"Dracula's Curse" is a pretty problematic vampire effort.**SPOILERS**Following a successful mission, Col. Rufus King, (Tom Downey) and his team, Jacob Van Helsing, (Rhett Giles) Gracie Johansson, (Eliza Swenson) Trixie McFly, (Rebekah Kochan) Anastasia Ravenwood, (Marie Westbrook) Sadie Macpherson, (Sarah Hall) Nebraska, (Chriss Anglin) and Maximilian, (Justin Jones) are told of a truce between the vampire elite and their representatives, ending their fighting. After several years of relative peace, Rafe, (Jeff Denton) informs him that a member of the vampire clans has started abducting women who are of pure-blood descent in order to regain the power they once had. When they come across Rick Tollinger, (Tom Nagel) the boyfriend of one of their victims, who offers to help them out, they realize all along that Countess Bathory, (Christina Rosenberg) and her three brides have been responsible for all the recent vampire trouble and they race to get the others back together before they can complete their evil plan.The Good News: There was some good stuff here. One of the better elements here is the film's rather fun action scenes, which are a lot of fun. The opening encounter is a great example, with the confrontation in the crypt, complete with the utterly-freaky vampires as well as the atmospheric setting in the dank basement and the bloody markings along the wall in the highway before it gets to the main action in the staking in the big coffin-filled room and the later efforts with the kung-fu fight in the adjacent room as well as a very enjoyable gunfight to go along with it. Another big action scene is the shoot-out in the bar, as the creatures are mowed down in automatic gunfire before turning into a rather nice brawl and into the best part when it becomes a full-on martial arts fight between the lesbian brides in a very energetic scene. A later sword-fight between several individuals later on is also rather good, and a later attack scene between them is rather nice. The big action scene, though, is the ambush on the vampire-den, where the hunters deal with the first wave of vampires quite nicely, the confrontations with the queen are quite good and the final revelation, handled through flashback, is impressive for the impact it has on the rather unique storyline it presents and the images created, as the visual impact of the winged demon appearing in the forest is rather impressive, and all around the scene is really good. There's also some nifty and quite-striking visuals in here, as the flashback dream to the Transylvanian woodlands, with the eerie fog and dead trees in the area create a rather creepy and unsettling sequence, and the savagery of the turning and the sensuality of the brides are all meshed together into a great scene. This one's also got some fun with its sleaze, mainly in the brides but also the abduction scene which shows them seducing the girl while she's with her boyfriend. Another one is the vampires bathing nude in a bathtub of blood as they cavort around her. The last plus here is the storyline, which is quite nice as it mixes actual history to rationalize its new-found mythology, but these are all that work.The Bad News: There was a lot of stuff wrong with this one, one of the biggest problems here is the fact that, in spite of the film's extreme length, this one still feels the need to talk everything out instead of showing it. The length would be ideal to have scenes such as the attack on the vampire counsel or their rampage through the underworld, yet there is a series of huge problems here. First, the former is the only one attempted yet hardly any of it is shown and instead is explained out in detail later on, while the latter never is and both tend to showcase that one point, it never shows anything and talks everything out. That is especially troubling since it is the main plot point to engage the film's later actions, and if it can't be bothered to show the actions everyone is so concerned and freaked-out over, then it really diminishes the power it has over the ability to fear the main villain and really drags this one out. By really showing a lot more of those scenes, it shortens the film and doesn't become a problem to get over. Another problem in the film is that, in order to compensate, some scenes just go on way too long and aren't that exciting or thrilling. The extended training sequence filled with rather useless tactics and clichéd training scene segments that are just plain expected to be in here, only at a much longer clip and expanded. The montage of getting the group back together and the updates on their lives are like that as well, going far longer than it really should in just dragging its action out, and especially since this is the first time several of them are definitively named for us, it's just one more problem to overcome. The fact that the rules and regulations in the vampire society are never quite clear is something else to this, and it's pretty confusing to see all this rule-breaking going on when we don't know it's something that's breaking the rules. The last flaw to this one is the fact that the editing during the vampire den assault is just utterly confusing, makes the results so hard to figure out that it really robs the chaos of the moment. These here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: Definitely a problematic entry, if for no other reason than a couple of story problems rather than anything else fundamental about it, so it's still got some good stuff to it. Recommended for those interested, fans of the studio or the actors or vampire aficionados, while others should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity

I won't say it was a bad offering, but why doesn't someone make a vampire film that actually is a vampire film and not another kung fu action movie where the villains just happen to drink blood? What we get from Dracula's Curse is once again lots of fancy gunplay, swordfighting and martial arts involving hot goth chicks, which seems to have become the rule for vampire films these days (Blade, Underworld, Van Helsing etc. etc.) The cast perform adequately, but there's nothing much for them to do except strike poses looking cool or angry. The fights are choreographed okay and there's no poorly done CGI to laugh at, but we have seen this sort of thing before and I expect better from The Asylum.

This is the first Asylum movie I've seen and I was impressed. The cheap DVD sleeve doesn't do justice to the film, which looks just great. Some flashback scenes have a terrific look, unlike anything you've seen in quarter billion dollar budget films. While it is done on a low budget, it, like many other low budget flicks, makes up for it with a solid and smart script. It is funny, action-packet, at times dark and a little erotic, too. One stunt is quite spectacular with a vampire girl flipping backward and ending up standing perpendicularly on a wall. The story is a venerable encyclopedia of vampirism including characters such as Dracula, Van Helsing, Bathory, Nosferatu, etc. It is a complex story with a surprising twist at the end. It is a little too long because the production team is trying to accomplish a lot. The acting is uneven, most actors do a very good job, a few don't, but they are working hard on a fairly long and difficult script and I appreciate that. I would have liked to have seen a lot more nudity and gore. I can't wait to see the rest of Asylum movies. Recommended for anyone looking for a good, smart vampire flick and tired of predictable, lame and stupefying Hollywood movies.

I have been going through a phase lately of renting new releases off the video shelf that i've never heard of before. You know the ones with just one or two copies. Sometimes they end up being surprisingly good and most of the time I understand why there are just one or two copies. Dracula's Curse surprised me. Don't get me wrong its not going to win any awards and it does not compare to the greats of its genre, like Bram Stoker's Dracula with Gary Oldman or even Blade. But it is a pretty entertaining little film for what it is. I assume the budget wasn't very big but the effects were damn good and a few scenes in particular were just nice to look at (see it and you'll know which scenes I'm talking about). The costumes and makeup for the most part were also good. The story could have been streamlined a bit more in my opinion, maybe some more editing, but it kept me interested and wanting to know what happened next. Also for the low budget I assume it had the acting was surprisingly well done. The vampires were all very different and cool to watch. The vampire hunters are also a diverse group and pretty fun at times. My only disappointment here was seeing again the red-head actress I had just seen in another low budget rental Satanic. She was horrible in that one and that whole movie was horrible by the way. I cannot understand how this girl keeps getting parts because she is one of the most stinko actresses i have ever seen, at least in a main role, and is really out of place here. The rest of the cast is pretty great. I definitely recommend renting this movie.