Dracula Untold

Movie Name: Dracula Untold
Year of Release: 2014

Director: Gary Shore

Stars: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance, Diarmaid Murtagh, Paul Kaye, William Houston, Noah Huntley
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4

Synopsis:

"Dracula Untold" is the first feature from director Gary Shore, and aims to shed new light on the story of Dracula (and uses the premise of the book written by Bram Stoker as a base canvas). The film follows the story of Prince Vlad, who is forced to make a deal with a supernatural creature in order to save his family and kingdom from the eminent attack from the Turks. This entity makes Vlad into a supernatural force which unbalances the attack of the Turks, who aim to personally attack Vlad at every instance. It's up to him to defend his family and kingdom with these new powers, that come with some drastic consequences.
Gary Shore's "Dracula Untold" is a feature that tries to present a different side to a story that has been told by many directors, some of whom are now classics, namely "Nosferatu" from F. W. Murnau and more recently "Bram Stoker's Dracula" from Francis Ford Coppola. Shore's vision is sadly very diminished by a mediocre screenplay that gives nothing new to an engrossing mythological creature and backstory - the characters feel flat and uni-dimensional (the supporting characters barely register), and the villainous figure of the film is barely menacing (there's really no sense of menace). The film benefits from some interesting visual choices from the director, the costumes from Ngila Dickson are stunning, and the lead actors are solid, particularly Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon and Charles Dance. Overall this is a mediocre effort that brings nothing new to a classic mythological story.