The Asylum's 2022 Dracula: The Original, Living Vampire, directed by Maximillian (War of the Worlds: Annihilation) Eldfelt and adapted by Michael (The Boulet Brothers' Dragula) Verrati, is now making the rounds. It was no doubt greenlit to capitalize on Daniel Espinoza's Morbius (the Marvel-ous subtitle says it all) and (perhaps more by accident than plan) Chris McKay's Renfield. However, this particular, Asylum Dracula (and this isn't the company's first, mind you) offers several interesting spins on Bram Stoker's material.
It's modernized for one, much like Patrick Lussier's Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000, and like the latter, uses characters from Stoker's novel in reinvented ways. Also, Jake Herbert's dashing Count drains the blood of redheads throughout London, while perceived as a standard serial killer and not a bat-morphing fiend...at first.
Christine Marsh Prouty's Amelia Van Helsing is determined to stop the "madman", though unlike most depictions of the vampire slayer, hers is devoid of religious zeal, using secular, CSI/Bones investigative techniques to track him.
Her efforts are abetted by her girlfriend, India Lillie Davies' Mina Murray, with Michael Ironside's Dr. Seward and Ryan Woodcock's Jonathan Harker acting as forensic experts, and Stuart Packer's Renfield now a puppeteered police captain. (Ana Ilic plays the cameoing Miss Lucy.) Though the characters' designations may be tweaked, their general interactions with The Count adhere to Stoker's format. In other words, none are safe in the demon's presence.
There does come a point when Dracula's extraordinary emanation can't be denied, though it's again police work that peels away the arduous layers. It's also Harker, more than Van Helsing, who strikes the supernatural undercurrent, making the intrepid civil servant more a Carl Kolchak variant than a man of mere, practical concern. In other ways, the Harker/Van Helsing component alludes to the X-Files' Scully and Mulder.
To the retelling's advantage, Herbert's Count is suave, glib and formidable enough to make viewers believe he can keep the principles at bay. His showdown with Van Helsing and Harker is one of new-world values versus old, of secularism versus fanciful faith. The culminating tension gives the redux an unexpected sophistication not found in most Asylum productions.
Also, like a '70s Hammer outing, this new Dracula isn't shy to arose, as shown in a bedroom scene featuring Van Helsing and Murray. Sure, the amorous moment doesn't add much to the plot, but few are apt to complain. (It would have been nice, though, if Ironside had more screen time, for though he's listed as the movie's headliner and plays a splendid Seward, the seasoned performer is too often stuck to the sidelines.)
Asylum's Dracula is by no means a great adaptation of Stoker's book or the most lavish update on the tale, but it should satisfy The Count's legion of fans, granting an agreeable, ninety minutes to his undying legacy, and who can fault the film (or its cash-in makers) for that?
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