| Dracula 2000 | |
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Theatricla release poster |
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| Directed by | Patrick Lussier |
| Produced by | W.K. Border Joel Soisson Wes Craven |
| Written by | Joel Soisson Patrick Lussier |
| Based on | Dracula by Bram Stoker |
| Starring | Jonny Lee Miller Justine Waddell Gerard Butler Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick Jennifer Esposito Danny Masterson Jeri Ryan Lochlyn Munro Sean Patrick Thomas Omar Epps Christopher Plummer |
| Music by | Marco Beltrami |
| Cinematography | Peter Pau |
| Editing by | Peter Devaney Flanagan Patrick Lussier |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films |
| Release date(s) | December 22, 2000 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $54 million |
| Box office | $47,053,625[1] |
Dracula 2000, also known internationally as Dracula 2001,[2] is a 2000 horror film written and directed by Patrick Lussier. The film stars Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Omar Epps, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jeri Ryan, and Jennifer Esposito.
Dracula 2000, the promotional title of which is Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000, builds upon Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, with Count Dracula resurrected in the year 2000. The movie was a critical and commercial disappointment, though it gained a cult following which resulted in two direct-to-video sequels.
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Matthew Van Helsing (Plummer), the alleged descendant of the famed 19th century Dutch medical doctor, Abraham Van Helsing, owns an antique shop in early 21st century London. One night with Van Helsing upstairs, his secretary, Solina (Jennifer Esposito), allows a group of thieves, led by her boyfriend, Marcus (Omar Epps), into the shop. The thieves infiltrate the shop's underground high-security vault and find a sealed silver coffin protected by a deadly defense system. Based on the level of security surrounding the coffin, Solina and Marcus decide that the coffin’s contents must be valuable, so they escape with it and flee to New Orleans, Louisiana. When Van Helsing discovers that the coffin has been stolen, he boards a plane to America, telling his apprentice, Simon Sheppard (Jonny Lee Miller), to remain in London. Simon does not follow his mentor’s orders and travels to Louisiana as well.
Aboard the plane, one of the thieves manages to open the coffin, revealing the dormant body of Count Dracula (Butler). Dracula awakens and attacks the thieves, causing the plane to crash in the Louisiana swamps. Dracula survives the crash and travels to New Orleans where college students Mary Heller (Waddell) and Lucy Westerman (Fitzpatrick) are living. Mary is estranged from her family and has recently been plagued by dreams of a strange, terrifying man.
Van Helsing and Simon arrive in New Orleans and destroy the newly turned vampires left in Dracula’s wake. After the battle, Van Helsing reveals to Simon that he is in fact the original Abraham Van Helsing who defeated Dracula in 1897. Because he was unable to destroy Dracula permanently, Van Helsing hid Dracula's body and prolonged his own life with regular injections of Dracula's blood until, one day, he could discover a way to kill Dracula for good. Simon is intrigued by Dracula's hatred of all things Christian and wonders why Dracula is also particularly vulnerable to silver.
Van Helsing also tells Simon about his daughter, Mary, who was taken from England by her mother after the truth about his identity came to light. Since Mary was conceived after Van Helsing began his injections, she shares blood and a telepathic link with Dracula. Van Helsing knows that Dracula senses Mary's existence and is in New Orleans to find her.
Van Helsing and Simon try to reach Mary before Dracula does, but fail to do so before Dracula turns Lucy into a vampire. Dracula and his three new brides, Solina, Lucy, and Valerie, corner Van Helsing and kill him. Simon and Mary escape, only to be captured by Dracula shortly thereafter.
Dracula takes Mary to a rooftop and reveals his secret: He is none other than Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus for a bribe of thirty pieces of silver. As he went to hang himself, the rope snapped and as punishment he was cursed and had to live for two thousand years as a vampire. The three brides appear with Simon, and Dracula tells Mary to bite him. She fakes the bite and together Mary and Simon kill the three brides. Angered, Dracula tried to throw her from the rooftop. Mary wraps some cable from a large crucifix around Dracula's neck and they both fall from the roof. Dracula hangs as he attempted to do two thousand years before, but this time the rope does not break, and he burns in the first sunlight.
Dracula 2000 opened at #7 in its first week at the box office with $8.6 million. In its second week, the film had a 56.5% drop-off, but hung onto the #8 spot. The film grossed $33 million domestically and $47 million worldwide, failing to bring back its $54 million budget. On its initial video release, it grossed an additional $32 million in the US and Canada and is still making money worldwide. Dracula 2000 was the sixth highest grossing film for Miramax/Dimension Films in 2000, exceeding the box office takes of such expensive Dimension Films releases like Reindeer Games and Impostor, as well as the Miramax Film December opener for that year, All the Pretty Horses.[3]
Critically, Dracula 2000 has earned a rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes[4] and 26 out of a 100 on Metacritic.[5] Berge Garabedian of JoBlo offered a positive review, calling it "A fun vampire movie", "a novel adaptation of an old time legend", and "[good] for pretty much anyone looking for some enjoyable bloody fun."[6] BeyondHollywood.com wrote, "Dracula 2000 is not the worst vampire movie I've seen, but it's definitely not the best either. There are some very good moments, most of them featuring the frail Van Helsing as he attempts to battle the fast and deadly vampires. Also, I appreciated the background given to Dracula's aversion to silver, crosses, and God, as well as Dracula's 'true' origins. Not bad work, but it could have been much better."[7]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C-" score,[8] while James Berardinelli of ReelViews panned the film, writing: "Of all the indignities to have been visited upon Dracula during the past century (including being the "inspiration" for a cereal and a Sesame Street character, and being lampooned by Mel Brooks), none is more unsettling than what has happened to the world's most famous vampire in Dracula 2000."[9]
The film's rock soundtrack includes Linkin Park's song "One Step Closer", System of a Down's cover of Berlin's "The Metro", Slayer's song "Bloodline" and Disturbed's song "A Welcome Burden". The original music score is composed by future Academy Award-nominee Marco Beltrami.
Dracula 2000 was followed by two direct-to-video sequels, Dracula II: Ascension in 2003 and Dracula III: Legacy in 2005. Patrick Lussier and Joel Soisson, who directed and wrote all three films, created a plot for a fourth film and discussed releasing it theatrically, but no film has yet been produced.[10]
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