in the movie industry, his role as Dracula is something that can easily be forgotten. Nobody would remember him playing the iconic vampire. His acting skills in this forgettable movie is just widening of the eyes, snarling, biting, fang exposure, sneaking around, and speaking with a husky voice.
Acting-wise, the characters lack to show the emotion of true terror upon encountering Dracula face-to-face. When they turned into vampires themselves, they become annoying in the way they portray their monster behavior. Their movements and expressions are exaggerated to the point of being cringe-worthy.
In terms of exuding terror, instead of focusing on the vampire bites and blood spill, this movie is more into zooming in to bloodshot eyes and fangs exposure. There are a lot of predictable chasing scenes such as the one in the cemetery. There are also some useless scenes such as the one with the church and the priest. It would have been nice to incorporate the idea of Dracula being Judas Iscariot to being in a church setting and possibly a battle with the priest. Instead, they chose a rooftop location with some kind of a neon light crucifix.
Overall, this movie is just fine if you are into Dracula movies or in search for vampire stories.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Dracula 2000 (2000) three graves out of five graves.
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