Movie review: Luke Evans stars in vampire romp Dracula Untold

REVIEW: Dracula Untold ain’t no classic but it’s clear the cast is having a bit of a lark, and that’s no bad thing.

Dracula Untold (M)

Director : Gary Shore (feature debut)

Starring : Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson

Rating : **1/2

Watch out! He’s stark raving Vlad!

Most vampire movies are up for a little camp. By comparison, Dracula Untold erects a complete tent city.

This cheesy, relatively breezy affair reveals how a little-known 15th century Transylvanian prince became the biggest bloodsucker the world has ever seen.

Vlad the Impaler (played by Welsh actor Luke Evans) starts out as a right royal family man. He loves his wife (Sarah Gadon), his kid (Art Parkinson) and his homeland.

Scary dude ... Luke Evans goes to the dark side in Dracula Untold.

So with all three under threat from marauding Turkish warlords, Vlad accepts a surprise offer to briefly become a vampire warrior to repel them.

It’s a sweet deal. Whenever the urge to fight comes upon him, Vlad can shape-shift from his burly human self into a flapping flock of carnivorous computer-generated bats.

It could be argued the special-effects team of Dracula Untold never quite drive a stake completely through these man-to-batman transformations.

Luke Evans in a scene from film Dracula Untold

Up close, they appear realistic enough. But in wide shots, these supposedly terrifying creatures are more like a swarm of sooty bees.

There is just one catch to Vlad’s temporary vampire visa: he must avoid drinking any pure human blood for three days.

What could possibly go wrong? If you don’t know the answer, you really need to get out into direct sunlight more often.

Luke Evans (left) and Art Parkinson in a scene from film Dracula Untold

While this ain’t no classic, it is clear the cast is having a bit of lark here, and that vibe helps the film stay connected to its target audience.

Evans has a certain something as a leading man that will be put to better use in years to come. He looks a bit like an Orlando Bloom who has done a little prison time.

From one angle, Evans can be just pretty. From another, Evans can pretty tough.

Co-star Dominic Cooper, however, is the least fearsome screen villain in living memory. It doesn’t help he is wearing enough eyeliner to be seen from the moon.

Originally published as Movie review: Luke Evans stars in vampire romp Dracula Untold