You think you know the story of Dracula, the blood-sucking Prince of Darkness himself? Think again! If you thought that the Twilight saga, The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, HBO’s True Blood and NBC’s Dracula had successfully squeezed all the life from Hollywood’s recent vampire craze… you’re probably right. But that’s not about to stop Universal Pictures from trying to sell you yet another vampire flick this fall with Dracula Untold.
The first trailer for the epic medieval fantasy paints Dracula as the valiant Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans), who makes a deal with the Devil in order to protect his young son from invading Turks. It’s interesting that a character so traditionally vilified will be first seen as a hero in Dracula Untold – but hey, if it worked for Maleficent, who’s saying it won’t work this time around?
Dracula Untold looks a lot less like a vampire film than a medieval epic – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, Snow White and the Huntsman did gangbusters commerically, and CG-heavy action epics like 300 have been met with success both critically and commercially for tapping into the general public’s lust for guts and glory. If Dracula Untold can succeed in turning the famous Count into an action hero with a quasi-relatable backstory and considerable dramatic pathos, I’m totally on board with that.
Gary Shore makes his directorial debut on the film, which also stars Sarah Gadon as Vlad’s beloved wife, Art Parkinson as his son, Samantha Barks as a witch Baba Yaga who helps Vlad turn himself into a force to be reckoned with, and Dominic Cooper as the big bad, a Turkish military man. Charlie Cox (Marvel’s new Daredevil), Diarmaid Murtagh, Zach McGowan, and Thor Kristjansson all have supporting roles.
Dracula Untold will take a bite out of the box office on October 17th. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.