"Dracula's Curse" is a pretty problematic vampire effort.
**SPOILERS**
Following a successful mission, Col. Rufus King, (Tom Downey) and his team, Jacob Van Helsing, (Rhett Giles) Gracie Johansson, (Eliza Swenson) Trixie McFly, (Rebekah Kochan) Anastasia Ravenwood, (Marie Westbrook) Sadie Macpherson, (Sarah Hall) Nebraska, (Chriss Anglin) and Maximilian, (Justin Jones) are told of a truce between the vampire elite and their representatives, ending their fighting. After several years of relative peace, Rafe, (Jeff Denton) informs him that a member of the vampire clans has started abducting women who are of pure-blood descent in order to regain the power they once had. When they come across Rick Tollinger, (Tom Nagel) the boyfriend of one of their victims, who offers to help them out, they realize all along that Countess Bathory, (Christina Rosenberg) and her three brides have been responsible for all the recent vampire trouble and they race to get the others back together before they can complete their evil plan.
The Good News: There was some good stuff here. One of the better elements here is the film's rather fun action scenes, which are a lot of fun. The opening encounter is a great example, with the confrontation in the crypt, complete with the utterly-freaky vampires as well as the atmospheric setting in the dank basement and the bloody markings along the wall in the highway before it gets to the main action in the staking in the big coffin-filled room and the later efforts with the kung-fu fight in the adjacent room as well as a very enjoyable gunfight to go along with it. Another big action scene is the shoot-out in the bar, as the creatures are mowed down in automatic gunfire before turning into a rather nice brawl and into the best part when it becomes a full-on martial arts fight between the lesbian brides in a very energetic scene. A later sword-fight between several individuals later on is also rather good, and a later attack scene between them is rather nice. The big action scene, though, is the ambush on the vampire-den, where the hunters deal with the first wave of vampires quite nicely, the confrontations with the queen are quite good and the final revelation, handled through flashback, is impressive for the impact it has on the rather unique storyline it presents and the images created, as the visual impact of the winged demon appearing in the forest is rather impressive, and all around the scene is really good. There's also some nifty and quite-striking visuals in here, as the flashback dream to the Transylvanian woodlands, with the eerie fog and dead trees in the area create a rather creepy and unsettling sequence, and the savagery of the turning and the sensuality of the brides are all meshed together into a great scene. This one's also got some fun with its sleaze, mainly in the brides but also the abduction scene which shows them seducing the girl while she's with her boyfriend. Another one is the vampires bathing nude in a bathtub of blood as they cavort around her. The last plus here is the storyline, which is quite nice as it mixes actual history to rationalize its new-found mythology, but these are all that work.
The Bad News: There was a lot of stuff wrong with this one, one of the biggest problems here is the fact that, in spite of the film's extreme length, this one still feels the need to talk everything out instead of showing it. The length would be ideal to have scenes such as the attack on the vampire counsel or their rampage through the underworld, yet there is a series of huge problems here. First, the former is the only one attempted yet hardly any of it is shown and instead is explained out in detail later on, while the latter never is and both tend to showcase that one point, it never shows anything and talks everything out. That is especially troubling since it is the main plot point to engage the film's later actions, and if it can't be bothered to show the actions everyone is so concerned and freaked-out over, then it really diminishes the power it has over the ability to fear the main villain and really drags this one out. By really showing a lot more of those scenes, it shortens the film and doesn't become a problem to get over. Another problem in the film is that, in order to compensate, some scenes just go on way too long and aren't that exciting or thrilling. The extended training sequence filled with rather useless tactics and clichéd training scene segments that are just plain expected to be in here, only at a much longer clip and expanded. The montage of getting the group back together and the updates on their lives are like that as well, going far longer than it really should in just dragging its action out, and especially since this is the first time several of them are definitively named for us, it's just one more problem to overcome. The fact that the rules and regulations in the vampire society are never quite clear is something else to this, and it's pretty confusing to see all this rule-breaking going on when we don't know it's something that's breaking the rules. The last flaw to this one is the fact that the editing during the vampire den assault is just utterly confusing, makes the results so hard to figure out that it really robs the chaos of the moment. These here are the film's flaws.
The Final Verdict: Definitely a problematic entry, if for no other reason than a couple of story problems rather than anything else fundamental about it, so it's still got some good stuff to it. Recommended for those interested, fans of the studio or the actors or vampire aficionados, while others should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity
**SPOILERS**
Following a successful mission, Col. Rufus King, (Tom Downey) and his team, Jacob Van Helsing, (Rhett Giles) Gracie Johansson, (Eliza Swenson) Trixie McFly, (Rebekah Kochan) Anastasia Ravenwood, (Marie Westbrook) Sadie Macpherson, (Sarah Hall) Nebraska, (Chriss Anglin) and Maximilian, (Justin Jones) are told of a truce between the vampire elite and their representatives, ending their fighting. After several years of relative peace, Rafe, (Jeff Denton) informs him that a member of the vampire clans has started abducting women who are of pure-blood descent in order to regain the power they once had. When they come across Rick Tollinger, (Tom Nagel) the boyfriend of one of their victims, who offers to help them out, they realize all along that Countess Bathory, (Christina Rosenberg) and her three brides have been responsible for all the recent vampire trouble and they race to get the others back together before they can complete their evil plan.
The Good News: There was some good stuff here. One of the better elements here is the film's rather fun action scenes, which are a lot of fun. The opening encounter is a great example, with the confrontation in the crypt, complete with the utterly-freaky vampires as well as the atmospheric setting in the dank basement and the bloody markings along the wall in the highway before it gets to the main action in the staking in the big coffin-filled room and the later efforts with the kung-fu fight in the adjacent room as well as a very enjoyable gunfight to go along with it. Another big action scene is the shoot-out in the bar, as the creatures are mowed down in automatic gunfire before turning into a rather nice brawl and into the best part when it becomes a full-on martial arts fight between the lesbian brides in a very energetic scene. A later sword-fight between several individuals later on is also rather good, and a later attack scene between them is rather nice. The big action scene, though, is the ambush on the vampire-den, where the hunters deal with the first wave of vampires quite nicely, the confrontations with the queen are quite good and the final revelation, handled through flashback, is impressive for the impact it has on the rather unique storyline it presents and the images created, as the visual impact of the winged demon appearing in the forest is rather impressive, and all around the scene is really good. There's also some nifty and quite-striking visuals in here, as the flashback dream to the Transylvanian woodlands, with the eerie fog and dead trees in the area create a rather creepy and unsettling sequence, and the savagery of the turning and the sensuality of the brides are all meshed together into a great scene. This one's also got some fun with its sleaze, mainly in the brides but also the abduction scene which shows them seducing the girl while she's with her boyfriend. Another one is the vampires bathing nude in a bathtub of blood as they cavort around her. The last plus here is the storyline, which is quite nice as it mixes actual history to rationalize its new-found mythology, but these are all that work.
The Bad News: There was a lot of stuff wrong with this one, one of the biggest problems here is the fact that, in spite of the film's extreme length, this one still feels the need to talk everything out instead of showing it. The length would be ideal to have scenes such as the attack on the vampire counsel or their rampage through the underworld, yet there is a series of huge problems here. First, the former is the only one attempted yet hardly any of it is shown and instead is explained out in detail later on, while the latter never is and both tend to showcase that one point, it never shows anything and talks everything out. That is especially troubling since it is the main plot point to engage the film's later actions, and if it can't be bothered to show the actions everyone is so concerned and freaked-out over, then it really diminishes the power it has over the ability to fear the main villain and really drags this one out. By really showing a lot more of those scenes, it shortens the film and doesn't become a problem to get over. Another problem in the film is that, in order to compensate, some scenes just go on way too long and aren't that exciting or thrilling. The extended training sequence filled with rather useless tactics and clichéd training scene segments that are just plain expected to be in here, only at a much longer clip and expanded. The montage of getting the group back together and the updates on their lives are like that as well, going far longer than it really should in just dragging its action out, and especially since this is the first time several of them are definitively named for us, it's just one more problem to overcome. The fact that the rules and regulations in the vampire society are never quite clear is something else to this, and it's pretty confusing to see all this rule-breaking going on when we don't know it's something that's breaking the rules. The last flaw to this one is the fact that the editing during the vampire den assault is just utterly confusing, makes the results so hard to figure out that it really robs the chaos of the moment. These here are the film's flaws.
The Final Verdict: Definitely a problematic entry, if for no other reason than a couple of story problems rather than anything else fundamental about it, so it's still got some good stuff to it. Recommended for those interested, fans of the studio or the actors or vampire aficionados, while others should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity