IslandGuru Who payed the critics

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Micitype Pretty Good

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

slayrrr666 "Dracula's Curse" is a pretty problematic vampire effort.**SPOILERS**Following a successful mission, Col. Rufus King, (Tom Downey) and his team, Jacob Van Helsing, (Rhett Giles) Gracie Johansson, (Eliza Swenson) Trixie McFly, (Rebekah Kochan) Anastasia Ravenwood, (Marie Westbrook) Sadie Macpherson, (Sarah Hall) Nebraska, (Chriss Anglin) and Maximilian, (Justin Jones) are told of a truce between the vampire elite and their representatives, ending their fighting. After several years of relative peace, Rafe, (Jeff Denton) informs him that a member of the vampire clans has started abducting women who are of pure-blood descent in order to regain the power they once had. When they come across Rick Tollinger, (Tom Nagel) the boyfriend of one of their victims, who offers to help them out, they realize all along that Countess Bathory, (Christina Rosenberg) and her three brides have been responsible for all the recent vampire trouble and they race to get the others back together before they can complete their evil plan.The Good News: There was some good stuff here. One of the better elements here is the film's rather fun action scenes, which are a lot of fun. The opening encounter is a great example, with the confrontation in the crypt, complete with the utterly-freaky vampires as well as the atmospheric setting in the dank basement and the bloody markings along the wall in the highway before it gets to the main action in the staking in the big coffin-filled room and the later efforts with the kung-fu fight in the adjacent room as well as a very enjoyable gunfight to go along with it. Another big action scene is the shoot-out in the bar, as the creatures are mowed down in automatic gunfire before turning into a rather nice brawl and into the best part when it becomes a full-on martial arts fight between the lesbian brides in a very energetic scene. A later sword-fight between several individuals later on is also rather good, and a later attack scene between them is rather nice. The big action scene, though, is the ambush on the vampire-den, where the hunters deal with the first wave of vampires quite nicely, the confrontations with the queen are quite good and the final revelation, handled through flashback, is impressive for the impact it has on the rather unique storyline it presents and the images created, as the visual impact of the winged demon appearing in the forest is rather impressive, and all around the scene is really good. There's also some nifty and quite-striking visuals in here, as the flashback dream to the Transylvanian woodlands, with the eerie fog and dead trees in the area create a rather creepy and unsettling sequence, and the savagery of the turning and the sensuality of the brides are all meshed together into a great scene. This one's also got some fun with its sleaze, mainly in the brides but also the abduction scene which shows them seducing the girl while she's with her boyfriend. Another one is the vampires bathing nude in a bathtub of blood as they cavort around her. The last plus here is the storyline, which is quite nice as it mixes actual history to rationalize its new-found mythology, but these are all that work.The Bad News: There was a lot of stuff wrong with this one, one of the biggest problems here is the fact that, in spite of the film's extreme length, this one still feels the need to talk everything out instead of showing it. The length would be ideal to have scenes such as the attack on the vampire counsel or their rampage through the underworld, yet there is a series of huge problems here. First, the former is the only one attempted yet hardly any of it is shown and instead is explained out in detail later on, while the latter never is and both tend to showcase that one point, it never shows anything and talks everything out. That is especially troubling since it is the main plot point to engage the film's later actions, and if it can't be bothered to show the actions everyone is so concerned and freaked-out over, then it really diminishes the power it has over the ability to fear the main villain and really drags this one out. By really showing a lot more of those scenes, it shortens the film and doesn't become a problem to get over. Another problem in the film is that, in order to compensate, some scenes just go on way too long and aren't that exciting or thrilling. The extended training sequence filled with rather useless tactics and clichéd training scene segments that are just plain expected to be in here, only at a much longer clip and expanded. The montage of getting the group back together and the updates on their lives are like that as well, going far longer than it really should in just dragging its action out, and especially since this is the first time several of them are definitively named for us, it's just one more problem to overcome. The fact that the rules and regulations in the vampire society are never quite clear is something else to this, and it's pretty confusing to see all this rule-breaking going on when we don't know it's something that's breaking the rules. The last flaw to this one is the fact that the editing during the vampire den assault is just utterly confusing, makes the results so hard to figure out that it really robs the chaos of the moment. These here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: Definitely a problematic entry, if for no other reason than a couple of story problems rather than anything else fundamental about it, so it's still got some good stuff to it. Recommended for those interested, fans of the studio or the actors or vampire aficionados, while others should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity

Paul Andrews Dracula's Curse starts as a pact between the waring Vampires & the Vampire hunters is agreed & signed, the Vampire hunter leader type guy Rufus King (Thomas Downey) warns the Old One (writer, editor & director Leigh Scott hiding under lots of make up & an awful wig) that if any Vampire kills a human being again the truce is off. Jump forward five years later as a pureblood descendant of Drakulya (pronounced Drac-You-Lar) named Christina Lockhart (Erica Roby) is kidnapped by Drakulya's three Hungarian brides who now serve Countess Bathorly (Christna Rosenberg) & need the pure blood of a pureblood (!) to gain strength in order to launch an attack on the worlds population & basically rule the Earth. Once King realises that the truce has been broken he & the rest of Vampire hunting mates gear up for action once more as they are the only ones who can stop Bathorly...Edited, written & directed by Leigh Scott who also has a small role in the film under lots of make-up one has to say that The Asylum doesn't have a great track record in making good horror films & Dracula's Curse only goes to enhance that reputation rather than change it. As I write this comment right now Dracula's Curse has a lowly IMDb user rating of 1.6 so considering 1 is the lowest any user can rate a film 1.6 (this will probably change over time but not by much) is just about as low as a film can get & one has to say that Dracula's Curse really does deserve that rating. There are so many things wrong with this film, the story is awful as it's some sort of horrible low budget cross between the Blade & Underworld franchises as the film portrays the now clichéd hidden Vampire society living within our own & a team of specialist Vampire hunters dedicated to eradicating them dressed in silly outfits & using 'cool' weapons. It doesn't work here, the Blade & Underworld films has sufficient scope & money behind them to make you believe that there were hidden Vampire societies amongst us but here in Dracula's Curse we see about five Vampires in a basement & that's it. All the character's are awful, there is constant annoying sub plots where they are given little personal problems & dilemmas which amount to nothing & just bore the absolute pants off the audience waiting to see some proper Vampire action. The dialogue is awful too. The story is rubbish with one Vampire bird & three other's seemingly saying they can take over the whole world by themselves, right. At almost two hours in length Dracula's Curse is a real chore to sit through & I would imagine a lot of people won't make it, it really is that bad on all fronts including a terrible twist ending which has zero impact.One of the most enjoyable aspects of both the Blade & Underworld series were the dazzling set-piece action scenes, the cool production design which mixed the sleek chrome plated modernistic up to date along with the imposing traditional Gothic with the over-the-top blood & gore special effects. Unfortunately for the audience Dracula's Curse has none of this, the production design amounts to some bland shotguns, a basement & a few rooms in a house while I can't remember a single action set-piece. OK there are a couple of really poor fights & a bit of shooting but nothing that will excite anyone & if all that wasn't bad enough I can't remember seeing a single drop of blood in the entire thing. A few Vampires are staked through the heart but they have green blood so that doesn't count, Countess Bathorly (like her obvious literary source) bathes in the blood of virgins to stay young but there is only one scene of her doing this & the blood is already in the bathtub so it just looks like red water. So to sum it up there's no action, there's no special effects apart from a monster at the end, there's no cool weaponry & if it wasn't for some swearing this wouldn't be far off a PG rating.Technically the film is an eyesore, while a lot of films have certain colour schemes to look stylish Dracula's Curse just looks as if sometime turned the colour settings down on your telly & it just looks bland & lifeless throughout. The fights are poorly staged, the Vampires just sort of stand there & wait to be killed by the hunters who have all sorts of weaponry. I mean if the hunters are flesh & blood humans why don't the Vampires just use guns to kill them? The sound effects suck as well. Some of the acting in this has to be seen to be believed, it really is that bad. Some of the delivery is just cringe inducing although one or two of the girls look quite nice.Dracula's Curse has nothing to do with Bram Stoker no matter what the film would lead you to believe, in fact it even changes Dracula to Drakulya. It's just a terrible film that deserves it's lowly 1.6 IMDb user rating, I mean it's that low for a reason people & you have been warned. Only for masochists & insomniacs.

leandros-1 We have to agree for the full 100 percent with Jesse from Australia: After about 30 minutes we stopped this.... Very poor audio, poor camera-work and very bad acting of some amateurs. And the dialog being out of sync, made things only worse. The quality of acting and sound made us sometimes think, it was an X-rated version of Dracula, where the explicit scenes were taken out. Jesse wrote that one should wait until somebody else is renting it or wait for the 2-Dollar-bin..... We don't think it is even worth it.... Just a waste of time. If you like this kind of movies, you better rent and see "Dracula 2000" with Gerard Butler, for example

Horrorfan1972 Although at times some of the acting is a bit stiff and the special effects are a bit lacking, Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse, the latest release from director Leigh Scott and The Asylum Home Entertainment, is still packed full of enough gun fights, sword fights and vampire action to deliver a "popcorn" roller-coaster ride of a fun movie. In true Scott tradition, the movie is a blend of action, horror, and some comedy. Even with this large a blend, Scott makes sure that one style never overtakes the entire film. The movie will draw comparisons to other recent vampire flicks, such as Underworld and even John Carpenter's Vampires, but also makes sure to add enough new material to carve out a niche of its own. Although Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse does have some faults, it more than makes up for them thanks to a solid cast, lots of action, and an entertaining plot. The movie is easily one of the best Asylum has release to date, and is probably one of Scott's best (although Frankenstein Reborn remains my favorite). It has a little bit of everything mixed in to bring a movie that has a bit of a "popcorn" feel to it, but manages to keep you entertained.