Catacomb C-D

Dracula: The Dark Prince

(Artisan) C 2002

Imagine, if you will, a horror movie featuring the character of Dracula. A novel idea, no? By "Dracula", of course, I refer to Vlad "The Impaler" Tsepes, the brutal 15th century Romanian despot who dipped his bread in the blood of his impaled enemies, as opposed, for example, to Lugosi's grandfatherly, tux-wearing eccentric who refuses to drink...wine. The makers of Dracula: The Dark Prince lead the way in this cinematic revolution with a curious, low-budget entry that stars the intensely Europey Rudolph Martin, who many will remember as (would you believe it?) Dracula on the television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In fact, this movie was being lensed for the USA Network around the same time. Fortunately, for a made-for-cable production, Prince is almost worthy of the subject matter. The performances are only serviceable, with Who vocalist Roger Daltry providing the best in the fleeting role of King Janos of Austria, but the actors all look good in their respective parts. It can be argued that Martin is a glossy idealization of the figure of Dracula, but the film never goes out of it's way to represent itself as something more than a tapestry of fable, with the occasional historical thread woven in as needed.

As the movie opens, a weary Vlad recounts his story to a tribunal of the Orthodox Church that is deliberating whether to not to excommunicate him. This takes us back to where young Vlad's father, the ruler of Transylvania, is assassinated by a conspiracy of nobles, and Vlad is turned over to the rather iniquitous Sultan Mohamed, along with his younger brother, Radu. Eventually freed from the Turks, Vlad convinces King Janos, who wishes to see the sultan driven from his lands, to support Vlad's overthrow of Transylvania's puppet government. Once in control, Vlad has the leaders of the noble families seized and impaled on spikes. Vlad's beloved bride, the daughter of one of the treacherous nobles, is slowly driven mad by her husbands atrocities, and kills herself after Vlad, reportedly slain in battle against the Turks, seemingly returns from the dead. Framed by his enemies of plotting against Janos, Vlad is thrown in the king's dungeon, only to be cleared of the crime and restored to his rule after thirteen years.

The old conspirators betray Vlad once again, and he is brought down by the sword of his own traitorous brother. But, denied access to heaven or hell by the church, the fallen prince is cursed to walk the earth with his undead bride, herself condemned for committing the sin of suicide.

Given such a modest budget, director Joe Chapelle wasn't able to suspend the laws of nature by any measure, but by shooting very tightly he managed to disguise the lack of scale somewhat. Again, the story does take a number of liberties, factually and chronologically (Dracula's first reign was actually very brief), but serves up a few interesting angles and characters. Peter Weller (Robocop) is striking as a scheming priest of the court, and Vlad has a towering brute of a sidekick, who acts as a faithful Enkidu to Dracula's Gilgamesh. Exteriors for the movie do betray the meager budget- Instead of showing a field of impaled victims, we see only about six at a time- and the fairy-tail conclusion seems a bit trite, but until someone with real capital takes on the material again, this is the definitive version of the life of history's Dracula.