Review of Dracula Untold (2014) by Rich T — 06 May 2017

It's been a few years since I last read it, but from what I remember Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the novel) never really explored the history of the titular character, just depicting him as the monster in the background throughout the tale.

'Bram Stoker's Dracula' (The Francis Ford Coppola movie) provided him with a tragic backstory, having Mina Harker the re-embodiment of his lost love and Vlad Dracul(a) one of the Generals responsible for stopping the Turks invading mainland Europe.

The latter is the subject of this movie: it's almost as if the makers of this saw that previous film and decided to 'flesh out' the flashbacks in that (personally, I was also interested in it as large portions of it were filmed in my homeland of Northern Ireland, with friends and acquaintances also peripherally involved in the movie).

Now that I've seen it, I have to say (and if you'll forgive the pun): it lacks the bite. It's an OK movie, but nothing special - one for TV, perhaps, but not for DVD.