Dracula Reborn

Dracula Reborn
Movie poster
Directed by	Patrick McManus
Produced by	Ray Haboush
Written by	Patrick McManus
Starring	Corey Landis Victoria Summer Krash Miller Stuart Rigby Keith Reay
Music by	Greg Nicolett
Cinematography	Cira Felina Bolla
Edited by	Maui Toca
Production company	Still Night Monster Movies Automatic Media
Distributed by	Halcyon International Pictures Phase 4 Films[1][2]
Release dates	October 1, 2012 (2012-10-01)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Dracula Reborn is a 2012 vampire-themed direct-to-video horror film, directed and written by Patrick McManus, making his feature film directorial debut. Produced by Ray Haboush, the film stars Corey Landis, Victoria Summer, Krash Miller, Stuart Rigby and Keith Reay. It is a modernized, loosely based take on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, taking place in Los Angeles, California, where a wealthy Dracula looks to purchase an abandoned building and pursue the wife of his realtor, Jonathan Harker.^[1]

Plot

In Los Angeles, California, realtor Jonathan Harker (Corey Landis), is an insecure neurotic who proposes the sale of an abandoned building in a bad, gang-dominated neighborhood for $12.5 million to his wealthy and sly client Count Dracula, posing as Vladimir Sarkany (Stuart Rigby). The sale will bring Jonathan a 3% commission equivalent to $375,000, and it will enhance his financial life with his wife, Lina Harker (Victoria Summer), who wants to start a family. The night that Jonathan visits Dracula at his home to have the property deed signed, he notices a painted picture reminiscent of Lina. Later, a man, Quincy Morris (Krash Miller) warns him about the danger of Vladimir, who murdered his girlfriend, Lucy Spencer (Linda Bella).

Police detectives, Holmwood (Preston James Hillier) and Varna (Charlie Garcia) investigate the disappearance of Lucy, and Vladimir's associate, Renfield (Ian Pfister), frames Quincy as the suspect. Jonathan takes Lina to see the painting at Vladimir's home, where Vladimir begins to hypnotically seduce Lina, who reminds him of Lucy. Jonathan and Lina head back home, but their car gives trouble on the way, causing them to camp in the woods. During the night, Vladimir seduces the detectives and goes to bite Lina, sparking her illness. At dawn, the car is able to start back up and Jonathan takes Lina to get blood work done by Dr. Joan Seward (Dani Lennon).

The following day, the detectives discover Lucy's half corpse in a trunk. Jonathan finds out Lina is infected with an anonymous organism that is multiplying inside her system and worries over her health. While on the run, Quincy pleas to Jonathan for help to kill Vladimir, although Jonathan refuses to believe Vladimir is a vampire. Shortly after, Renfield runs Quincy over with a truck, killing him. When Lina begins feasting on their dog's corpse, Jonathan gets in contact with vampire hunter, Van Helsing (Keith Reay) for help and learns Quincy was killed. After Vladimir seduces and takes Lina away, Jonathan learns from Van and a mythical book that they have one day to rescue Lina and kill Vladimir during daylight or else he will lose Lina and she will turn into a vampire. Overcome by emotion that night, Jonathan confronts Vladimir at his house, but he is warded off. Hallucinating Lina on the road, he crashes his car on the way home, but survives.

The next day, the detectives under Vladimir's seduction, come to arrest Jonathan for his wife’s death, and Van kills them. Jonathan and Van soon figure out Vladimir has not killed Jonathan because he is awaiting the closing on his building purchase. At the building, Van attempts to kill Vladimir at his resting place inside of a coffin underground, while Jonathan takes Lina upstairs. Vladimir escapes and kills Van. He suddenly appears in front of Jonathan and attacks him; however, Jonathan and Lina are able to stake and kill him. Afterwards, Lina ends up biting and presumably killing Jonathan, revealing she has become a vampire. In the end, Lina takes over Vladimir's home, with Renfield as her assistant.

Cast

Release

The film was released by Phase 4 Films in North America and by other outlets in the United Kingdom on Video on Demand and DVD on October 1, 2012 and March 26, 2013.^[1][2]

Reception

Dracula Reborn was greeted with mixed to negative reviews. Despite that the film was headed by an ambitious debuting director, Dave Gammon of HorrorNews.net credited Patrick McManus for being "brash" to have created a new vampire tale in an over-saturated genre. He praises some of the cinematography and actors, particularly Ian Pfister’s own portrayal of Renfield, but ultimately criticized the film for leaving “little to the imagination” and claimed it “arguably never should have been conceived”. It is graded 2 out of 5.^[3]

Nav Qateel of InfluxMagazine.com complimented the acting as “solid”, but found a problem with Stuart Rigby’s performance as Dracula, viewing it as snide instead of arrogant. Overall, he calls the motion picture “low budget” and “one of the better efforts of this genre”, though believes it “wouldn’t come close to satiating your average movie fan thirst for a good horror”. It is given a B- score.^[4]

References

External links

• Dracula Reborn at the Internet Movie Database
• Dracula Reborn at Rotten Tomatoes