Dracula Untold (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Gary Shore
	Actors: Luke Evans (The Hobbit 1-3), Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon (Enemy, 11.22.63), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones)
	Country: USA, J
	Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 29.05.2017, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: After spending years fighting for the Turks, Vlad the Empalor (Evans) has returned to his home Transylvania to rule his people and leave peacefully with wife (Gadon) and son. Until a request from the invader pushes him to make an unholy pact.
Review: I was not particularly tempted to watch this re-visitation of the classic story when it went out in 2014, but this time decided to give a shot anyway. Beyond classic Dracula stories like Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula and Murnau's or Herzog's Nosferatu, I also appreciated the rather B-movie Dracula 2001 by Wes Craven and with Gerald Butler, and I won't speak too much of oddities like Scream, Blacula, Scream. Untold has the modernity of 2001 but is much more serious with its topic and sticks to the origins of the Monster, a story not often told I believe. This Count Dracula is a very decent man in fact, forced to become a Monster by his enemies. The movie focuses on his struggle to keep his people and family safe, while as you would expect the pact he made grants him strength and power but is also cursed. The atmosphere is pretty grim and dark, special effects are good and Evans is invested by the role, shadowing all other actors apart from the terrifying Master efficiently played by Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones). Influences by movies like 300 are kept in check so in the end the movie find its place and identity.
Rating: 6 /10