When people talk about horror icons they usually talk about either Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers to name but a few. However there is true titan of terror that really does stand above them all that being Dracula and well there's new a film out featuring this truly really iconic character and I thought that i'd give it a shot and talk to you all about it and so then join me as I review the film that is basically a better version of Dracula Untold with the film in question being called simply just "Dracula: A Love Tale" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when a string of women start turning up with bite marks on their necks a Priest and a few others discover something far more deadly is going on and must race against time to stop it before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as while yes this films plot is the typical Dracula plot here it's done with so much style and flair that it does make the plot of the film seem oddly more gloomy and dark then what it already is with the plot of this film doing a good job of keeping what could be seen as being a very tired and worn out story seem fresh and new again and while last years Nosferatu remake did this kind plot alot more better as that films take on the story added alot of atmosphere to it which added to the overall creepiness of the film here this films take on the story makes it more gothic and something that a rebellious teen would like which is oddly fitting as the Universal Pictures take on the Dracula story was applauded for being a gothic story and therefor it does feel like that this film is taking more from that film interms of how it's telling plot but at the same time tho this films plot does feel a bit on the weak side of things which has the adverse effect of making the titular Dracula feel more like an afterthought in his own film with the ploy of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Caleb Landry Jones as Vlad / Dracula , Christoph Waltz as The Priest and Matilda De Angelis as Maria. Also starring in this film is Salomon Passariello as A Romanian Cavalryman , Zoë Bleu as Elisabeta / Mina , Ewens Abid as Jonathan Harker , Raphael Luce as A Clerk , Romain Levi as Captain Wernus , Guillaume De Tonquédec as Dumont , Bertrand-Xavier Corbi as Captain Targol , Janne Mattila as A Romanian soldier , Ivan Franek as Elisabets Capitain , Jassem Mougari as Mehmed II , Joonas Makkonen as A Romanian Soldier , Jaakko Hutchings as A Romanian Soldier , Nikita Makkojev as A Romanian Soldier , Haymon Maria Buttinger as The Cardinal , Liviu Bora as The Army Captain and Nicolas De Lavergne as Lieutnant Birthmark.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As this film does have some pretty decent actors in it and therefor it does make alot of sense that the acting in this film would be pretty good with this being something that's even more shocking when you take into account the fact that alot of this films actors are really some very little known actors and therefor it would have been foolish to expect good or even great acting from them which is something that we get in this film and while the acting in this film could have been better in some respects Zoë Bleu makes for a passable at best Mina with her playing a more better version of her ancestor Elisabeta with this films best actor oddly enough not being Christoph Waltz as it very easily could have been but rather it's Caleb Landry Jones who oddly makes for a great Vlad and an even better Dracula because as Vlad you see the joy that the actor is having playing that ide of the character and yet the moment that he becomes Dracula whilst he still does maintain the charm of Vlad he adds an ice cold stare to the character that lets you know that something isn't right with this person the second that we see him on screen with the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the CGI for this film is the really true legends and the really greats that really are currently over at MPC. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as the film mainly uses CGI for basic background replacement and the odd creature and to enhance things that were already there on the day of filming and that's really it with that being the very reason to use CGI as it then blends in with the live action elements alot more easier and nine times out of ten goes unnoticed by alot of people and while there is a case for using CGI to create things that you couldn't possibly do in the real world like for example dinosaurs or aliens sadly alot of film studios use it to make things that could be created in the real world and when those films have bad effects in them they really do stand out due to how bad that they are where as here because of the fact that the film uses very minimal CGI effects there really isn't a bad looking effect in the whole film as alot of this films CGI is just enhancing what was already there on the day of filming and will therefor look ten times better then anything that your making from scratch as those effects when there done wrong look horrible and when there done right they will still age due to how fast the world of CGI evolves and changes where as this films effects will look timeless as the film mostly uses practical effects and only uses the smallest amount of CGI when it really needs to.
Much like with Dracula Untold this film puts alot of focus on the love life of Count Dracula which is oddly something that does work. As it's an aspect of the character that really hasn't been explored all that much in a live action film setting and while it could be argued on if the romance aspect of the film was done well or not as it is something that does forgotten about for large portions of the films running time what can't be argued is the impact that it has on the film as it goes a long way into making this films take on Dracula come across as being more of tragic figure and because of that it does also make us the audience want to care for him as we want to see him reunite with his one true love and get his happy ever after but because of the fact that he's an evil person that does mean that it does rightfully create mixed feelings for us the audience as while we do want to see him get his happy ever after due to all of the evil things that he's done and does in this film we also want to see him meet his end as well thus meaning that Dracula would never be able to reunite with the one that he truly loved and who truly loved him and while other Dracula based films have tackled the idea of him in being love much better again look at the remake of Nosferatu as a good example here because of it's more gothic look and approach to the story it does come across as being more tragic for the Dracula character as while other films take a more stylistic approach to this part of the character here the makers of the film actively go out of their way to make sure that we care for the character as they knew that we had to buy into the romance for the film to work and while the romance itself could have been done alot more better then what it already was you can tell that there was at the very least some amount of effort put into giving the film a decent romance.
While there are plenty of good things to be found in this film there are plenty of bad thinfs to be found in it as well like the fact that the film is a bit of mess as it has at least three plots going on all at once with there being the main plot with the priest then there's the plot with Mina falling in love with Dracula and then there's the plot with Jonathon interviewing Dracula. With that last plot being dropped for a large portion of the films running time so when it does get back to it we the audience have all but forgotten all about it and the other two plots have long gaps inbetween them so much so that again we the audience do forget what's last happened in them and where the characters are in those plots with this having the add of effect of making Dracula himself feel alot more like a side character in his movie as he's not the one that's driving the main plot of the film forward and infact he barely interacts with anyone in that plot until the films third act with it coming across that The Priest is meant to be the main character of the film which if that is the case then the very title of the film is a lie as it makes it look like that Dracula is the main character when the plot of the film would straight up suggest otherwise and fair enough Christoph Waltz is a very big named star and so of course you want to feature him more in the movie as that then justifies him being on the films poster but that shouldn't come at the expense of Dracula as he's the character that people will be flocking to this film to see and not some character that they haven't heard of before now and therefor it would have made more sense for Dracula to be the one that's being more proactive in all of the plots that he's in and not just the plot with Jonathon as that just makes him look like a side character in his own movie.
For whatever reason the makers of this film seem to think that the main plot with The Priest is a rally interesting plot as they keep on cutting back to every single chance that they get. When it really isn't as nothing all that interesting happens in that plot which makes you wonder why the makers of this film chose to focus alot of the films screen time on it when they could have had the main focus o the film be the romance subplot with Dracula and Mina as that's the more interesting plot as it gives us a chance to see the title character get alot of love and attention due to the fact that in the films main plot he's barely a factor in it and with the films romance subplot even tho it does cover alot of the same ground that Dracula Untold covered in that we see quite alot of the same scenes in both films only here it's done to actually make you care for the character and not done in an rather undercooked way with the only thing that lets the romance subplot down is the fact that none of the main actors have any chemistry which is something that they really have done as that would help to sell us the audience on the romance but because of the fact that neither of them have any kind of chemistry with each other which does make them come across as people who have just met each other the day before they started filming this film when if the makers of this film cast actors that had chemistry with each other it would have made the main romance alot more believable then what it actually is but to be fair to this film the romance is alot more better then the entire plot with The Priest as nothing that's interesting happens in that plot it all happens in the romance subplot of the film.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and three minuets and seventeen seconds. Which to be fair to this film is a perfectly solid running time for this film with the film even having more then plot there to really cover that amount of running time however tho this film really doesn't use it's running tome all that wisely as while it's plot is a good plot it's still one that's not that well developed as the film does drop all three of plots for quite along period of time all for for no reason when that screen time could have been used to develop any of it's plots as they all do need developing to make them not only creepy but actually decent since as things stand all three of this films plots feel unfocused with the film struggling to find one main plot to focus on with this being something that results in a film that is unfocused at best and while this is something that doesn't really effect it's characters as all of it's characters do come across as being well developed with the best examples of this being both Dracula and Mina herself as both characters fall of to the dark side at different points in their lives where as Dracula had no one to pull him out and stop him from making the mistake that made him immortal Mina does in the form of her one true love Jonathon with Dracula having to come to terms with the fact that he will never see the woman that he loved ever again as to him she has now moved on to someone else and while the romance could have been alot more better there's no denying the fact that the characters are really well done but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As this film whilst it does lack many actual scares what it does have going for it in the horror department is it's atmosphere as the film makes great use of it's gothic atmosphere all of which do combine into making the film come across alot more creepier then what it actually is and with the film even having some pretty impressive looking gore effects something which does add to the atmosphere of the film as having the blood red of the blood go against the snowy backdrop of the films third act does make the film not only all the more impressive but also more stunningly beautiful then what it already is the first place and while there are no scares in this film the closest we get to a blood bath in this film does happen during the films third act with that scene in all honesty being the best scene in the whole entire film as that's where we get to see Dracula be his true self and because of that we get to see some really good scenes with the thing that made them better is all of the build up that the film does as the makers of this film know when to build up tension and when to let scenes just play out normally and while we the audience don't get a chance to feel tense as the scenes that do build u tension aren't that good in the first place and do come across as being very generic you can tell that there was a genuine effort to create some genuine scares in this film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while right now this film is only out in France with no American release date set in stone yet this is a film that could do very well at the American box office due to it's more gothic take on the material but at the same time tho this film still isn't that good of a film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that re in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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