Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The heir apparent to John Carpenter's legacy has been found , July 26, 2005
Move over Blade, there is a new vampire franchise in town. Tired of slick, over-produced horror movies like Underworld? Look no further. Dracula III: Legacy is the latest installment in a surprisingly durable franchise. Director Patrick Lussier has been quietly picking up the slack from a now dormant John Carpenter by making straightforward, atmospheric B-horror movies.
Jason Scott Lee is surprisingly effective as a driven vampire hunter. Armed with a nasty looking scythe, he is a very efficient (and cool) killer of the undead. He wouldn't be out of place in a Carpenter film as one of the auteur's trademark, enigmatic men-of-action, like Snake Plissken in Escape from New York. In contrast to Lee's no-nonsense character, Jason London is the easy-going sidekick that provides the film's doses of comic relief. These two actors have come a long way from films like Dragon (Lee) and Mallrats (London) to form an excellent duo.
Dracula III features a good balance of cool characters, the right amount of exposition and a beefed up vampire presence that was lacking from Dracula II. This last installment of the trilogy captures a modern gothic atmosphere beautifully, putting other contemporary Hollywood horror movies to shame. The heir apparent to John Carpenter's legacy has been found and it should be interesting to see what Lussier does next.
There is an audio commentary by writer/director Patrick Lussier, producer/co-writer Joel Soisson and special makeup designer Gary Tunnicliffe. This is chatty track as the three men discuss their movie and the challenges of shooting on a budget.
"A Conversation with Patrick Lussier on the Mythology of Vampires." The director was fascinated by the depiction of vampires all over the world and in particular Romania's Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker's take on the legend.
"A Conversation with Special Makeup Designer Gary J. Tunnicliffe." He talks about the hardships of working in the cold weather of Romania and how he had to ship in fake blood and reassemble the plastic weapons because they kept breaking in the cold weather.
"Cast Auditions" features footage of four of the supporting cast members who were taken from Europe.
"Deleted Scene-Flat Tire" features our heroes fixing a flat tire and encountering some undead along the way.
Also included is an "Alternate Ending" that features a much more upbeat ending than what is in the existing version.
For dedicated fans of this franchise there are the original story treatments for all three movies that allow one to see them in their early stages and how Lussier initially envisioned them.
Finally, there are trailers for the first two Dracula movies.
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great finale , August 11, 2005
Dracula III is a fantastic final chapter to the Dracula series which began with Dracula 2000. I'm very happy with it and I'm proud to have all three flicks in my DVD collection. Give 'em a try. All three are bloody good!
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dracula's Legacy of Terror Continues..., July 19, 2005
After seeing "Dracula 2000" and the sequel "Dracula 2: Ascension", and enjoying both, needless to say I was looking forward to the release of the third and supposed final chapter in this new `Dracula 2000' series, for two reasons. One reason was, obviously since I enjoyed the first and second entries in this series, I figured I would enjoy the third installment; and second, because "Dracula 2: Ascension" left everything hanging at the end of the movie. This was due to the fact that both "Dracula 2: Ascension" and Dracula 3: Legacy" were filmed at the same time, and when viewed together, they essentially make one big movie that continues from "Dracula 2000". So, of course until "Dracula 3: Legacy" was released, over a year after the release of the second film, I felt the series was incomplete since "Dracula 2: Ascension" didn't really have a satisfactory ending. Finally, after over a year of legal maneuvering, Dimension Films was able to release the third installment in the `Dracula 2000' series, and it definitely was worth the wait, as it ties everything together in a very cool way.
"Dracula 3: Legacy" as I said in the previous paragraph, quite literally picks up the second that "Dracula 2: Ascension" ends. Father Uffizzi, the priest/vampire hunter, and his reluctant partner Luke (Jason London) are pursuing Dracula in hopes of finishing him off once and for all. The problem is, they don't know where Dracula has gone to since he evaded them, this leads them back to the Archbishop that assigned Uffizzi the task of eliminating Dracula, for some help in locating the vampire that started it all. At this time we learn that since Uffizzi has somewhat given Dracula the forgiveness he was lacking, Dracula is no longer immortally young as he has been all this time. Now, Dracula (Rutger Hauer) is growing older and he knows that his time is shorter now and is doing all that he can to prolong the inevitable end to his reign of terror.
"Dracula 3: Legacy" takes the series to Dracula's home in Romania, for what appears to be the final installment in the series. This change of location served for some interesting twists, as the hunters must now track Dracula on his own turf, while fighting off legions of vampire servants for Dracula, and avoiding the civil war that is raging in the country between Dracula and his legion, and those who oppose his oppressive rule.
It was nice to see Jason London and Jason Scott Lee reprise their roles for this film, also making a cameo appearance is Roy Scheider as the priest that assigned Uffizzi the task of killing Dracula (Roy Scheider also made a cameo in "Dracula 2: Ascension"). Dracula this time around is played by Rutger Hauer, who does a magnificent job of playing the menacing vampire lord. By the way, Rutger Hauer is the third actor to portray Dracula in this series.
The story stands much better by itself than the story of "Dracula 2: Ascension", but to really appreciate the events in this film you really must see both "Dracula 2000" and Dracula 2: Ascension". Some fans of the series have said that "Dracula 2: Ascension" and "Dracula 3: Legacy" feel as if they have no relation to the first film, I disagree with these people. Clearly if you watch them all together you can easily see the relation between each of these films and how the overall story flows wonderfully from one film to another, a quality that most horror franchises never achieve or aspire to.
This has been an entertaining series of films, that has done an excellent job of tweaking the legend of Dracula to make him more menacing for the new generation. If "Dracula 3: Legacy" is to be the final installment in the `Dracula 2000' series, making it a trilogy, then I am completely satisfied. If Dimension Films and the director choose to continue on with this series, and at the end of the movie there is potential to take this franchise in a completely new direction or do a spin-off series, as long as the quality of future installments stays on the same level as these films then I will definitely be watching.
"Dracula 3: Legacy" is rated R for violence, language, and brief nudity.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Gerard Butler
DVD ~ Erika Eleniak
DVD ~ Kari Wuhrer
DVD ~ Patrick Bergin
DVD ~ John Light
Visit our huge selection of magazine subscriptions often to see the latest special offers and bonuses. Check out magazines like
The New Yorker,
Wired, and
Vanity Fair. 
