31 Days of Horror Reviews: Dracula Untold

REVIEW

Universal’s attempt at giving the famous literary villain a superhero origin story has its strengths as well as its flaws. While more character driven than plot driven, Dracula Untold succeeds in making us sympathize with our main hero (Luke Evans), but fails at subverting our expectations when it comes to his destiny. That being said, it is refreshing to see a Dracula movie that explored the man he used to be rather than another remake.

Instead of the main character being Dracula, it’s Prince Vlad of Wallachia who makes a bargain with a vampire to gain power. For what reason? To protect his family and kingdom from an invading army after refusing Sultan Mehmet’s (Dominic Cooper) orders to hand over every child to be trained as soldiers. This noble sacrifice can be seen as a betrayal to the character as well as historically inaccurate from the actual Vlad The Impaler, but for me it’s a welcomed change because this aspect is consistent throughout the movie. Evans masterfully conveys the weight of Vlad’s history and the impact of his decisions that I truly see Evans as Vlad.

The other great thing about Dracula Untold is that it added to the lore. In a majority of vampire stories, Dracula is the original vampire. Here, he’s actually the second vampire to exist! Vlad makes a deal with a vampire who has his own story within the movie and even promises that he’ll summon Vlad as his servant in the future.

There’s a third person in this shot

There were rumors that this movie was going to be the start of a cinematic universe, because THAT’S WHAT EVERYONE IS DOING NOW! But it makes sense for Universal to do it because they were the first studio do it with their monster movies. The problem that studios have with this venture that Marvel didn’t is that they focus more on setting up future movies instead of focusing on the character (Batman v Superman and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 come to mind). Dracula Untold managed to avoid that problem by focusing solely on one story line and only hinting at possible sequels once in the entire movie. It was also by dumb luck that the movie was already in production before the studio decided to start a shared universe. The producers found out about this and added in a present-day epilogue that Universal could use if they wanted too. With the release of The Mummy (2017) set as the first film in Universal’s Dark Universe, this movie has been deemed non-canon which is a real shame because the ending to this movie actually got me excited for future entries more than The Mummy ever did.

SO WHY DID IT FAIL?

While most of the criticisms point towards the characterization, I see other reasons why this movie failed. Firstly, it plays more like a superhero movie set during the Middle Ages rather than a Gothic tragedy which would be perfect given the time period. Secondly, the plot is predictable. The problem with a Dracula origin story is we know how the story goes so any attempt to try to surprise the viewer is pointless. Thirdly, there’s very little conflict in the movie aside from Vlad trying to resist the thirst for blood. Being the prince and leader of a nation where the citizens know you’re a vampire can lead to conflict from people that were once friends which doesn’t happen for very long in this movie.

Finally and what I think is the main reason why the movie failed critically was the title. Dracula is a character that has been around for over 100 years and has only had one kind of image: The Aristocratic Blood Sucker. That is an image so ingrained into the character that we really can’t see him in the role of the hero. But that’s the thing: Dracula isn’t the main character, Vlad is. So having “Dracula” in the title hurts the movie more than helps it. In my opinion, a different title like “Vlad: Prince of Wallachia” or just “Prince of Wallachia” would’ve worked better in the movie’s favor. But what’s done is done.

In conclusion, Dracula Untold may not be the best Dracula film, but it is the most entertaining and engaging one.