Search - Vlad on DVD

Cheesy movie, good acting

adrienne12 | pittsburgh pa usa | 08/15/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"OK, I am Romanian and I remember I read in Time magazine about the making of this movie in 2003. They called it an attempt to show the historical truth about Vlad Tepes?! Well, almost... The plot is cheap, but for a horror movie I'd say it is ok.... What amezed me is that Romanian actors spoke English with a very strong Romanian accent but foreigners spoke Romanian with a very good accent. The chase scene made me smile because i recognized the part of Bucharest it was filmed and it is very dear to me... Now besides the fact that romanian soldiers in Vlad Tepes army looked like knights at King ARthur's court and that Vlad tepes's wife spoke some sort of old English?! and the movie depicted that the official religion was Catholic the rest is ok and I'd say they went the 9 yards to restaurate the costumes and habits. But... also one thing that made me smile.... the students arrive to one of Vlad tepes Castle at night and in the morning they leave from another one (in a different city). But only Romanians can recognize them.... Overall I'd say it is a cheesy movie for Romanians but it will fly with the rest of the world."

Very Well Done

OhBo | Ohio | 11/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm impressed, although I'm not a huge "Horror" fan this movie was well done and I'm sure it's fair to totally judge it ad "Horror". Nice mix of the real character (Vlad) and present day. Love the Romanian locations. Not your typical "Vampire" flick at all!! Francesco Quinn reminds me of young a Anthony (his dad). Nice mix of History and fiction. Vlad the impaler rides again."

Serious Vlad Tepes/Dracula fans, this is definitely worth wa

Lenore | USA | 07/27/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For a low budget movie made in 23 days, "Vlad" is rather good. Apparently, director Michael Sellers was intent on making a serious film here as opposed to the usual slice and dice gore fests and has gotten respectable results. For the most part, the movie was filmed entirely on location using many local actors and actual villagers and includes dialogue in Romanian, Middle English, and Latin so it has an authentic feel to it. The atmosphere, settings, glimpses of Romanian culture, and flashbacks of Vlad the Impaler's life are fascinating. That the college students, who are there to research the "historical" Dracula, are fairly believable, particularly Monica Davidescu, is a welcome change from the bunglers in many "horror" movies. There are only a few "supernatural" scenes; Vlad in "vampire face," which is something of a modified vampire bat face, a superimposed dual-image wolf-to-Vlad transformation, and a rapid ascent up the outside wall of a building so the story is not dependent upon or overshadowed by special effects. In one of the more realistic and intense portrayals of the title character to date, Francesco Quinn is quite compelling as Vlad Tepes/Dracula and mesmerizing to watch. Billy Zane, managing a credible accent, does a solid job as the students' contact/guide and the rest of the cast turn in decent performances all around. The bad news is that there is not enough of Vlad, the reason given for returning his necklace has a noticeable hole in it, and the girl sucked into our time, courtesy of said necklace, despite her costume, looks entirely too modern, which is distracting. In addition to the movie, there are many good extras and after watching all of them, it is worth the extra time to view Sellers' commentary to glean his noteworthy little tidbits about the filming. The only annoying part of these remarks is that he mentions too often how long everything took to do. All in all, "Vlad" is an enjoyable, worthwhile addition to any vampire movie library."

Just Average

Madelyn Pryor | Mesa, AZ United States | 10/19/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For a modern Dracula movie, this one isn't bad. The only bad thing is that it barrows and copies from many other Dracula stories and movies, including Subspecies and Bram Stoker's Dracula to name a couple.

Over all, the movie isn't bad. The special effects are decent and the story, is once again, average. The acting is good in places, but two of the best actors, and the one's I watched the movie hoping to see - Brad Douriff and Billy Zane - were barely in the movie at all. I was disappointed.

There wasn't anything that stood out for me about this film, other than the fact that Billy Zane is still charming as ever. Other than that, the plot is full of holes, the ending is silly, the story is predictable. I also had objections to a rape scene in the movie. There are good parts. Some of the costumes are nice, and some of the acting was decent.

I would recommend this only to fans of B movies, people who need an all too brief Billy Zane fix, or Dracula completist fans. I would not recommend it to someone just looking for a good horror movie.
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