Needless to say that I had never actually heard about this 2012 movie titled "Dracula Reborn" from writer and director Patrick McManus. But I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2023, and with it being a vampire movie and a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.
I have to admit, though, that I harbored absolutely zero expectations to the movie, as I sat down and watch it. The mere title of the movie was enough to make the movie reek to high heavens of a low budget cash in on the classic Bram Stoker work. But hey, on the off-chance that the movie would prove to be good, I opted to give it a fair chance.
But I should have followed my gut instincts, because writer and director Patrick McManus slaughtered Bram Stoker's classic "Dracula" story by his re-writing and trying to make the novel up-to-date and a modern version of the classic tale.
Sure, if you've never read Bram Stoker's novel, or seen the 1992 movie "Dracula" or any of the old Hammer Horror movies for that matter, then you might find some enjoyment in "Dracula Reborn". However, I have, and thus I found Patrick McManus's movie to be a slap to the face with a cold, dead fish.
The storyline in "Dracula Reborn" had been rewritten to a great extend, but it wasn't making the story any more enjoyable. And the constant showing of actor Stuart Rigby's face turning ashen grey, his eyes blackening and black veins forming on his face whenever he was enforcing his vampiric will upon the humans grew very tiring, very quickly.
The acting performances in "Dracula Reborn" were adequate, but the actors and actresses very fighting an already lost uphill battle, because the script was atrocious and horrible. And the character gallery in the movie was just laughable, especially the Hispanic gangbangers, wow, it was so cringeworthy to watch and listen to.
Visually then "Dracula Reborn" was actually a fair enough movie. But you grew very bored with watching the same effects used over and over and over and over.
If you never have had any experience with the Bram Stoker novel "Dracula" in any form or shape, then by all means sit down and watch "Dracula Reborn". But if you have experience with the classic novel, do yourself a favor and skip of writer and director Patrick McManus's butchery of the works.
My rating of "Dracula Reborn" lands on a three out of ten stars.
