Dracula Untold blends fact and fiction with middling results

The story of Dracula has been around, well, since Bram Stoker published his book in 1897 (which was by no means the first vampire tale). Stoker introduced the world to the aristocratic count from Transylvania, but Stoker’s tale was made up from whole cloth. The author’s point to the story was actually about Continental Europeans invading England. The book wasn’t even titled Dracula until a few weeks before publication when Stoker came across the name and historical accounts of Vlad Tepes (the character was originally called Count Wampyre).

Since then, it’s been believed that Stoker’s Dracula was based on the real Dracula, blurring the lines of fact and fiction. No film has really touched upon the historical Dracula except for a brief prologue in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and further blurring that line is the new horror/action thriller Dracula Untold.

The new film tells the mostly true story of Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans), Transylvanian ruler trying to protect his land from the Turks. Transylvania has been enjoying a time of peace until Turkish ruler Mehmed (Dominic Cooper) demands 10,000 boys as young as 10 years of age to fight in his army. Knowing an invasion is imminent unless he complies, Vlad seeks out a creature living in a distant mountain to gain the strength to fight Mehmed’s army.

It turns out this creature is a centuries old vampire who can offer Vlad what he needs, but there could be consequences. Once Vlad drinks of the elder’s blood, he’ll have the power he needs but he has to fight the thirst for blood for three days. If he fails, the elder’s curse is broken and Vlad is doomed to an eternity of hiding in the darkness.

Dracula Untold isn’t a great film, but it’s not a bad film either. The first part of the film, especially the scene with the elder, is pretty riveting. The last part of the film, when Vlad has to make a decision that will defeat the Turks but could come with some tragic consequences if he doesn’t quite think things through is also great fun. The mid-section of the movie, with the back-and-forth between Vlad and Mehmed, and Vlad trying to hide his condition from his family while fighting his thirst gets a little draggy.

The performances are all fine, but Luke Evans dominates the screen as he’s in pretty much every frame (unless he’s a bunch of special effects bats). He’s strong, loving, magnetic, devoted to his family and the people of Transylvania. Also a standout is Charles Dance as the elder, bringing a true sense of dread to his one scene with Evans. The movie really could have used a little more of him.

Director Gary Shore tries to keep things moving along, and while it is a big special effects extravaganza he does keep the use of CGI under control, used mainly during the big battle scenes. What’s really interesting about the movie now is that it has apparently become a launching pad for a new series of movies featuring the classic Universal monsters. The Mummy is already in the works, and as that will take place in the present it appears a new ending was added to this film bringing Dracula into the present as well (sort of like at the end of the first Captain America movie). It’s an interesting ending if you know your Dracula trivia, but it leaves one big unanswered question about another character who technically should not be there (unless I missed something).

Dracula Untold does use a lot of historical fact to bring the story of Vlad Tepes to the screen, so it gets points for that. I just wish it could have been a little more interesting between its bookends. It will be interesting now to see if Universal can create its own Marvel-style universe with its most famous movie characters.