Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on September 10, 2004, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Love and evil will never die, and neither will movies about how love and evil never die. Vlad, opening in LA-area theaters ahead of its video release September 21, purports to separate itself from all the other similarly themed films by centering on the true Vlad the Impaler, the historical inspiration for the legendary Dracula. But as written and directed by Michael Sellers, this is just one more tale of an undying human monster manifesting himself in the present, attacking the guys and attempting to woo the girls with his bad-guy mojo.
Said guys and girls are a quartet of college students who arrive in Romania to work on their assorted theses; they’ve apparently won some sort of competition, which makes it quite a coinkydink that two of them are brother and sister Jeff (Paul Popowich) and Alexa (Kam Heskin). Also among them is Linsey (Monica Davidescu), who is returning to her homeland bearing an amulet that just happened to be one that Vlad’s father passed on to him centuries ago. We see this event in a lengthy opening sequence, one of many flashbacks and bits of historical exposition strewn throughout Vlad’s first hour in an attempt to distract from the fact that not much of interest is happening in the present day.
Sellers also attempts to punch up the excitement by throwing in an incongruous car chase, as unscrupulous types seeking the amulet go after the students’ Bucharest contact, Adrian (Billy Zane, who says “Da” a lot to let us know how Romanian he is). Mostly, though, it’s the young quartet hiking through the picturesque woods and castles (Viorel Sergovici’s cinematography of genuine Transylvanian locations is the movie’s strongest asset), stopping off at one point to get high on some of the locally grown cannabis (!). The amulet gives a couple of the group odd visions, and eventually leads to the appearance of both Vlad (Francesco Quinn) and a young maiden (Iva Hasperger). The attempts at generating terror via the former and passion via both never hit home, though, and Sellers’ staging of the ensuing action is mostly listless.
Despite its delving into the historical (if certainly elaborated-upon) truth about Vlad the Impaler and shooting on his home turf, Vlad adds little to what has previously been explored in past Dracula-oriented films. The young cast is personable enough, but can’t help the movie overcome the nagging feeling that it might have been more interesting had it dispensed with the de rigueur youth element and concentrated on the older folks (also including Brad Dourif) seeking or guarding the Impaler’s secrets. For all the authenticity of its locations, Vlad feels far too bound by traditional Hollywood conventions of vampiric horror.
The extras on the Terra Media DVD are equally disappointing. There’s a half-hour of behind-the-scenes footage, some interesting and quite a bit not so much, with only the briefest onscreen interviews with the participants to illuminate what we’re seeing. A couple of deleted scenes prove to be most expendable, and the alternate ending is just a slight re-edit that gives the movie more of an open conclusion. Biggest grumble: A director’s commentary is promised on the DVD case, but try as I might, I couldn’t find it on the disc itself.
