REVIEW OF DRACULA UNTOLD

2014 rating: **

If Darth Vader turned into the most sinister thug in the galaxy after his wife died in a dream, having Dracula, whose real name is (and really was) Vlad the Impalor, morphing into a vampire to save his wife and child, makes enough sense… And it’s a more fleshed-out story, pun intended.

This particular Dracula begins as a dashing hero straight out of a sword-and-sorcery epic. And there’s a backstory within the backstory: kidnapped, raised and trained to be a tortuous slayer, he’s now a domesticated leader of his own guarded city…

In order to save a thousand kids (including his son) from being used as an expendable army for the Turks, Vlad returns to a cavern we experienced in the rushed prologue. Seeking true darkness for power, he comes face to face with a formidable wizard of vampires: the scariest element of a movie that’s not scary at all. 

Much of action has a legion of CGI bats flying in and out of our newly transformed superhero vamp, able to take down hordes of men like it's nothing. Herein the fight scenes are decent but too reminiscent of other bloody battle flicks ala 300, while the actors try hard to make up for a scant storyline.