Dracula II: Ascension

This is a sequel of sorts to "Dracula 2000", and the opening moments will be somewhat confusing to those who haven't seen that movie first. D2K had one original idea going for it (Dracula was actually Judas Iscariot, consumed by his own guilt in his betrayal of Jesus, and who hanged himself), and in the end of D2K, Dracula is both hung from a giant cross AND burned by the rising sun, the combination of which is supposed to be enough finally put the King Of Vampires to rest once and for all.

So D2:Ascension opens up with a paramedic team pulling the fried remains of Dracula in from his hanging gibbet. Apparently the heroes of D2K couldn't be bothered to actually either a) finally dispose of his body or b) explain to the authorities that the 'corpse' might still be dangerous, which strikes me as REMARKABLY irresponsible of them. But anyway, the cleanup crew who pulls in the body only sees Dracula's remains as those of another anonymous John Doe, and ship the remains off to the nearest morgue. By an INCREDIBLE coincidence, the young lady in charge happens to be part of a group of medical students (and a professor) who are on the lookout for vampire remains. She becomes suspicious that these remains might be those of an actual vampire, and the group carts the remains off to a lonely mansion to soak Drac's corpse in a bathtub full of blood (don't worry, it's plasma from the hospital). Drac revives, and hijinks and hilarity ensue.

I give the creators credit for adding a few interesting twists and details to the standard vampire tale. The idea of a group of researchers trying to hold a creature as insanely powerful and dangerous as the King Of Vampires while they try to isolate the factors that grant him power and immortality is potentially quite good. The group dynamics are also interesting, with internal dissension and betrayals tearing the group apart almost from the beginning. And some of the little touches - the 'sun gun', the use of seeds and knots and chains soaked in liquid silver, the idea of the vampire blood itself as a viral infectious agent - are fun to play with. The plot also throws in Jason Lee as a half-vampire priest who is trying to rid the earth of all vampires, especially Drac. Lee is a great ham, and his presence in the movie is a good excuse to do be-headings and fisticuffs and glares filled with Jesuitical outrage, etc.

But in the end, the whole thing falls short. I really don't have a problem with the cast, but no one here has half the acting firepower of Christopher Lee OR Christopher Plummer. (Of course, that's true of most movies!) The guy who plays the revived version of Dracula seems to have a bit more charisma this time around than Butler's D2K version, (or maybe it is just that the plot has him acting in ways that are a bit less cliché than the normal run of vampire movies.) but it's still an pretty subdued performance. The movie suffers a bit from lack of internal consistency and cohesion about how the whole vampire infection things is supposed to work. And all but two of the group members turn out to be hateful creeps (except for a member who gets killed early on), which murks up the 'good versus evil' theme common to most horror movies.

But there is ONE great moment moment near the end of the film where Dracula finally escapes his bonds and confining measures with contemptuous ease and bites the face off one of his captors ("Go ahead - I'll still live forever!" "But will you *WANT* to?!?" C-H-O-M-P!!!) that reinforces the fact that messing with the Prince Of Darkness under ANY circumstances is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle.

So in the end, is this movie worth watching? Yes, in fact, I prefer it to D2K for the sheer novelty of the plot. Is it a great movie? No, because there is no actor here who does more than a competent job, and the screenplay doesn't live up to the promise of the premise.

When I first rented this i thought that it was a sequel to the very predictable "Dracula 2000". The only highlight of that film is that the character was Judas Iscariot which gives the whole Dracula concept a much needed boost as usual Drac's Vlad the Imapaler or a direct descendant. This film has a very solid plot as the morgue attendants discover a burned up vamp in their morgue & upon realizing what they have the female character played by underrated actress DIANE Neal ( who is great on NBC's Law & Order: SVU) decides to perform an experiment for her crippled boyfriend Craig Sheffer (who overacts as usual. His only good movie is Nightbreed.) to use Dracula's blood, somehow expel the evil taint & restore him to being a fully-functioning walking & talking man again. Jason Scott Lee as the priestly vamp-hunter does an okay job though his presence in the film is not one of great importance. They could have not used him at all in this film & no one would have missed the character. Great work from B-movie actor Jason London, & pretty cool special effects especially the scene where Dracula (played pretty damn well by the sexy Brit actor Stephen Billington)bites the British investor in the face as he brags to Dracula " That's right! Make me immortal!" Dracula replies "Alright,but you won't enjoy being immortal!" And,proceeds to bite a huge chunk out of the man's face. tHEN AS THE MAN COMES BACK IN VAMPIRIC FORM HE HAS NO FACE SO his fangs are (and this is so cool!) growing out of the sides of his jaws and forehead & it's the craziest special effect I've ever seen in a vampire film.It could've been bloodier & was left open for a sequel but unfortunately the sequel is called Dracula 3000:

Dracula 2: Ascension (2003)

This movie had an interesting beginning, leaving off where Dracula 2000 ended with Dracula burning on the cross, but picked up different characters along the way, including two coroners who take the burnt body of Dracula at accidently bring him back to life while studying him. With a vampire-hunting priest (Jason Scott Lee) on their tracks, they must keep Dracula contained before he is unleashed and spreads more terror to the town of New Orleans. This movie was good, but towards the end, it didn't make much sense and didn't come full circle. It wasn't scary at all, but it had a bit of suspense and thrills. To enjoy this to it's full, you will probably have to be a hardcore Dracula fan. 7/10.

Oh sure, it won't win any awards, but b-movies never do. I'm not sure why the other users enjoyed the opening scene so much, but I enjoyed it for the incredibly bad stunts myself. I laughed out loud as the woman fell down the stairs, onto the landing, and kept falling down the rest of the stairs. Pure gold.

I also happen to know a little behind-the-scenes about this one. Do you know, it was not originally intended to be a straight-to-video release. It was originally scheduled to be released last October. I'm guessing the similarity to the popular Blade II sealed its fate. Do you know, they spent like 3 months or something filming in Romania? I'm not sure what for, considering the movie takes place in New Orleans. Why was Roy Scheider listed in the credits? His part was no more than a cameo. I was rather disappointed about that, because I really enjoy Roy Scheider.

But, for all intents and purposes, this is a rather good b-movie. There are expected, but fun, plot twists, and I never got bored. Well, maybe a little in the very beginning. It was a standard 5-man team of protagonists, a nicely evil Dracula, and a Blade-like vampire hunting priest. Note that I said nicely evil, and not deliciously evil. I will admit that it must be a great challenge for an actor to do most of his work with no lines and no movement (he spends most of the movie confined), but I really could have gone for a more evil Dracula.

I sincerely hope that people aren't renting direct-to-video movies with the idea that greatness lies within: it does not. What this movie does well is know its limitations. Special effects are only used when absolutely necessary, which makes them look much better than some of the really poor effects in Blade (the first one). It's fun, it's interesting, and it's got a good ending. Well worth renting.

Rating: Groovy

I love vampire films so naturally I had to see this one (Didn't care too much for Dracula 2000, though - I still gave it a try, though)..

It's a different movie, I'll give you that much. Don't misinterpret me as saying it's bad, but it's definately NOT - but it's just not what you'd expect.

Anyways, into vampire and horror pics you should still see it, nothing mindbreaking or anything like that, just good entertainment..