Dracula 2000 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Dracula 2000 Blu-ray Movie Review

"Where'd you dig up that old fossil?!?"

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 27, 2015

Some things are better left in the past. Neither the turn of the century nor the dawn of a new millennium are reason enough to reinvent the wheel or dig up old bones solely for the purpose of polishing, rearranging, or replacing them. Of course, cinema has never been afraid to do what it wants with any kind of story, no matter how badly the latest but usually not greatest movie messes with mythology, frays the fabric of a franchise, or warps the world of pre-established and beloved characters. Dracula 2000 does all of that, and then some, in a juiced-up brand extension that sees the famously fanged prince of darkness reborn in modern times and given a ludicrous backstory that, suffice it to say, goes far back in the annals of good-versus-evil because...who knows why. It was different. But different doesn't always equal good. The movie is a simple, forgettable one, even outside of its rewriting of lore, as it dutifully trudges through the tropes of a genre at the peak of its manufactured worst.

"I am Dracula! And someone else you may or may not have heard of."

A group of modern-day marauders, with a llitle help from the inside, infiltrates the secret stash of antiquities dealer Matthew Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer) in search of epic treasure. While the break-ininitially only nets them some throwaway relics, the eventually stumble upon a coffin protected by a number of deadly traps. The survivors -- including group leader Marcus (Omar Epps) and insider Solina (Jennifer Esposito) -- manage to get away with the coffin and plop it on a plane bound for New Orleans. Dracula (Gerard Butler) rises form the coffin mid-flight, causes it to crash, and winds up in New Orleans, free of captivity and in pursuit of a girl named Mary (Justine Waddell) with whom he shares a unique bond.

Dracula 2000 is, sadly, not only a bastardization cash-in on a popular Horror name, it's also a fairly poor film that favors style over substance to a fault. It falls into the trap of the worst of the late 90s, early 2000s Miramax/Dimension Horror films that are less about legitimate scares and more about play-it-safe moviemaking that's filled with pretty faces to line the poster art and video boxes of the then-burgeoning DVD market. Dracula 2000 is amongst the worst offenders, favoring a slick-and-smooth façade, a faux hip-and-happening style, a ludicrous story, generic or reinvented characters, and edgy, "cool" cinematography that all replaces a more classically styled gritty, skin-crawling, story-first Horror film. The movie markets less its story and more its fresh faces, less its scares and more its safety, less its foundations and more its superficialities. Even as the cast does its job of looking pretty and playing it cool, the larger film around them struggles to maintain an interest beyond a sort of macabre curiosity of how it will update -- read, ruin -- the Dracula lore next. In short, the film isn't concerned with the classic tale and character or even, it seems, what it does with them. It just wants to be part of a larger saturation of a specific sort of genre film aimed at a specific audience and sold through a specific marketing push. It's not lazy, it's just utterly soulless, manufactured, and transparent.

The film crams in a deep roster of high profile actors who, largely, go with the flow even when it reaches any number of absurd moments, from basic character revelations to its Matrix-fu Action scenes. The only true highlight of the thing is a young Gerard Butler who's at least mildly charismatic as Dracula, even as the character is underdeveloped on-screen and overdeveloped in backstory. While Butler's turn as the undead vamp isn't a revelation, there's at least a healthy little bit of stability to an otherwise dull part. Justine Waddell can't escape type tedium as the lead "everygirl" who must necessarily grow to face her fears and learn of her true past along the way. Jonny Lee Miller may as well be invisible, Omar Epps plays Omar Epps, and Christopher Plummer hopefully enjoyed whatever he bought with the fat check that came his way. The movie is at its succulent best when the three sultry vamps -- Vitamin C, Jennifer Esposito, and Seven of Jeri Ryan Nine -- glamorously tackle the chore of wearing revealing yet flowing garments and making sure their fangs stick out nice and far from their blood-red lips. And fans of Virgin Megastores can take a peek backwards in time and find not only a ton of prominent logo placement but a glimpse into an actual, functioning, largely dedicated music store. Ah, the good old days, relived in a bad old movie.

Dracula 2000 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dracula 2000 may modernize its character, but Echo Bridge hasn't modernized its Blu-ray. Chiming in at 1080i (yes, Echo Bridge couldn't be bothered to go all the way and -- gasp -- give this a proper 1080p encode) and framed at 1.78:1 rather than its theatrical 2.39:1 aspect ratio (only the opening tile sequence maintains the film's intended exhibition aspect ratio), the transfer is already a borderline loss before getting to the other problems, like grain that's been wiped way resulting in a grossly processed appearance, overly saturated colors, random pops and speckles, and occasional edge enhancement. On the plus side, the picture captures some solid enough base details along the way (even considering the noise reduction), which are particularly evident on facial close-ups and wooden textures. Black levels aren't grossly problematic, and neither are flesh tones. This is a watchable image, but it's better suited for some late-night cable presentation, not a Blu-ray disc.

Dracula 2000 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dracula 2000 bites into Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The good news? Lossless. The bad news? No multi-channel surround sound. Given the sorry state of the video, it's amazing this thing even gets a lossless soundtrack. It's at least serviceably aggressive, spilling music into the stage with an edge to be sure but never at a loss for volume and not costing it a whole lot of clarity. The same may be said of the many heavy action effects that play throughout: robust and well defined but not so much so as to fully pull the listener into the movie. Dialogue is generally well balanced and hearty, save for a noticeable shallowness when the audience first meets Mary and Lucy. Words echo around the vault with a fair sense of depth near the beginning. Like the video, this soundtrack will get listeners through the movie but it's not music to the ears of audiophiles or fans who crave a more precise and immersive listen, and expect one, on Blu-ray.

Dracula 2000 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only supplement included on this Blu-ray release of Dracula 2000 is an audio commentary with Director Patrick Lussier and Writer Joel Soisson.

Dracula 2000 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dracula 2000 is a throwaway Horror film that aims to reinvent an icon. And at the end of the day, it's probably a case of no harm, no foul. This isn't Dracula lore and canon. Serious scholars of Bram Stoker's most acclaimed creation won't touch this thing with a ten-foot crucifix or mention it as anything more than a curiosity in a footnote, which is about all this movie really deserves. If nothing else, it's a barely passable time killer and a peek into the worst of its era's manufactured mess of the Horror genre. The movie brings next to nothing else to the table. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray is equally terrible. A 1080i transfer at the wrong aspect ratio, 2.0 sound, and one extra make this a disc to avoid.