Dracula: The Dark Prince

Dracula: The Dark Prince is a 2013 American fantasy horror film directed by Pearry Reginald Teo and written by Nicole Jones-Dion and Steven Paul.^[1] The film stars Luke Roberts, Jon Voight, Kelly Wenham and Ben Robson.^[2][3] The film was shot in Romania and released on 15 October 2013.

Plot

Dracula, a Romanian prince, knight of the secret order of the dragon, and direct descendent of Abel is charged with the task of vanquishing the Turks from his homeland. While on campaign, he appoints his wife Erzebet to rule in his place. When he returns however, he finds that his wife has already been murdered by his advisers who were unhappy with his ways. An enraged Dracula turns against God and is cursed to spend an eternity in loneliness.

Centuries later, a group of keepers are attacked Wraith and his undead in their quest to find the Lightbringer, the only weapon that can kill Dracula. Sisters Alina and Esme are entrusted to bring the Lightbringer to Leonardo Van Helsing as their guards ward off an attack. A band of thieves led by Lucian finds the sisters and steal the Lightbringer. Leonardo arrives just as before the band is attacked by Wraith and his undead. During the struggle, Lucien manages to activate the Lightbringer revealing that he is a descendent of Cain and able to wield the weapon. He manages to injure Wraith with the weapon but most of the thieves are killed and Alina is kidnapped by Wraith and brought to Dracula. Dracula recognizes Alina as his murdered bride and instructs Renfield to protect her. Meanwhile, Leonardo tells Lucien about his lineage. The group discovers that the Lightbringer is activated by Lucien's blood to kill the undead and Leonardo goes on to say that with the blood of Dracula then, it can bring the dead to life. At the castle, Alina attempts to leave but is stopped by one of the Demetria who shows her the dining room and says that they like living there. As she becomes entranced by the atmosphere, the courtiers, who are revealed to be vampires attempt to bite her but Alina is rescued by Dracula just in time.

At Betriz, Esme, Leonardo, and Lucien arrives at a gathering of demon hunters where they meet Andros, an axe-welding giant who hunter who looks to avenge his sister who was taken long ago. Here Leonardo tells how one who is bitten can either suffer forever, become his slave by drinking his blood, or are killed. Andros joins the group to find Dracula's castle. Wraith and his undeads once again attacks the group and is this time mortally wounded by the Lightbringer. He returns to the castle and is revived by Dracula. At the castle, Dracula offers Alina his wife's necklace. The necklace grants Alina his wife's memories and she sees how Dracula was a tender lover long ago. Dracula then shows her the night sky and recount to her how his search for his lost love. The couple dance and Dracula tells her his dream that he will be able to use the Lightbringer to prevent God from ever taking someone's love from them again.

Outside, the group finds Dracula's castle with the aid of the Lightbringer and infiltrate it. As the group split up to look for Alina, Leonardo is defeated by Wraith and bitten by his vampires. Demetria, who is revealed to be Andros' long lost sister, tries to bite him before she is killed by Esme. Lucien finds Alina and the two rendezvous with the group but the castle's vampires awaken and attack. During the ensuing fight, Leonardo uses his crossbow to break the ceiling letting in the daylight allowing the group to escape run. Wraith catches up with the group but Andros imbeds his axe into him using him as an anchor to allow the group to fastrope down to safety. Wraith is pulled into the light and dies. The group gathers demon hunters outside and storm the castle. As one of Dracula's knight attempt to harm Alina, she calls to him and Dracula protects her turning on his knights. Renfield bites Lucien and uses his blood to wound Dracula as he is holding Alina. Renfield reveals that he is the one who lead the betrayal of Dracula and actual one who killed Erzebet and prepares to kill Alina but Esme kills him. Lucien stops Andros from attacking a mortally wounded Dracula and Alina takes him to his coffin. As she begs him to heal himself, he asks her "let me spend these last moments with you, it is better than a century alone".

Lucien vanished into the wildeness with a broken heart, Leonardo's descendents continues to hunt vampires, and Alina continues to wait to be reunited with Dracula.

Cast

• Luke Roberts as Dracula
• Jon Voight as Leonardo Van Helsing
• Kelly Wenham as Alina/Erzebet
• Ben Robson as Lucian
• Holly Earl as Esme
• Stephen Hogan as Renfield
• Richard Ashton as Andros
• Poppy Corby-Tuech as Demetria
• Vasilescu Valentin as Wrath

Reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews. It holds 31% out of 158 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes user ratings.^[4] On IMDb the film holds a 3.8/10 based on 1,295 reviews. Flickering Myth reviewed the film as "lacklustre direction, cheap sets [and] poor CGI".^[5]

References

External links

• Dracula: The Dark Prince at the Internet Movie Database