Starring Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Justine Waddell, Jonny Lee Miller, Omar Epps, Jennifer Esposito
Directed by Patrick Lussier
But overall though, when you look past the flaws, modern horror fans who enjoy their genre films with a bit of action on the side should be able to appreciate DRACULA 2000 as the moderately successful attempt to revitalize the vampire genre for modern audiences that may not necessarily scare but will definitely keep you entertained.
At the beginning of DRACULA 2000, we learn that Dracula (Gerard Butler) is real and not just a literary figure like we've been led to believe all these years. As it turns out, for the last 100 years or so antiquities dealer Abraham Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer) has kept the 'vampire of all vampires' locked away in a maximum security vault while trying to find new ways to kill the undying menace. But when high-tech thief Marcus (Omar Epps) and his gang breaks into Van Helsing's building and steals Dracula's coffin, thinking there's money inside, Van Helsing pursues the missing coffin with the help of Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), an employee at Van Helsing's company who has become somewhat of an adopted son to the old man.
DRACULA 2000 then transports us from London to New Orleans where Mardi Gras is in full swing and we are introduced to a troubled young woman named Mary (Justine Waddell) who is suffering from terrible nightmares. It's soon revealed that not only is Mary Van Helsing's estranged daughter (he's in his 100s, she's in her 20s so you do the math… but whatever) and that through some strange revelations Mary finds out that she has some of Dracula's blood coursing through her veins. It's this blood that has attracted Dracula to Mary, and besides invading her dreams the bloodsucker wants to possess her since she's the only one who will ever fully understand him, both being born with vampire blood in their veins.
Now it's up to Simon and Abraham to save Mary from the world's most popular bloodsucker before she's lost under Dracula's spell forever.
To its credit, DRACULA 2000 takes the centuries-old Bram Stoker Dracula mythos and gives it a fantastically clever modern spin on a story we've seen adapted for film countless times. The re-invented history of Van Helsing and Dracula is quite good here and some of the other homages/twists on why Dracula is immortal manage to be some highly effective material for horror fans.
Butler, well before he became Mr. "This is Sparta!" for Zack Snyder in the 2006 flick 300, turns in solid work in DRACULA 2000 and the rest of the cast all manage within their screentime well as well. We get a proverbial who's who of modern movies (and television as well) with appearances by Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Danny Masterson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Nathan Fillion (!!), Jeri Ryan, Shane West and Lochlyn Munro- seriously, who wasn't in this movie?
The other huge issue surrounding DRACULA 2000 is that the movie feels like Lussier was striving for more of an action flick than ever wanting to make a horror movie since his story and approach offers up very little in the scares department. There's clearly a MATRIX influence all of the film as well- from the long trench coats to the wire work stunts and even down to the 'sunglasses while kicking ass' look some of the characters- that actually cheapens the look of the film to me. There's a lot of great eye candy (meaning: aesthetics and hot chicks with cleavage aplenty) as well but overall, Lussier should have tried to find a way to balance his scares better with his action (a la BLADE).
At the end of the day, DRACULA 2000 isn't the worst vampire movie I've ever seen but it's certainly not on my top five vampire movies list either. Had an untested at the time Lussier taken more care with his story and cast a compelling lead for the film, perhaps DRACULA 2000 would have fared better. It's definitely worth noting that not only was this film profitable for Dimension but has also spawned two sequels (both also helmed by Lussier) since its release which proves that there are a lot of viewers out there who, like myself, can overlook the flaws in DRACULA 2000 and enjoy the film for what it is: a mindless, entertaining romp with a lot of great performances, homages and features a then up-and-coming Butler before he became all mega-sexified in 300.
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