Dracula Didn’t Always Suck.

Nosferatu were not always a joke. Once considered a literary masterpiece, Dracula was a timeless story that haunted and enthralled the hearts of science fiction lovers across the world, proving to be as immortal as its vampire star. The new film Dracula Untold, however, fell short of even corny vampire standards.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a classic horror film lover, but don’t think that’s where my hatred for the current world’s vampire ideology originates. Don’t get me wrong, there may never be a better Dracula than Gary Oldman or Richard Roxburgh, but with the advancements in education and technology, to see something like the new Dracula Untold is simply catastrophic.

When I saw the commercials advertising the new Dracula, my heart stopped. There I was, thinking that the world may finally have a Dracula to save the fang’s image for vampire lovers everywhere, yet what I found after waiting an eternity, no pun intended, was a pathetic copycat movie with new high-definition graphics that would make even The Count roll over in his coffin.

As a viewer, I was promised a spin on the traditional legend that would shake the very foundation of the cheesy, stereotypical connotations attached to the vampire culture. All that was given to viewers was another cheap adaptation of a classic that not only lacked creativity, but sucked the life out of the mystery’s originality altogether. The storyline is based solely on a desperate count at war with an unstoppable force who’s forced to make dark decisions in order to save his people from enslavement and slaughter. Can anyone say 300 with an undead twist? Bram Stoker’s romantic, yet terrifying tale of the damned prince of night was created to be a story describing the battle of true love destined to stand the tests of time and triumph over tragedies of Satan himself.

Dracula Untold is a miserable adaptation focusing on the man supposedly behind the legends, Vlad the Impaler, in an attempt to meld the mortal man with his vampire alter ego. Come on, Hollywood. Pick a story and stick to it.

As if the knock-off idea behind the plot wasn’t bad enough, the acting and organizational structure of the film’s storyline was weak and kept my attention for mere minutes. While audiences are thrown into the story headfirst with absolutely no character development what-so-ever, the sudden appearance of vampires with little explanation to their origin or purpose shames the significance of vampric legends. By ignoring vampire origins completely as well as forgetting one of the legend’s key details, that Dracula was the first of his kind, Hollywood staked the only character history deemed indestructible.

If anyone respects the vampric culture that began with Bram Stoker’s ever immortal Dracula as much as I do, I would warn them to steer clear of the 2014 watered-down version, Dracula Untold. This film has sharper fangs than its protagonist and will drain you of your love for the immortals forever.