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USA 2000, Farbe, 127 min
Director	Patrick Lussier
Screenplay	Joel Soisson/Patrick Lussier
Photography	Peter Pau
Music:	Marco Beltrami
Christopher Plummer	Abraham van Helsing
Jonny Lee Miller	Simon Sheppard
Gerald Butler	Dracula
Justine Waddell	Mary Heller
as Jeri Ryan, Willa O'Neill, Michael Gough, Michael Scherer, Jennifer Esposito, Harald Leipnitz, Manou Lubowski

For around 100 years Dracula was sleeping as a log in a sealed sarcophagus behind the thick safe doors of an antique shop in London. Of course, this shop is situated in the former Carfax Abbey and belongs to - guess who? Exactly, to Professor van Helsing. He is still alive, as he regularly injects himself Draculas Blood, that he takes from the vampire by means of leeches, because he once made the oath, to stay alive until Dracula is decimated for good. It's bad luck that one night there's a burglary at Carfax. The sarcophagus is stolen and transported with an airplane to New Orleans, the place of residence of van Helsings daughter Mary, who works in a Virgin Megastore, a fact that is repeatedly and quite effectively shown to us during the whole movie (you really end up wondering, why the movie wasn't called "Virgula"). In the town of Mardi Gras Dracula soon sucks together some helpers, who make life difficult for van Helsing and his assistant Simon that followed him. Dracula finds Mary and kills van Helsing. After a quite confusing and incoherent chase with Simon now being the principal vampire hunter, Dracula is burnt by the sunlight, dangling from the cable of an electrically lightened crucifix over the roofs of New Orleans (directly across the Virgin Megastore we already mentioned). Mary is free and takes over her father's heritage.

Wes Craven presents Dracula we read at the movie theatre, something he better shouldn't have done, even if it can be assumed that Craven only did so because his Cutter, Patrick Lussier was the director of this miserable botch. Lussier is without doubt somebody who knows his job, which is cutting movies. Such a man should not be on the chair of the Director, as his debut movie clearly proofs. He makes all mistakes possible. What was supposed to have an atmospheric effect is only ridiculous and embarrassing, the story has immense gaps and you keep on wondering what exactly happens, and why?

For the role of Dracula Lussier chose Gerald Butler, who perhaps does look good, but unfortunately has neither charisma nor talent, and appears somehow bloodless. Was there really nobody else available? Butlers Dracula-Interpretation doesn't by far reach the performance of any of his more or less legendary predecessors and first appearence of the bloodsucker in the third millenium can only be called a complete failure.

Perhaps it would have been possible to make something good out of the stupid story, but at latest when Draculas origin is explained it becomes incredibly silly. Dracula is nobody else than Judas Iscariot, who is cured by god to never die (what somehow happens anyway at the end of the movie). The only positive aspect of the movie is Christopher Plummer acting as Van Helsing, everything else is not worth mentioning. This movie will find its place right down at the bottom of the video store shelves soon, right next to Carpenters "Vampires" from two years earlier that was similar rubbish. Fans prefer watching Coppolas "Bram Stokers Dracula", Jordans "Interview with the Vampire" or even Rodriguez "From Dusk till Dawn".