Dracula Year Zero Rises at Universal

[Rowsdower!]

These guys do, apparently.

JUST IN CASE YOU COULDN'T TELL WHEN THE TITLE CARD CAME UP AT THE END OR WHEN CHARLES DANCE CALLS EVANS DRACULA. THIS IS A DRACULA MOVIE. WITH DRACULA. AND IT'S AN UNTOLD STORY. DRACULA UNTOLD. BECAUSE IT'S DRACULA. UNTOLD.

 

[godisawesome]

It really does ruin some of the surprise. If you know what you're looking at, you can guess it's Dracula (Ottoman empire, guy in Dragon armor fighting against them) but otherwise the part where the Orlock-look-a-like calls him Dracula is the first time you realize who the hero is.

I looked up one of the script reviews and the trailer seems to already imply one big difference; the original script had Dracula run into the vampire almost randomly and only incidently receive the curse. Having. Dracula choose to become a vampire does add extra power to the scene and make the transformation more tragic.

Slumcat, would you mind saying whether the script you read ended with a villainous. Dracula or a heroic one?

 

[Rowsdower!]

I'm not sure I like the idea of Dracula just getting his abilities from some random vampire. I always liked the concept of Drac being the first vampire, because it makes him special, more important... and not just some throwaway dipsh** like Edward Cullen or the idiots on True Blood, lol.

 

[jonathancrane]

the trailer looks excellent; love how the font is a throwback to the original Monster films. This cannot be released soon enough!

 

[Lord]

The film looks entertaining, but i just hope it's not too "moronic", from the bat pnch i know certain things won't make sence, but can the main character and his quest actualy make sence and his road to be interesting? I hope that's not too much to ask, i would actualy love to see Universal Horror return.

 

[jonathancrane]

I love the Castlevania influence on the design and narrative; if they incorporate a fraction of it successfully, then they've successfully ignited the Universal Monsters Universe (which is their plan.)

 

[MadVillainy]

Guess Im in the minority but I thought the trailer was really cool. This movie wasnt on my radar and Im not a fan of Dracula or most vampire stories, but the trailer made this movie look interesting.

It's still probably gonna be sh** but I thought the trailer did its job

 

[Lord]

I love the Castlevania influence on the design and narrative; if they incorporate a fraction of it successfully, then they've successfully ignited the Universal Monsters Universe (which is their plan.)

I think this may be a prototype for Universal Monsters, since they didn't include it in the list of their intented shared universe like the upcoming Van Helsing and The Mummy reboots set in modern times, so if this film is successful, they say it's part of that line and do the other films acordingly, but if it's not, they'll probably push it in the corner like WB did with Green Lantern.

If they're planing on successfuly relaunching Unviersal Horror, this is probably the best option for them.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah, the similarities to Castlevania do make me interested in this... I loved those games and since we'll probably never get a movie adaptation (which may be a good thing because as I understand it, Paul Walking Suckfest Anderson wanted to adapt it as a modern day thing with Jonathan Frakes of all people playing Dracula), this might be the closest we'll come.

 

[The Shape]

This trailer, if nothing else, gives me faith that Luke Evans can pull off The Crow...if it ever gets made.

 

[PacificBoy]

Thought Lorde's Everybody Wants to Rule the World made the trailer. Certainly piqued my interest.

 

[Rowsdower!]

This trailer, if nothing else, gives me faith that Luke Evans can pull off The Crow...if it ever gets made.

It won't. Fingers crossed.


Then he'll be free to play Dr. Strange!

 

[Doctor Jones]

That bat-fist thing is cheesy and this movie looks quite...bad.

For me, this'll be Dracula Unseen.

I laughed harder than I should have at this.

 

[godisawesome]

I think this may be a prototype for Universal Monsters, since they didn't include it in the list of their intented shared universe like the upcoming Van Helsing and The Mummy reboots set in modern times, so if this film is successful, they say it's part of that line and do the other films acordingly, but if it's not, they'll probably push it in the corner like WB did with Green Lantern.

If they're planing on successfuly relaunching Unviersal Horror, this is probably the best option for them.

If Dracula ends the movie on the type of place where you can see him as the classic monster and villain, I'd be excited to see the next Universal movie. Pulling off a flip from good to evil is an unpopular thing in most movies nowadays; Vader's really the only good-to-bad story that pulled no punches in most people's memories.

And I'll say it again, that scream of his about "You think you are alive because you can fight? You are alive because of what I did to save you!" gives me hope. That sounds very much like a hero with a Messiah complex, a classic flaw for descending heroes, and his rage sounds pained and hurt. The trailer gives me the impression of a mortal but moral man, with family, friends and followers with them all slowly fading away and falling as he goes from bad to worse, until all that's left is a cursed man waiting in his lonely castle for a last chance to strike at the only constant in his life; his enemy.

That's what I want to see; a story of how pride and arrogance can lead someone into making a sacrifice that quite simply isn't enough, isn't right, and twists them against those they tried to serve. Sometimes the fall isnt much a trip or walk down a slope; it's just someone overestimating their ability to leap across the gap on their own and being too proud to ask for help.

 

[ares834]

Looks pretty cool. Definitely looks similar to Castlevania.

I saw the trailer with the Transformers movie yesterday and my first thought was, "why are they on this misunderstood villians kick?" I like villians with depth and reasoning but this almost seems like they want to make him an antihero instead of just a villian with dark motives.

Normally. I would agree but I don't get that kinda vibe here. It appears Dracula may have initially had noble intentions (which I am personally fine with) but then he fell and became a monster.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

i laughed harder than i should have at this.

 

[MrMaooz]

That bat-fist thing is cheesy and this movie looks quite...bad.

For me, this'll be Dracula Unseen.

You should have....untold that awful joke.

Spoiler

Yes, that was awful of me.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

You should have....untold that awful joke.

Spoiler

Yes, that was awful of me.

That joke was Whackula!

Maooz doing a Dracula impression: "Bleh! Bleh! I vant to suck...all of the fun out of the room!"

 

[Roose Bolton]

I wonder if he'll impale anyone.

 

[redhawk23]

I'm not sure I like the idea of Dracula just getting his abilities from some random vampire. I always liked the concept of Drac being the first vampire, because it makes him special, more important... and not just some throwaway dipsh** like Edward Cullen or the idiots on True Blood, lol.

When was it ever implied that he was the first?

 

[godisawesome]

...Blade Trinity? And a few other stories I think. Mostly when they want to make Dracula the original progenitor of the vampires for the sake of making him a bit OP.

And I hope he impales a few people, even if it's just a quick cut-away glimpse for the audience. Vlad Tepes' historical war with the Ottomans has at least two other references in the trailer: his wife falling into a valley, which she did, and the Night Attack where Vlad ambushed the Empire's army, here presumably repurposed so Vlad can vamp out on Janissaries. Vlad's forest of impaled soldiers is often credited as one of the very few times the Ottoman Empire took a look at an opponent's MO and said "Yeah...let's not fight now. Let's come back with more guys, preferably not us, and try and subvert his rule in some other way."

And I'm hoping for an ambiguous portrayal of Sultan Mehmet II, if not so much for the Empire itself. I want him to be just likeable and honest enough that while we cheer against him at first, when Vlad goes full Dracula and starts losing his soul, we find ourselves actually rooting for him a little bit. There's at least one sword fight between the two, and if you'll notice, the trailer suggests Mehmet already knows a bit about vampires; he's batting silver coins at Dracula. Plus, it'd be nice to highlight some of the details in the war:

1. Dracula and Mehmet had both been raised in Istanbul, Dracula as a hostage, and hated each other even when they were kids. One of Mehmet's best friends was Radu the Handsome, Dracula's little brother.
2. Dracula had originally claimed the throne of Walachia with Ottoman support, as his father had before him. His rebellions led to Radu being sent against him.
3. Dracula received an Ottoman education while in Istanbul, the same one that made his brother convert and become a Janissary. However, Vlad rejected a lot of the education while embracing the tactics and techniques of the Ottomans, and in particular one of the execution practices they had-impaling.

There's so much gray in the historical chronicle it'd be a shame for the writer's to have completely skipped over all of it.

 

[Rowsdower!]

When was it ever implied that he was the first?

I don't know that it ever really was but I guess just over time he became THE iconic vampire.

 

[MrMaooz]

Apparently this costs 100 million dollars. Anyone think it might flop?

 

[TX85]

Looks interesting and I like Evans but..This is definitely a Netflix watch for me

 

[Lord]

Apparently this costs 100 million dollars. Anyone think it might flop?

Probably