Nerdly » ‘Dracula: The Original Living Vampire’ Review

01st Feb2022

‘Dracula: The Original Living Vampire’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Christine Prouty, Stuart Packer, Ryan Woodcock, India Lillie Davies, Jake Herbert, Michael Ironside | Written by Michael Varrati | Directed by Maximilian Elfeldt

It’s interesting to see that the classic monsters of yesteryear, the kings of horror storytelling – Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolfman – are all returning to the [small] screen in new and different takes on the existing mythos. Us Brits had a go with films like The Mummy Reborn and its sequel and the more recent Bram Stoker’s Van Helsing; both made on a low budget by indie filmmakers. Now it’s the turn of American indie king’s The Asylum to have a crack at a legendary horror icon with Dracula: The Original Living Vampire – a film whose title would suggest was SUPPOSED to be a cash-in on the Sony/Marvel film Morbius… after all, in the comics Morbius if dubbed “The Living Vampire” too!

But this is definitely no Morbius. Nor is it like ANY Dracula we’ve seen before either. In fact Dracula: The Original Living Vampire is a fantastic “Elseworlds” take on the classic story that updates the outdated characters and tropes of the novel and the myriad of adaptations that have come before it with modern sensibilities. Some perhaps too modern for the quasi-historical setting of the film but that’s for later.

Dracula: The Original Living Vampire follows Amelia Van Helsing (Christine Prouty) and Captain Renfield (Stuart Packer, It Came from Below) as they investigate a series of killings that resemble vampire attacks; only they can’t be vampire attacks as vampires don’t exist and scientist Dr. Jack Seward (Michael Ironside) clearly believes there’s no way the marks could be made by ANY kind of teeth. However chemist and longtime friend of Amelia, Jonathan Harker (Ryan Woodcock) doth protest that vampires ARE real and these attacks ARE the result. Oh, we also have Count Dracula (Jake Herbert) roaming the streets. Only this Dracula is a “foreign dignitary” looking for a residence in London with the help of Mina Murray (India Lillie Davies), who is also the lesbian lover of Amelia… Talk about a convoluted plot!

The film also has trouble with its historical setting too. The fact that we have a female detective, her lesbian lover, and a bevvy of female victims with ridiculously dyed hair puts the time period in which this film takes place in an odd spot. Some of the clothing looks out of place too… But this IS supposed to be a period piece, the kind of reimagined period piece that Seth Grahame-Smith became famous for – think Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and you’ll be somewhere close. In fact, it feels like Dracula: The Original Living Vampire takes its final denouement, the battle between Dracula, Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker from the same playbook – it’s packed with action as our heroic duo take on the titular character and his army of vampire minions!

As I said in the opening, yes there are some historical inaccuracies but the fact we have a strong female lead, in Amelia Van Helsing, who’s written well and performed just as well – who kicks arse in the finale – more than makes up for it. As for Dracula… Well, Jake Herbert looks and sounds like he’s channelling Adam Ant in Spellcaster, by way of Michael Praed in Son of Darkness: To Die for II… He’d fit right in with the 80s New Romantic-come-Goth crowd of my youth, that’s for sure! It’s a shame Michael Ironside feels like his heart is not in it; maybe it’s the script, maybe it’s the fact he’s getting on in years but this is not the passionate, loud Ironside we’ve seen in the past. But at the same time this is not his film, he’s a supporting character to Van Helsing and Harker. Still, having Michael Ironside in ANY film always adds to the kudos.

I’ve seen other reviews mention that Dracula: The Original Living Vampire feels like it should be more camp than it is, that as it sits now it’s not funny enough to be fun but I have to disagree, if you were a fan of the aforementioned Grahame-Smith film adaptions like me, then you’ll undoubtedly get a kick out of this film too. Just be warned, the budget is probably less than a tenth of those big-budget Hollywood productions. But it’s just as fun and, more importantly, just as imaginative.