''Dracula 2000'' (also known as ''Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000'' and internationally as ''Dracula 2001'') is a 2000 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

co-written and directed by

Patrick Lussier Patrick Lussier is a Canadian-American filmmaker and editor. Career Lussier was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was nominated at the Annual Gemini Awards for Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series for ''Adrift'' in 1994 an ...

and produced by Joel Soisson. Starring Gerard Butler in the title role along with

Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage and television. His accolades included an Academy Aw ...

Jonny Lee Miller Jonathan Lee Miller (born 15 November 1972) is an English actor. He achieved early success for his portrayal of Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson in the dark comedy-drama film '' Trainspotting'' (1996) and as Dade Murphy in '' Hackers'' (1995) before ...

, Justine Waddell,

Omar Epps Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. Epps's film roles include ''Juice (1992 film), Juice'', ''Higher Learning'', ''The Wood'', ''In Too Deep (1999 film), In Too Deep'', and ''Love & Basketball''. His ...

, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jeri Ryan and

Jennifer Esposito Jennifer Esposito (born April 11, 1973) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the feature films ''Summer of Sam'' (1999), ''Don't Say a Word'' (2001), ''The Master of Disguise'' (2002), ''Welcome to Collinwood'' (2002), ''Crash (2 ...

, the plot follows

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been i ...

, who, after escaped captivity by Abraham Van Helsing following the events of the novel ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

,'' arrives in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in the 21st century and seeks out Mary Heller, the daughter of Van Helsing. ''Dracula 2000'', under its promotional title ''Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000'', builds upon

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...

's original 1897 novel, with Count Dracula resurrected in contemporary

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The film was a critical and commercial failure, though two direct-to-video sequels, both written and directed by Lussier, were produced.

Plot

In 2000 London, Matthew Van Helsing, a grandson of 19th-century physician Abraham Van Helsing, owns an antique shop built over the site of Carfax Abbey. One night, Van Helsing's secretary, Solina, her boyfriend Marcus, and their companions Trick, Nightshade, Dax, and Eddie break into the shop's underground vault, believing it must contain valuables. Instead, they discover a sealed silver coffin. While attempting to open the coffin, Eddie and Dax are impaled by spikes, spraying the coffin with blood and alerting Van Helsing to their presence. Assuming the coffin must contain his valuables, the group escapes with it aboard a plane to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and Van Helsing arranges a flight to pursue them, unwittingly accompanied by his apprentice, Simon Sheppard. Aboard their plane, Nightshade unlocks the coffin, revealing the withered body of

. Having been awakened by the blood on his coffin, Dracula attacks and vampirizes Solina and her group. Rejuvenated, Dracula has a vision of a young woman, Mary Heller, who simultaneously sees him. After the plane crashes in a

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

swamp, the seemingly deceased passengers are taken to a makeshift morgue, while Dracula vampirizes Valerie Sharpe, a presenter reporting on the crash. He then travels to New Orleans to find Mary. Estranged from her family, Mary has recently been experiencing vivid dreams about Dracula, unaware of who he is. Van Helsing and Simon arrive in New Orleans and destroy most of Dracula's newborn vampires. Afterward, Van Helsing confesses to Simon that he is the Abraham Van Helsing, who defeated Dracula in 1897, and has extended his own life by regularly injecting Dracula's blood and posing as his own descendants to disguise it. In the century since, Van Helsing has failed to find a method of permanently killing Dracula. All that is known, is that Dracula abhors God, Christian cultures, and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and is ancient and the first of his kind. Van Helsing also reveals that Mary is his daughter. She was conceived after Van Helsing began his injections and thus shares a blood connection to Dracula. Van Helsing's wife left with Mary after learning his secrets and of what he had done. Dracula is led to Mary's home by her friend Lucy, whom he seduces and vampirizes. There, he later confronts and kills Van Helsing. On her return, Mary finds her father's bloodied corpse and is ambushed by Dracula and his brides: Solina, Valerie, and Lucy. Simon arrives just in time to save her from Dracula's beast form. The pair briefly escape into a church cemetery, but Dracula soon catches and abducts Mary. Dracula explains that he has spent centuries searching for someone like him but born rather than vampirized like his thralls. On a rooftop, Dracula transforms Mary and reveals that he is

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of sil ...

, the

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

who betrayed

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

to the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

for a bribe of thirty pieces of silver. After Jesus was crucified, Judas hanged himself out of guilt at sunset, but was revived and turned into the first vampire. Dracula blames Jesus for his damnation and intents to spite him by causing the world to be overrun by vampires. Mary suggests that Dracula cannot die because he has not sought God's forgiveness, but Dracula refuses to ever submit to Jesus or God again. After Simon kills Valerie, he is subdued by Solina and Lucy and brought to Dracula, who offers his blood to Mary. She feigns the bite before she and Simon kill the remaining brides, and stab Dracula to avenge her father, revealing that she still has free will. An enraged Dracula attacks Mary, who wraps some retaining cable from a large crucifix around his neck and drags him over the roof edge. As dawn breaks, and Dracula looks up at the image of Jesus on the crucifix, the sunlight immolates him. He releases Mary from her vampirism before perishing. Sometime later, with Simon's support, Mary has taken her father's role guarding Dracula's remains to prevent the vampire from returning.

Cast

Production

While finalizing

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

on ''

Scream 3 ''Scream 3'' is a 2000 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette, Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Matt Keeslar, ...

'',

Bob Weinstein Robert Weinstein (born October 18, 1954) is an American film producer. He is the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company (TWC), all of which he co-founded with his older brother, H ...

approached editor

on a modernized take on

entitled ''Dracula 2000''. When Lussier asked Weinstein what the film was about, Weinstein responded "I don't know." Joel Soisson, having written under Lussier for '' The Prophecy 3: The Ascent'', was brought on board to flesh out the film. The filmmakers quickly drafted a screenplay by January 2000, which envisioned a smaller scale story than Weinstein had hoped for. Soisson's initial pitch, which included a vampire hunting priest, would ultimately be recycled for the sequel, '' Dracula II: Ascension''. Inspired by the prior

Hammer Horror Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

entries, particularly '' Dracula A.D. 1972'', Lussier attempted to employ similar methods for his film. Lussier and Soisson also sought to differentiate their Dracula from other adaptations. The director took note of the character's scorn for

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

iconography, ultimately linking him to

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...

served as an executive producer on the project. Craven's name was used heavily in marketing, as done on previous films such as '' Wishmaster'' and '' Don't Look Down''. Ehren Kruger performed a script polish, while

Scott Derrickson Scott Derrickson (born July 16, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He is known for his work in the horror genre, directing films such as ''The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' (2005), ''Sinister (film), Sinister'' (2012), and ''The Black Phone'' (2021). He ...

and his writing partner Paul Harris Boardman were enlisted for a rewrite just two weeks before production. According to Derrickson, Weinstein thought the script was "terrible" but was moving forward with production regardless; when Derrickson asked why he was making the movie, Weinstein replied "Because it's called ''Dracula 2000''". During

pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, video game, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the co ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Lussier had already blocked several scenes using assistants.

, Colleen Fitzpatrick,

, Justine Waddell,

, and Jeri Ryan arrived on set, but no actor would be cast in the title role. Gerard Butler would be cast as Dracula only two days before filming commenced. Filming began on June 26, 2000, and took place in

and Toronto and wrapped on September 6. A rough cut of the film was assembled in only six days. Additional photography occurred on October 23 and spanned eight days. Nathan Fillion was added during the reshoots, filming his brief scenes on Halloween night. In November, the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

ruled that Soisson would receive sole screenplay credit and share story credit with Lussier. The final cut of the film was expected to be delivered on December 12, 2000, a mere ten days before its theatrical release. Speaking to ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', Craven compared ''Dracula 2000s rushed production to his time working on ''

Scream 2 ''Scream 2'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Jada P ...

'', saying "What's the benefit of making movies so fast? There's no benefit whatsoever. It's terribly difficult, and completely unnecessary."

Reception

Box office

On its opening weekend, ''Dracula 2000'' released alongside '' Cast Away'', '' The Family Man'', '' The Gift'', '' Miss Congeniality'', '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'', and '' Thirteen Days''. The studio hoped the film would counterprogram against the "season's romantic comedies and dramas". The film opened at #7 in its first week at the box office with $8,636,567. In its second week, the film had a 56.5% drop-off, but hung onto the #8 spot. The film grossed $33,022,767 domestically and $14,030,858 overseas for a worldwide total of $47,053,625, failing to make back its $54 million budget. On its initial video release, it grossed an additional $32 million in the US and Canada and continues to make money worldwide. ''Dracula 2000'' was the sixth-highest-grossing film for Miramax/Dimension Films in 2000, exceeding the box office takes of such expensive Dimension Films releases like '' Reindeer Games'' and ''

Impostor An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise, deceiving others by knowingly falsifying one or more aspects of their identity. This is in contrast to someone that honestly belie ...

'', as well as Miramax's December opener for that year, '' All the Pretty Horses''.

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports a rating of 19% based on 70 reviews, with an average score of 3.59/10. The site's consensus states: "This retelling tries to offer a different spin on the origin of Dracula. Unfortunately, there's nothing here audiences haven't seen before". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a 26 out of 100 rating, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Berge Garabedian of

JoBlo JoBlo.com is an anchor website of the JoBlo Movie Network focused on news, film reviews, and film trailers. The network has YouTube channels that focus on trailers, movie clips, celebrity interviews, original content, and film distribution. H ...

offered a positive review, calling it "A fun vampire movie", "a novel adaptation of an old time legend", and " oodfor pretty much anyone looking for some enjoyable bloody fun". BeyondHollywood.com wrote: "''Dracula 2000'' is not the worst vampire movie I've seen, but it's definitely not the best either. There are some very good moments, most of them featuring the frail Van Helsing as he attempts to battle the fast and deadly vampires. Also, I appreciated the background given to Dracula's aversion to silver, crosses, and God, as well as Dracula's 'true' origins. Not bad work, but it could have been much better".

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the film a "C−" score, while

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...

of ReelViews panned the film, writing: "Of all the indignities to have been visited upon Dracula during the past century (including being the "inspiration" for a cereal and a ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'' character, and being lampooned by Mel Brooks), none is more unsettling than what has happened to the world's most famous vampire in ''Dracula 2000''". Jane Crowther of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

gave the film 1/5 stars, saying it was "Destined to enter the so-bad-it's-good hall of fame" and "a prime example of that old remake adage; if you can't do it better or different – don't do it at all."

Soundtrack

The film's rock and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

soundtrack includes Powerman 5000's song " Ultra Mega",

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

's song " One Step Closer",

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

's song " Avoid the Light", System of a Down's cover of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

's " The Metro",

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

's song "Bloodline" and Disturbed's song "A Welcome Burden". The original score composed by Marco Beltrami was released in 2017 by

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

as part of the label's ''Little Box Of Horrors'' limited edition 12-disc set. The score was released separately by the label in July 2020.

Sequels

''Dracula 2000'' was followed by two

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

sequels, '' Ascension'' in 2003 and ''

Legacy Legacy or Legacies may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * " Batman: Legacy", a 1996 Batman storyline * '' DC Universe: Legacies'', a comic book series from DC Comics * ''Legacy'', a 1999 quarterly series from Antarctic Press * ''Legacy ...

'' in 2005. Series director Lussier and Joel Soisson, who co-wrote all three films, created a plot for a fourth film and discussed releasing it theatrically, but the film was not produced.BD Horror News - Patrick Lussier Talks Fourth 'Dracula' Film
, BloodyDisgusting.com, 10 June 2009.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dracula 2000 2000 films 2000 horror films 2000 thriller films 2000s horror thriller films American horror thriller films American vampire films Dracula films Dracula 2000 (film series) Films about Christianity Films about God Films about telepathy Films set in 1897 Films set in 2000 Films set in London Films set in New Orleans Films shot in New Orleans Films shot in Toronto Cultural depictions of Judas Iscariot Portrayals of Jesus in film Reboot films American religious horror films Resurrection in film Dimension Films films Films scored by Marco Beltrami Films directed by Patrick Lussier Films with screenplays by Joel Soisson 2000 directorial debut films Films produced by Joel Soisson 2000s English-language films 2000s American films Films with screenplays by Patrick Lussier English-language horror thriller films American films about revenge