DraculasGuest

Dracula's Guest (2008)

Bram Stoker is a young man working with a real estate firm in London and is involved in purchasing a special manor for Count Dracula. Things seem to be going well when the former owner passes away unexpectedly and Bram is able to make the deal. However, when Bram tries to ask his love Elizabeth's hand in marriage her father, Admiral Murray, will not allow it. The Admiral tells them that they must spend one year apart before they can get married. Upset with her father’s decision and upset with Bram for going along with it, Elizabeth runs away. At the train station she meets up with Count Dracula as a zealous conductor is barring her from entering the train. Dracula then somehow ends up giving her a ride in his personal coach, putting her into a deep sleep along the way and whisking her off to Transylvania. When her father finds out he takes off in pursuit, having known who and what Dracula was from the beginning since he had hunted Dracula's kind in years past. It takes a bit longer for Bram to find out, but eventually his friend comes to deliver the message and is ultimately killed by Dracula for doing so. Bram heads for Transylvania as well, having a somewhat harrowing journey along the way. In the meantime, Dracula reveals his plan to Elizabeth to impregnate her and hints that her father has wronged Dracula greatly in the past. Eventually Bram and Admiral Murray make it to Dracula's home for the big showdown at the end of the movie.

This is a super cheesy vampire movie rip off of Bram Stokers Dracula. I was quite surprised to see that it was made in 2008, I would have expected it to be a product of the 60's or 70's when such flicks were more common. The Dracula character in it is sort of based on the classic “I vant to drink your blood” type. He's got the gaudy Victorian type clothing complete with a cape, is very pale, has the black slicked back hairstyle and has huge fangs out the entire time (Which no one ever seemed to notice). The acting in this movie goes from fair to horrible, but I think most of that has to do with the script. There are tons of holes in the plot line and at times it seems as if they aren't even trying to make much sense, instead counting on the fact that they are making a B movie to save them from any criticism. There aren't many special effects in this movie and the ones that are in it are pretty much worthless. It's kind of sad to see what they do to Bram Stokers story in this flick.

I love vampire movies, but I would have stayed away from this one if I knew more about it before hand and wasn't writing a review for it for the site. It wasn't the worst thing I've seen lately, but it just didn't have much in it to make me want to watch it. It was nothing new and even though it was meant to be a sort of goofy take on the Dracula story, it wasn't that funny. I think it was trying to capture some of the spirit of the old B vampire movies that I used to watch when I was a kid, but it pretty much failed. If you want to watch a movie like this, look for one of the originals. You can probably find a few of them on Gutmunchers!

1 out of 4

Reviewed by Scott Schwarzwalder