DRACULA UNTOLD

Before there was Bram Stoker’s Dracula, there was the inspiration behind story. Meet Vlad the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia, from the House of Dracula, ruling from 1456 to 1462. In ‘Dracula Untold’, the feature film debut for director Gary Shore, we’re introduced to Vlad as a cold, calculating child soldier fighting for the Turks. He grew up a warrior and legend only to become disgusted by his past actions, now vowing to rule in the name of peace.

When the new Sultan Mehmed (Dominic Cooper) comes, demanding 1000 more boys to train and fight in his name, Vlad’s son Ingeras (Art Parkinson) is on the list. Defying orders and inadvertently starting a war against the Turks, Vlad seeks out the evil that lives in the mountains to gain the extra strength and power required to beat his enemies and protect his family and people - but there is a price.

Movie audiences are lapping up origin stories these days, and still left begging for more. ‘Dracula Untold’ has gone more than a few steps further and far beyond tales of radioactive spiders and gamma rays, turning instead to the things that go bump in the night and a current Hollywood obsession. ‘Dracula Untold’ is very clever in that it’s giving a tired tale more heft by placing front and centre a man who will do anything for his family - a noble man - and thrown more at him then simply blood, garlic and wooden stakes; they’ve given him a purpose, a reason, and it’s a good one.