Dracula Untold (2014)

[thisisitgoodbye2]

Last summer I read an article online on a film website that said something about a Dracula-related movie that was set to be released in 2014. I know I am probably a bit late, but I have just re-stumbled across this film since that time and now I finally know what it will be about from given information.

Dracula Untold is an upcoming historical horror-drama film that will follow the story of Prince Vlad Tepes, one of the major inspirations behind Bram Stoker's infamous vampire Dracula, the Father of Vampires.

Logline: "Follows a young prince who, when the lives of his wife and child are put in danger by a bloodthirsty sultan, risks his soul to save them, and in the process becomes the first vampire."

"The project hopes to set the tone for the modern age with a historical-oriented origin story, and, the story is a mix of mythology and history as it follows the story of Prince Vlad, the inspiration for the Dracula character popularized by Bram Stoker's novel."

It is set to be released on 17 October, 2014 by Universal Pictures.

So, fellow Dracula fans, what do you make of this? Do you think this film will be any good or yet again another poorly made historically-based drama? The cast doesn't seem to be TOO recognizable and I don't think I've ever heard of this Director before. If he is new, this may be a "big break" for him, should this film turn out to be good. The only crew I recognize are the producers, the composer and the D.P. I read Brad Pitt was to be involved in some way, but I guess rumors were false.

Personally, I have high hopes and enthusiastic optimism towards this film. Dracula backstories don't come around that often in any form, and given the vast amount of vampire garbage that we are spoonfed in today's day, maybe this is another small sign of progress?

[Captain Talavar]

How did I not notice this thread!?

1) Real quick, as far as the Brad Pitt thing, there's been a ton of Dracula movies in development, and some of them had similar ideas. Brad Pitt was slated to produce a film based entirely on the life of the historical Vlad III Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler as his enemies referred to him after he died (I'm a stickler for that; it annoys me how people always refer to him by a name intended as an insult). That film, however, is stuck in development hell. THIS film uses elements of the historical Dracula's life to tell an origin story for the fictional Dracula, being Count Dracula of the famous Bram Stoker tale.

2) I read a draft of the screenplay, from way back in 2006 when it was called Dracula: Year Zero, was going to be directed by Alex Proyas of The Crow and Dark City fame, and was going to star Sam Worthington from Avatar and Clash of the Titans. However, all those people left, sooo yeah.

Now, the draft I read had the potential to be great. Its biggest flaw was that it seemed structured like a video game. Dracula met some supernatural individual or creature, and after that encounter he gained some new supernatural power, and sometimes a new weakness as well. The best thing they could have done for this screenplay is trim it down in that respect.

One of the things that I did like, as an old school vampire and Dracula fan, is that he not only had all the classic powers and weaknesses, but it was explained where they came from, and they actually influenced the plot. For instance, people often forget that Dracula could control the weather and call upon storm clouds and winds. This ability is used to great effect in the story. My favorite moment was when he used old school vampire hypnosis/mind control at one point, and he held out his hand to do it. I instantly thought of Bela Lugosi, and considering this is a Universal film, and thus Universal's latest attempt to revive its classic monster brand, I was giddy with excitement, and I hope they left that little piece in.

3) One thing I can tell you is that there's a lot of action in it. Several battles between Dracula and his humble Wallachian army vs the Ottomans led by Mehmed. I expect a lot of bloodshed, unless that's been neutered in subsequent drafts of the script. If it gets a PG-13, it's probably going to be a hard PG-13. If it gets an R I won't be too surprised based on the content.

That said, it isn't necessarily a pure action movie. There were moments in this draft that read more like scenes from a horror film that just happened to have a badass warrior protagonist, and even then he himself becomes monstrous over the course of the film, sooo. Baba Yaga is a character in the film, and the way they brought her house-on-chicken-feet to life in the screenplay was really creepy, not at all like a house on two giant legs.

With the right direction, I'd expect a film with a good amount of hard-edged action, supernatural horror, a feeling of gloomy dread throughout the whole thing, and a decent drama about a man who becomes a monster in his attempt to do right by his people.

BUT, it's all about the execution. I do not know what the latest draft of the script looks like, and I do not know how this Gary Shore guy is as a director. Time will tell. The first trailer is expected to play in front of Godzilla.

[thisisitgoodbye2]

Captain Talavar

How did I not notice this thread!?

1) Real quick, as far as the Brad Pitt thing, there's been a ton of Dracula movies in development, and some of them had similar ideas. Brad Pitt was slated to produce a film based entirely on the life of the historical Vlad III Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler as his enemies referred to him after he died (I'm a stickler for that; it annoys me how people always refer to him by a name intended as an insult). That film, however, is stuck in development hell. THIS film uses elements of the historical Dracula's life to tell an origin story for the fictional Dracula, being Count Dracula of the famous Bram Stoker tale.

2) I read a draft of the screenplay, from way back in 2006 when it was called Dracula: Year Zero, was going to be directed by Alex Proyas of The Crow and Dark City fame, and was going to star Sam Worthington from Avatar and Clash of the Titans. However, all those people left, sooo yeah.

Now, the draft I read had the potential to be great. Its biggest flaw was that it seemed structured like a video game. Dracula met some supernatural individual or creature, and after that encounter he gained some new supernatural power, and sometimes a new weakness as well. The best thing they could have done for this screenplay is trim it down in that respect.

One of the things that I did like, as an old school vampire and Dracula fan, is that he not only had all the classic powers and weaknesses, but it was explained where they came from, and they actually influenced the plot. For instance, people often forget that Dracula could control the weather and call upon storm clouds and winds. This ability is used to great effect in the story. My favorite moment was when he used old school vampire hypnosis/mind control at one point, and he held out his hand to do it. I instantly thought of Bela Lugosi, and considering this is a Universal film, and thus Universal's latest attempt to revive its classic monster brand, I was giddy with excitement, and I hope they left that little piece in.

3) One thing I can tell you is that there's a lot of action in it. Several battles between Dracula and his humble Wallachian army vs the Ottomans led by Mehmed. I expect a lot of bloodshed, unless that's been neutered in subsequent drafts of the script. If it gets a PG-13, it's probably going to be a hard PG-13. If it gets an R I won't be too surprised based on the content.

That said, it isn't necessarily a pure action movie. There were moments in this draft that read more like scenes from a horror film that just happened to have a badass warrior protagonist, and even then he himself becomes monstrous over the course of the film, sooo. Baba Yaga is a character in the film, and the way they brought her house-on-chicken-feet to life in the screenplay was really creepy, not at all like a house on two giant legs.

With the right direction, I'd expect a film with a good amount of hard-edged action, supernatural horror, a feeling of gloomy dread throughout the whole thing, and a decent drama about a man who becomes a monster in his attempt to do right by his people.

BUT, it's all about the execution. I do not know what the latest draft of the script looks like, and I do not know how this Gary Shore guy is as a director. Time will tell. The first trailer is expected to play in front of Godzilla.

Ah! I've left this thread abandoned for over four months now! I just saw the recent trailer for the movie that was released about two weeks ago, and it reminded me about it at all.

In response to your reply (apologies for getting back this late): Thank you for all of the insight! I hadn't known much about it up until now. The trailer looked decent, but I can't say I'm really "digging it" as much as I thought I would. Something about it still makes me feel a bit rusty and unsettled, but I'll still most definitely give the film a try. I also managed to find the script that you are referring to online but I'd rather not spoil it ahead of time.