Monster
Crap Inductee: Dracula 2000
Sadly,
Dracula Does Not Kick Anyone Into The Pit Of Doom
2000
Well,
it is once again time to go back to top literature vampire of all time in
Dracula and last time we did a Dracula film, he was in freaking space with
Casper Van Dien, Coolio, Erika Eleniak, and the late Tony “Tiny” Lister.
RIP….You
Gave Us A Lot Of Enjoyment
But
4 years before that movie, we had Hollywood in the late 90s try to reinvent
Dracula into the 21st Century with all the Hollywood glam of the late 90s
because those who lived through it might remember, the year 2000 was a pretty
big freaking deal. I mean we had stupid crap like the idea that the Y2K bug
would kill us all, everyone wondering how futuristic things would be (spoiler:
we overestimated how far we would come by a lot), and of course, the whole idea
of naming everyone “Something 2000” or whatever. And thus this film came into
existence, presented to us by Wes Craven
Now
notice I said presented by, because despite all the taglines hyping his name
with this film, he was only an executive producer on this film and mostly with
a big name as an executive producer, it means someone paid them to put their
name to the project and not much more. Yeah, the actual director of this film
is one Patrick Lussier, whose only other directorial film was The Prophecy 3:
The Ascent, which came out the same year as Dracula 2000.
For
Those Who Don’t Know The Prophecy Films, The First Three Involved Christopher
Walken Wrecking Havoc As The Angel Gabriel. It Was A Well Known (Kind Of Snickered
At) Direct To Video Series. Maybe I’ll Induct One Of Those Films Someday.
And
like I said, this film would decide to get some people you may have heard of or
if you didn’t know their names, have seen in films like Omar Epps (who did a
lot of Urban films that were popular), Jeri Ryan (who was doing Star Trek
Voyager as the lovely Seven Of Nine), Christopher Plummer (who was a huge name
since The Sound Of Music), Jonny Lee Miller (who was in Trainspotting as Ewan
McGreggor’s pal), Jennifer Esposito (who broke out just a year ago in 1999’s
The Summer Of Sam), Danny Masterson (who was Hyde on That 70s Show) and the big
Hollywood debut of Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick better known as pop star Vitamin C.
Of
course, you also have guys who would be in other Monster Crap films like Sean
Patrick Thomas (who is in Halloween Resurrection),
And
of course, Danny Masterson had a bit part in the How To Make A Monster remake.
Before
Anyone Asks, I Will Talk More About Mr. Masterson’s Problems In The Aftermath
Because Oh Boy, Do I Have Some Shit To Say There.
But
the biggest thing they would get would be one no one would know about at the
time because at this time, he was a relative unknown who wowed the filmmakers
with his auditions and was given the role of the titular Dracula for this film.
The name of that actor…..a young Gerard Butler.
We
Will Get To This Actor’s Big Breaks When We Do This Film’s Aftermath.
But
let’s not wait any longer and let’s get to Dracula 2000.
First,
we find out it is from our pals at Dimension Films.
Makers
Of Those Crappy Hellraiser Sequels
Then
we get the title card.
We
continue with the rest of the credits being the Demeter’s trip from Hungary to
England.
If
you read the book or know many of the Dracula media, you would know this is the
ship Dracula would use to get from his castle in Transylvania to his castle in
London. He would also use the crew of this ship as a snack for the long days so
basically, they all got killed.
Like
So…
Dracula
got to England, but alas we need to stop and go to the present at the Carfax Antiques
store.
Inside,
we meet Simon Shepard and his mentor/boss Matthew Van Helsing.
They
are talking about a crossbow Simon got that is apparently from the 14th
Century. They make fun of Bram Stoker and Matthew wonders how his grandfather
could inspire something out of that Dracula book. When Simon asks about the
resale value, Matthew tells him this crossbow is not going to be resold as he
wants to keep it for himself. We then meet Matthew’s secretary Solina.
Simon
tries to hit on Solina, but she has no interest in him as she doesn’t date men
who she works with, which is a new rule she put in since they did have a fling
I guess, a month ago. Simon leaves feeling rejected while a young constable
comes up to the establishment.
We
soon find out that this is a disguise and that he is part of a group of bandits
led by Marcus who take out the store’s security guards.
The
guy in the constable outfit is named Trick and he basically shuts down security
with his hacking skills.
The
rest of the crew comes in like Nightshade, Eddie, and Dax.
You’ll
See Dax Later When He Is Dead
They
get into the vault and start looking for what they believe to be riches.
The
thieves go inside looking for what they can steal. Meanwhile, Solina notices
the safe unlocked and goes to investigate. She screams as she sees the skull
with vampire teeth.
You
would think with her stealth blown that she would be in trouble when the
bandits find her, but it turns out she is in out this theft and we find out she
has been going out with Marcus this whole time
Marcus
is not happy they haven’t found any treasures worth stealing and have only
found junk like crucifixes, skulls, and coffee cups. Solina says that they
don’t build a safe this advanced without something you don’t want stolen.
Meanwhile,
Matthew is in his office playing music and giving himself an injection of leech
blood
Who
The Hell Am I To Question What Stupid Shit Rich People Do? As Long As It Isn’t
Hurting Anyone Human (That Leech Got Thrown In The Fireplace), All Is Fine.
Ooooh,
That’s Good Leech Blood
Back
in the vault pathways, Nightshade is wondering if they really should be
bothering with this and Solina comes in, saying “what’s worth locking is worth
taking”. So they bust the doors to the main room in this vault and find a
silver coffin.
At
first, most of the gang is completely upset that this is all that they found.
But Marcus reasons that with the coffin being silver, the perfect place to hide
something extremely valuable is this coffin.
Eddie
moves the coffin off the table, but it is booby trapped and Eddie is impaled by
spikes.
Bye
Eddie…..Next Time I See You (Though Not Through Induction), You Get A Door
Kicked In Your Face By Jason Voorhees.
Dax
also dies as a wall of spikes gets him.
Yeah,
He Was A Worthwhile Character
This
sounds the alarm that alerts Matthew that someone is stealing his stuff in the
vault. He then grabs his arsenal of weapons.
Unbeknownst
to our thieves, the blood on the coffin is being sucked inside.
Because
If They Saw That, They Arent Bringing That Coffin Anywhere As It Would Be Just
Like Jordan Peele’s Upcoming Movie
That
Indeed Would Be The Reaction
The
thieves blow a hole in the wall and escape with the silver coffin, with Matthew
hugely upset and considering the title of this movie, he isn’t upset that they
stole his prized jewelry.
We
then suddenly get MTV lights flickering music video vision as we are in and out
of a guy wearing the iron mask, but it is all just a dream for our female
heroine Mary Heller.
This
Is Justine Waddell, Who This Was Supposed To Be Her Big Break Into Hollywood.
Mary
wakes up in a cold sweat and is comforted by her roommate/friend/co-worker Lucy
Westerman.
Hi,
Vitamin C. Also, If You Know Anything About How Lucys Do In Dracula Films, You
Probably Know Her Fate
Oh
and most of this place will be taking place in New Orleans.
Very
Much Pre-Hurricane Katrina And At This Point, You Might Be Able To Go To
Jazzland Before It Becomes Six Flags New Orleans Before It Becomes An Abandoned
Property.
Oh
And It Is On Mardi Gras.
Mary
and Lucy walk through New Orleans while getting looked at by guys. Lucy thinks
Mary’s solution to her nightmares is getting laid.
Back
in London, Simon comes in to see his boss preparing to leave and he wants no
police in dealing with the theft last night as some of his holdings aren’t
completely legal. He says that he wants Simon to run the business while he is
gone, but Simon really wants to know what they took, but Matthew won’t give him
any info on the matter. We then go to the plane ride that the thieves have
booked for the Caymans. They are flying over America and Nightshade has been
given the unenviable task of trying to get that silver coffin open. Nightshade
cuts himself and that blood goes immediately into the coffin
Also
Smoke Starts Coming Out Of The Coffin So Maybe Snoop Dogg Is In There
Oh
Boy…..Late 90s/Early 00s Terrible Smoke CGI. It’s The Freaking Fog Remake All
Over Again.
This
smoke makes Nightshade realize that maybe if he turns one of the crosses on the
coffin, the coffin will open, which it does.
Yeah….Somebody
Was Definitely Smoking Weed In This Coffin And Since There Is One Body In It,
Your Suspects Are Extremely Limited
Nightshade,
instead of alerting the others that he got the coffin open, decides he is going
to try and investigate. He accidentally gets a leech on his face.
Dumbass…
He
gets the leech off and squishes it. He then tries to steal a jewel that is on
the corpse, but then the corpse grabs and kills him.
The
others hearing screaming and Trick is elected to go check it out. Trick finds
Nightshade’s body in the coffin and is killed by the guy that was in the
coffin.
Marcus
and Solina wonder what is going on, but Trick’s body is thrown through the door
and the two are now face to face with the monster that the accidentally have
unleashed.
Through
CGI, He Is Transformed Into This Clean Shaven Gerard Butler, Who Is Obviously
Dracula.
Now
here is what Gerard Butler looked like in the auditions that impressed
everyone.
I
See Why They Might Have Wanted To Change That Look A Little Bit, But Hey….Gary
Oldman Made The Beard And Long Hair Look Enticing As Dracula To Women So Why
Can’t Gerard Butler Here.
Hell,
Jason Momoa Is Rocking That Look And You Can’t Tell Me That Women Find That Guy
Attractive
Dracula
uses his gaze to entrance Solina to come to him so he can turn her into a
vampire.
Marcus
starts shooting with one bullet hitting the ceiling (which pisses off the
pilot) and it turns out those bullets do nothing.
However
That One Accidental Bullet Hole To The Ceiling Does As Dracula Can’t Come At
Them Thanks To The Sunlight.
Marcus
tells the pilot to keep them in sunlight, but there is a huge problem coming
there way.
That
sunlight disappears and Marcus is killed.
Mary
gets ready to go to work at Virgin Megastore when she sees Dracula killing
Marcus somehow. The two eyes meet.
Dracula
comes to look at Mary, but somehow Lucy entering the room stops Dracula from
seeing Mary.
Don’t
Ask Me How This Happens
Mary
warns Lucy that she saw the face of the man in her nightmares and then the next
scene, she goes to a confessional to tell her priest friend about all of this.
Hey
Nathan Fillion. Yep, That Is Him In This Very Brief Role As This Was Only His
Fourth Film Role.
Mary
is here to ask the priest about her mother and the priest tells her confessions
are confidential. But Mary insists, saying that Father David here, and her used
to go to school together and were friends. Father David tells her that her
mother never told him anything about her past.
At
New Orleans airport, we see that Matthew Van Helsing has arrived. Matthew then
sees news of a mysterious plane crash that crashed a few miles outside of New
Orleans. We also see that news reporter Valarie Sharp is there to cover the
plane crash. She
then talks about how the plane crash had five deaths and they showed us footage
of what happened to the pilot.
Basically
The Same Thing Happened To Him That Happened To That Guy Who Was Steering The
Demeter.
Matthew
then sees that this plane is what he is looking for as he sees the silver
coffin. The bodies have apparently been moved to the nearby town of Clarke so
Matthew decides to head there. Oh and we also see that Matthew has been
followed by Simon.
Back
at the swamps, Valarie and her cameraman are filming addition footage for the
bigger story about all of this for the 11 O’Clock News that every local station
has during sunset. She starts making a joke about the bugs when something grabs
her, but it is something that can’t be seen on camera.
It
Also Gives Her A Cut On The Neck
The
cameraman puts the camera down and sees that Dracula has Ms. Sharp.
Dracula
lets Valarie go to hide in the van since he has decide that he is going to kill
that camera guy. Dracula then rips out the van door and uses his gaze to
entrance Valarie into becoming his second wife (with Sondra being the first).
We
also see Mary having issues seeing Dracula again so she leaves Virgin Megastore.
She tells Lucy before leaving much to Lucy’s befuddlement. We then go to the
town of Clark as Matthew comes to the place where he has been told the bodies
are being kept. Matthew prepares his weapons for battle and sees that 2 of the
four bodies are not in their body bags.
Matthew
also finds that Dracula is no longer in the coffin he meant to keep him
prisoner. He is then startled when Simon shows up to confront him about what is
going on.
Matthew
goes to stake Solina in the heart, but Simon still not understanding of what is
going on, stops him. However, Solina wakes up.
Solina
then shows off some her new vampire leaping abilities as she runs away.
Suddenly, Nightshade comes out to attack, saying he is sorry for what he is
doing.
Matthew
shoots Nightshade and tells Simon to shoot anything else that moves while he
goes to take care of Solina. Nightshade then comes back to attack Simon, but
Simon is ready and shoots him a few ties in the heart, killing him with
Nightshade saying indignantly that he is sorry.
I’m
Sure That’s How Danny Masterson Deals With His Legal Issues He Is Facing Right
Now, Giving A Not Real Apology.
Simon
calls for Matthew, but he hears the last of the body bags with a body moving.
He goes to cut off the head, but the body of Marcus pops out of it.
And
let’s just say that Omar Epps went from being very serious when he was human to
completely hamming it up when he is a vampire. He goes to attack Simon when
Simon shows the cross and Marcus has a great line about this.
Marcus:
Sorry,
Sport….I’m An Atheist
Of
course the cross has a dagger and has a great comeback.
Simon:
God
loves you anyway.
He
then stabs Marcus in the eye.
Marcus
screams and jumps out the window. He runs into the street so he is done for
now.
Meanwhile,
Matthew finds Sondra and goes to kill her much to Sondra’s dismay, but Trick
comes in to stop him.
Sondra
then goes to Simon and tries to get him to join her. Matthew kills Trick via a
spike to the neck
That
Shouldn’t Kill Him.
He
then impales Sondra to the wall via her shoulder.
Matthew
wants Simon to cut off Sondra’s head, but he can’t as the police sirens come so
they have to run. The police find Sondra and take her into custody.
In
a ride in the SUV, Simon demands Matthew tell him what just happened in there.
Matthew explains that he is actually Abraham Van Helsing (kept alive with
Dracula’s blood thanks to the leeches) and that certain parts of the Dracula
mythos are real as he found and stopped Dracula from killing people back in the
day via a trap.
He
also explains that he has tried to kill Dracula many ways, but unlike those he
turns, he has not found a way to kill Dracula. He had Dracula locked in that
silver coffin so he could not kill anyone else while he tries to find a way to
kill him once and for all.
Van
Helsing then reveals that Dracula is not in New Orleans by accident as his
estranged daughter is also here, born from when Van Helsing and another woman
got married and conceived her while Van Helsing had Dracula’s blood in him. The
mother left Van Helsing when she found out all about Dracula’s blood being in
her own child. This daughter is of course, Mary Heller.
He
believes Dracula is after Mary because Mary has his blood.
We
then go to Mary who is back in the church with Father David and explains her
visions. Mary of course knows that the man in her visions (Dracula) wants her
and her soul. She also doesn’t know if she has the strength to fight him when
he comes for her. Father David says that she has to fight it no matter what.
After seeing another image of Dracula, she runs off. We also see that Dracula
is looking over the people of Mardi Gras and walks among them.
We
see Solina being held in an investigation room talking to the men behind the
one way mirror who she is not supposed to see, but of course she can.
Solina
talks about how great it is to be a vampire before Dracula comes at the
detective and the doctor, killing them.
Actually,
Scratch That. Solina Kills The Detective And Dracula Kills Dr. Seward Here
(Yeah, They Named This Doctor “Dr. Seward” As Another Nod To Bram Stoker’s
Novel)
We
go back to Mardi Gras as people are throwing beads and everything. Van Helsing
goes to where he knows his daughter lives and Simon goes to the place where
Mary works. A music video is playing on one of the TVs and Dracula watches.
He
Really Likes All The Imagery And Pixelated Nudity (Seriously, The Nudity Is
Pixelated)
See
What I Mean. I Don’t Have To A Damn Bit Of Censorship That This Movie Hasn’t
Already Done For Me
So
Dracula decides that he is going to go into the Virgin Megastore. He gets
oogled by several women before he sees Lucy who he somehow remembers from
interrupting his weird ass vision for Mary
Yes,
Somehow He Felt That Interruption Too
He
talks to Lucy, telling her that he is looking for Mary. Lucy says she doesn’t
know where Mary is, but thinks she can help him and introduces herself. Dracula
does the suave kiss of the hand and we go directly to Lucy taking Dracula back
to the house. Mary isn’t there either, but Lucy still invites him in. During
their discussion, they ape a line that was said in 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula
by saying Dracula doesn’t drink…..coffee. Dracula decides that he is definitely
turning Lucy into his third wife after some love making from the bed to the freaking ceiling.
Oops….My
Bad. I Do Have To Black Box Lucy’s Boobs.
Mary
can somehow sense all of this and knows Dracula is at her house. Mary goes to
check on Lucy and of course, Lucy isn’t there so Mary knows that Dracula has
Lucy. Simon finds her and introduces himself as a friend of her dad’s. He
mentions that her dad is looking for him and Mary leaves, not wanting anything
to do with her dad or Simon. Simon then gets attacked by Marcus, who is somehow
here looking for revenge for his eye.
It’s
a very brief fight that Simon ends up winning as he stabs Marcus.
All
The While Telling Him To “Never Ever Fuck With An Antiques Dealer”
Marcus
gets back up, but Simon cuts his head off, with the head falling into a dumpster
Yeah,
That’s A Bad Effect
Van
Helsing finally arrives at Mary’s house and is met by Dracula. Dracula
manhandles him and tells him that Van Helsing stole his blood and passed it to
another which mean she is his. Van Helsing continues to tell Dracula he can
never have his daughter and Dracula just beats him up some more.
We
then go to Mary, who arrives at her house. Mary receives a phone call from
Lucy, who tells her that she is with Mary’s father. Mary is upset by this and
asks where Lucy is now, which Lucy responds she is exactly where Mary thinks
she is. Mary grabs a baseball bat and heads upstairs. She sees something
written in a foreign language in blood.
Mary
enters Lucy’s room and first we get a bad jump scare with the electricity
shorting out when she turns on the lights and then unveils the blankets to
reveal some blood and something sticking through it in a stabbing motion. Mary
then looks under the bed and finds the body of her father.
She
doesn’t get too far in her desire to contact the police before Lucy attacks.
Of
course, Lucy is upset that Mary had Dracula in her dreams and she never shared.
Mary leaves after Lucy says that eating is better than chocolate and runs into
a hall now decked in red.
As
Mary stumbles around, Valerie shows up and is upset that somehow Mary is the
one Dracula wants
Solina
then shows up and says that she has Dracula’s blood essence.
The
three vampire women reveal that they are the ones who killed Van Helsing and
drank his blood. The women then disappear, but Dracula shows up. He chases her
while turning into a wolf.
Mary
runs out the front door and Simon shows up to shoot at Dracula.
Who
Turns Into A Bunch Of Bats
Mary
then tells Simon that Van Helsing is dead. They drive away as Mary reads her
father’s journal that she somehow found. Simon says they need a safe place to
hide and Mary says the church would be a good place.
In
the church, Mary talks about how she thinks she may belong to Dracula and Simon
tells her she does not. Simon tells her that Van Helsing saved him from a bad
future and gave him a purpose to life, so he owes him a lot. Simon gives her
the cross dagger in case she gets into any trouble. They then head to the
library that is in this church and research as much as they can about Dracula.
They talk about all the things Dracula and get to the silver (noting that it
isn’t Christian in any way), while also realizing the foreign language written
on the wall in blood was Aramaic. We then see that Dracula can enter this
Church library with no problems.
So
Much For The Church Being A Safe Space
Simon
tries to shoot Dracula, but Dracula knocks the gun out of his hand and knocks
him backwards.
I
Don’t Think That Was Jonny Lee Miller Doing That Stunt
Simon
then grabs the bible and holds it at Dracula. Dracula seems kind of insulted that
someone would think a book would hold him back. Simon then opens the book and
pages shoot out of it on fire, which annoys Dracula, but allows Mary to run
into the graveyard and Simon to get his gun. Dracula then starts doing some
parkour while jumping on top of monuments.
Parkour
Dracula
Dracula
is still looking for Mary while Simon arrives at the graveyard with his gun. Dracula
finds Mary and before Simon gets there, Dracula disappears with Mary.
SUCKER!!!!!!
Simon
is upset and goes through the Mardi Gras crowd (with more boobs since this is
Mardi Gras after all) where he sees Solina.
Who
Is Having A Meal From A Random Person
Then
Lucy and Solina show up on a post to taunt Simon to follow them. Simon goes into
an alley where he gets surprise attacked by Valerie while the other two watch.
Valerie wonders if Simon ever wonder what it would be like to have sex with a
TV star. Simon breaks the cross and kills Valerie.
Solina
then knocks out Simon with his own gun. We go to Dracula and Mary on the roof
of a place with a light up Jesus cross.
Sup…
Here
we find out who Dracula was before being cursed as he turns Mary.
He
Was Judas Iscariot Of The 12 Apostles. You Know, The One Who Betrayed Jesus
Christ For Silver.
Yep…basically
Judas’ betrayal caused him to be cursed by God (who while this is a New
Testament story, went Old Testament on his ass) so that yeah, the simple act of
hanging himself would not end his suffering. That’s why he hates silver and all
things Christian. We go back to reality to see Dracula talking and taunting
this light up Jesus cross. He says he drinks the blood of those he loves and
gives them what they want, which is all the pleasure Jesus “denies them”. He
says Jesus made the world in his image and now Dracula/Judas makes the world in
his.
He
beckons Mary to come to him and she does. They go into a greenhouse that is
also on this roof as we see Solina and Lucy have tied up Simon.
Lucy
and Solina both taunt Simon about Mary becoming like them. Dracula reveals that
Simon has been saved for Mary so she can suck his blood. Mary seemingly bites
him and grabs the knife to cut off his head. As they prepare Simon for
decapitation, Lucy realizes that Mary didn’t actually bite Simon, instead
biting herself and putting blood on Simon’s neck to make it look like a bite.
However, Mary cuts Lucy’s head off.
Lucy
then stabs Dracula, but as we have established, that only pisses him off.
Also,
She Stabbed Dracula In The Stomach. I Think Maxmillian From Vampire In Brooklyn
(A Movie I Will Get To Some Day) Would Have Quite A Rant About This.
Simon
gets free and fights Solina as Mary fights Dracula, who is upset that she is
trying to teach him about betrayal. Solina tries to shoot Simon with the silver
gun, but she seems to have gone to the Stormtrooper Class Of Aiming and can’t
hit Simon to save her life. She then has Simon at point blank range, but she
freaking ran out of ammo. Solina starts strangling Simon, but Simon finds some
hedge clippers and cuts off Solina’s head.
Dracula
taunts Mary about how he will never ask for God’s forgiveness after all he has
been through. Mary says that that God still loves him, Dracula says that if he
still loves Mary as well, she should go back to God and see if God will still
have her. He throws her into the Jesus cross.
Simon
causes a distraction and Mary puts some wires around his neck as they fall
together. Dracula is once again in a hanging position…
So
Dracula is hanging and the light up Jesus cross is looking down on him.
We’ve
Been Here Before, Haven’t We???
The
sun also rises and Dracula lets Mary fall. Afterwards, he tells Mary that he
releases her from his curse.
So
Mary Is Human Once Again
Now
that Dracula is the only one who will suffer from the sunlight, Dracula burns
as the sun is out
Mary
then writes in the Van Helsing diaries that Judas tried to kill himself for his
sins, but was denied. However this time the rope didn’t break and Dracula/Judas
is back to his coffin.
Mary
says she is now the keeper of what remains and it will now be her job to make
sure Dracula never escapes again. Also she now calls herself Mary Van Helsing.
And that is the end of this movie.
So
how did this film do once released? Well, it was savaged by critics and did not
make back its $54 million budget. Rock musician turned director Rob Zombie
recently called it the worst horror film he has ever seen (although considering
some of the films he released, I really wouldn’t hold my breath on his opinion).
But don’t let that stop director Patrick Lussier as he made to direct to video
sequels to this film with both starring Jason Scott Lee (maybe I will get to
those at some point).
As
far as the cast, Jonny Lee Miller (who played Simon) would be in the
Trainspotting sequel T2, in episodes of the tv series Dexter and would star in
the TV series Elementary. Christopher Plummer (who played Matthew/Abraham Van
Helsing) would still be in plenty of big movies and is the oldest actor (at 82)
to get a competitive Oscar for his supporting role in Beginners. Jennifer
Esposito (who played Solina) has gone on to do mostly TV work like Blue Bloods,
NCIS, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, The Boys, and Law & Order: Special
Victims Unit (her character is now married to Ice T’s character), and she was
in the Academy Award winning film for Best Picture in 2006 called Crash. Omar
Epps (who played Marcus) would also be in a much better received film in Love
& Basketball as be on the huge hit TV series House as one of the doctors
who always bickered with Hugh Laurie’s title character. Sean Patrick Thomas
(who was Trick) was in Save The Last Dance and the Barbershop films. Jeri Ryan
(who played Valerie) has mostly been a special guest star (still living off the
fame of Seven Of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager) and was Sonya Blade in the
Mortal Kombat: Legacy series. Nathan Fillion (who played Father David) was in
the cult TV series Firefly (which only got one series, but got a hit movie in
Firefly), was in the hit TV series Castle, was in movies like Slither, and is
basically a TV star. Lochlyn Munroe (who was Eddie) was in Scary Movie the same
year this came out, was in Freddy vs. Jason, and is now on the hit show
Riverdale as Hal Cooper.
But
before I get to the star who greatly went on to better things after this film,
I have to start with the actor who is now revealed to be a huge piece of shit. But
before I get into that, let’s talk about a miss from the induction of Spice
World. I may have forgotten that there was a scene where the Spice Girls were
singing with a bunch of guys in assless chaps that just ended. However, it
ended abruptly there because they had to cut out a cameo from a certain Gary
Glitter. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but shortly before the film was
released, Gary was arrested for child pornography so the scene was thankfully
cut. Gary has gone on to be a bigger rapist and is now in prison in Vietnam
because he did the same shit to kids there. But back to who is the piece of
shit in this movie.
Danny
Masterson (who played Nightshade) still was on That 70s Show until that show
ended and was doing good in the Netflix series The Ranch…………..until he finally
got revealed to be a huge rapist. In 2017, five women accused Danny of sexual
assault and because of that, he was fired from his job on The Ranch. In 2019,
four women accused him and the Church of Scientology (yeah, he is a
scientologist) of stalking and harassment, including of the accuser saying a
scientologist on the orders of the Church poisoned her freaking dog to death.
In 2020, those scientologists supposedly poisoned another dog to death and
Danny was finally charged with three counts of rape. This year, he has pleaded
not guilty to the charges and the judge has made him give up his passport as
well as make sure he can’t even leave the freaking state. Let’s just say the
Danny Masterson saga has put Scientology in an even more negative light. So
yeah, complete piece of shit right there and deserving of all that is coming to
him. And the less said about Harvey Weinstein (one of the producers), the
better.
But
let’s get out of the negative and talk about the guy in this movie who made it
huge to become one of the most bankable stars today in Gerard Butler (who played
Dracula/Judas). This might surprise you, but what he is today was not a sure
thing as he had this terrible film and then he would be proven to be not a good
singer, which wouldn’t be a problem EXCEPT when you are given the title role in
the adaptation of the “Phantom Of The Opera” Broadway musical.
Yeah,
Forcing Him To Sing As The Title Character Was A Mistake
However,
he is proof that perseverance does pay off as in 2006, he would get his big
break as King Leonidas in the hit movie 300. He has been in plenty of hit films
(and some bombs that I might induct in the future) since getting his huge break
and is a very bankable lead actor. He’s gone a long way since being in this
film that many have forgotten.
And
as always, we have to bring up those who have sadly passed away. Chris Lamon
(who played Stakeman #4) was a stuntman and at the same year, died doing a
stunt for the movie Exit Wounds. Jeff Hanneman (who had an uncredited role as a
talking guy) left us at the age of 49 in 2013 due to liver failure. Wes Craven
(the guy who is supposedly presenting this film) passed away in 2015 at the age
of 76 due to brain cancer. Christopher Plummer (who played Matthew/Abraham Van
Helsing) sadly passed away at the age of 91 in 2021 due to complications from a
fall that caused a blow to his head.
Now
for my final thoughts on the film and while it is not a good film, it is NOT
the worst film of all time so Rob Zombie can suck it on that. It was a noble
attempt to try and get Dracula into the modern world, but one that ultimately
failed in execution. The effects and some of the acting are really bad. Gerard
Butler tries his best as Dracula, but you really can’t take him seriously as a
threat in this film other than he is Dracula. Christopher Plummer does bring
his A game, but sadly that wasn’t enough. The best thing for this film is that
it is completely forgotten by a lot of people because it truly is a film that
just happened.
So
only one last film left and Gus Richlen tells me it is the worst one he can
think of so let’s see what it is.
I’ve
Heard Of This Film So Let’s See If It Is As Bad As Told To Me.