Now Showing: The Tomb of Dracula

 

The Tomb of Dracula

Genre: Horror / Superhero / Adventure

Director: Adam Wingard

Writer: Jack Brown

Based on Marvel Comics characters

Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Antony Starr, Joseph Quinn, Maika Monroe, Naveen Andrews, Stephen Rea, Mackenzie Crook, Vanessa Redgrave, Tim Curry (VOICE)

Plot: 

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Wallachian Prince Vlad Dracula (Antony Starr) is leading a small army against a massive Turkish force  in a battlefield near the Carpathian Mountains. The Turkish army is much larger than Dracula's. The number of Dracula's soldiers dwindles as they are brutally slaughtered by the Turkish cannon fire. Eventually Dracula stands alone, surrounded by the bodies of his soldiers. He grabs his sword and attacks the Turkish forces single-handedly. He slaughters enemy after enemy as their sliced up bodies form mounds around him. Dracula is stabbed several times but continues fighting with every last breath until his body finally gives out as he is too out-numbered. 

After the battle has ended and the Turkish forces have moved on, Dracula awakens. He crawls over the sea of dead bodies, dragging himself into a nearby cave. In the cave, Dracula is approached by Varnae (voiced by Tim Curry), a monstrous bat-like creature. Varnae offers to give Dracula to bring him back from the verge of death and give him the power to conquer any enemy. Dracula, desperate, agrees. Varnae slices open his wrist with one claw and instructs Dracula to feed on his blood. Dracula continues to feed on Varnae until the monster is near-death. Varnae weakly tells Dracula that he has passed his powers onto him, but also his curse. Varnae walks out of the cave and into the direct sunlight. His body quickly engulfs in flames, killing him. 

Once night arrives, Dracula transforms into a bat and flies to his ancestral home... the Castle Dracula!

Present Day

Frank Drake (Jeremy Allen White) is reluctantly sitting through an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. As soon as the meeting has ended and he has gotten his court-mandated paperwork signed, Frank heads down to a bar to meet his girlfriend Jeanie Ovington (Maika Monroe) and his best friend Clifton Graves (Joseph Quinn). Clifton is in the middle of describing the latest get rich quick scheme he is plotting. Frank and Jeanie simply roll their eyes at Clifton's plans. After a few drinks, Frank and Jeanie go back to his apartment only to find an eviction notice taped to his door. Frank and Jeanie are drunkenly kissing when they both notice a letter that had been slipped under the door. Frank decides to open it. He reads it aloud to Jeanie, learning that he has inherited a castle in Romania from a long lost relative. He suggests to Jeanie that they go over there and check it out in hopes of selling it to solve his money problems.

The next day, Frank tells Clifton about the castle. Clifton does some research and quickly learns that it is the castle rumored to have been home to Vlad the Impaler - also known as Count Dracula. Clifton tells Frank that he just stumbled into a goldmine and should set up the castle as a tourist attraction. Frank says that he wants to see it with Jeanie before selling it, if they can figure out how to get there. Clifton offers to pay for the plane tickets to Romania with the seed money for his latest get rich quick scheme if he can tag along. The three head to the airport. While Frank gets up to use the lavatory on the flight, Clifton makes a pass at Jeanie. She turns down his advances, insisting that if Frank is about to be rich she isn't going to screw up the relationship now.

When the plane lands down in Brasov, Romania, they have trouble finding any taxis to take them to their destination once they tell them it is Castle Dracula. They finally find a British driver, Otto (Mackenzie Crook), who is willing to drive them up the mountains to the castle. 

They drive through the village of Bran, at the base of the mountain. Otto tells them that the locals are all very superstitious and won't go anywhere near the castle because of the legends, but he doesn't buy into any of it. Once they reach the top of the mountain, they see the exterior of the ancient castle. Otto drops them off and gives Frank his phone number in case they need a ride back into the city.

Entering the castle, the three are attacked by a swarm of bats. They all run off in different directions from the bats. Clifton begins looking through the castle for valuables until he falls through some old floorboards and falls down into a lower level of the castle. Clifton follows a stone staircase down further into the lower levels of the castle until he finds himself in Dracula's tomb. Clifton finds a coffin and opens it. Inside are Dracula's bones with a silver stake jutting out of its chest. Clifton, knowing the value of the silver, takes the stake out of the skeleton and pockets it. Clifton turns to walk out of the room. Dracula returns to life after the stake was removed, with flesh reforming around the skeleton. Dracula attacks Clifton and is about to bite him, but stops himself. Dracula throws Clifton down into a pit, promising to deal with him later. 

Frank and Jeanie discover the broken flooring that Clifton fell through. They call out Clifton's name, but get no response. Suddenly a bat flies through the hole in the floor. Jeanie panics at the sight of the bat. The bat then transforms back into Dracula. Frank suddenly realizes that all of the legends are true. Jeanie immediately finds herself under Dracula's hypnotic thrall and begins walking toward him. Frank sees this and shoves her away from the vampire. Dracula draws near to attack. Frank scrambles for a weapon, but cannot find one. He does however notice that Jeanie is wearing a small crucifix. He takes it off her neck and holds it towards Dracula who recoils at the sight. Dracula transforms back into a bat and flees, flying out of the castle. Frank takes Jeanie up to bed and tries to call Otto to get a ride away from the castle, but he can't get a signal. Frank goes around the castle, locking every door and blocking all the windows to keep Dracula from re-entering the castle.

Dracula, in bat form, flies down to the nearby village of Bran. He finds a woman walking alone in the streets. He quickly attacks her, feasting on her blood. He feels reinvigorated and flies back toward his castle. A group of villagers find the woman's dead body. They organize a mob with the intent of burning down the castle once and for all.

Dracula manages to get back into his castle. He finds Jeanie sleeping all alone in bed. He goes to bite her, but finds that she is wearing a crucifix. He recoils. Frank emerges, revealing that he inherited the castle from a long-lost family member so they must be related. Frank pulls out a wooden stake and lunges at Dracula, but Dracula knocks him away. Jeanie wakes back up from the commotion. Dracula uses his hypnotic gaze to make Jeanie remove her crucifix necklace and toss it away. Meanwhile outside, the villagers have begun their approach toward the castle with torches. Frank comes to, finding Dracula feeding on Jeanie. Frank tries to stake Dracula once more, but Dracula turns into a bat and flees the scene. The villagers throw their torches into the castle. As the castle fills with smoke, Frank picks up Jeanie's body and carries her outside. Frank sees the villagers and tells them that Dracula left. Frank thinks Jeanie is dead, but she suddenly comes to, having been turned into a vampire by Dracula. She turns into a bat and flies off toward Dracula in the night sky.

Meanwhile in London, a large werewolf attacks a crowd. Taj Nital (Naveen Andrews) arrives on the scene. He manages to capture the attention of the werewolf. The werewolf charges after Taj, who runs down a narrow alley. Just when it looks like Taj is trapped in the alley and the werewolf is closing in, a cage falls from above trapping the werewolf. Taj fires a silver arrow from a crossbow at the werewolf, striking it in the chest and killing it. Taj pulls the cage up and uses pliers to pull out the werewolves fangs. He returns to the headquarters of the Nightstalkers in the sewers beneath Big Ben clock tower. Taj gives the fangs to the leader of the Nightstalkers, Rachel Van Helsing (Vanessa Redgrave), the granddaughter of the famed Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. She informs Taj that Dracula's Castle has come under new ownership after being inherited by Frank Drake, a long-lost descendant of Dracula. Rachel asks Taj to locate Mr. Drake for her.

Otto arrives as the sun rises, having received Frank's messages. Frank explains to Otto that Dracula is still alive, but fled when the castle caught fire. Frank and Otto hear yells coming from the burnt out castle. They rush inside, finding Clifton trapped in a pit. They help him out. They search the scene and the only valuable item left unscathed Brasov. Frank declines saying his plans have changed now. Clifton makes some phone calls, finding an auction house in London that is interested in the coffin. Frank and Clifton transport the coffin to London. They unload it in a warehouse belonging to the auction house. Dracula can sense his coffin has been moved away from his castle. He flies toward its direction with Jeanie behind him.

Frank and Clifton go to a hotel and drink in the hotel bar, toasting to what they hope will be a highly profitable auction. Frank eventually leaves the bar to up to the room. Inside he finds Jeanie waiting for him. She tries to seduce him and bite him, but they are interrupted by Clifton drunkenly stumbling into the room. Frank pulls out Jeanie's old crucifix necklace. He throws it at her. Jeanie recoils in pain. Frank manages to tie Jeanie up. Frank asks Clifton to watch her while he goes to the warehouse to check on the coffin. Jeanie takes advantage of Clifton's jealousy and convinces him to free her. Dracula arrives and tells them that they all must go to retrieve his coffin. Jeanie convinces Clifton to lead the way to the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse Frank sees Clifton enter. Frank is angry that Clifton isn't watching Jeanie as she might be able to escape. Jeanie then emerges, saying that she already did. Jeanie charges toward Frank to attack him, knocking him into a stack of antique furniture. He grabs the leg from a broken chair and stabs it into Jeanie's back. Dracula, outside, realizes that it is almost dawn and flies away. Sunlight begins to enter through the windows of the warehouse. Jeanie catches fire as the sunlight reaches her. Frank and Clifton watch as Jeanie burns to death. Frank looks at Clifton and tells him that their friendship is over. 

Edith Harker (Eve Hewson) is walking alone on a London street as snow begins to fall. Dracula watches her from atop a building, seeking out a new victim to feed on. He descends down to attack, but finds that she is wearing a crucifix and is unable to feed on her. Instead, Dracula summons rats to attack her as he flies away to find another victim to prey on. Edith fights off the rats, but there are too many of them. Her father Quincy Harker (Gabriel Byrne), son of Jonathan Harker, arrives. He is confined to a wheelchair. He pulls out a revolver and begins firing at the rats to get them away from his daughter. Once the rats are gone, Quincy notifies Rachel Van Helsing to inform her that Dracula has once again come to London.

Frank stands on the edge of bridge over the Thames River when he is approached by Rachel Van Helsing and Taj Nital. Rachel introduces herself as the granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, the man who originally slew Dracula over 100 years prior. She tells Frank that she tracked him down after learning that he inherited Dracula's castle. Frank agrees to be taken to the Nightstalkers headquarters to learn more about their mission.

Clifton is drinking himself stupid in a bar when he is finally cut off and kicked out of the establishment. Outside he is approached by Dracula. Clifton is afraid at first, but Dracula soon uses his hypnotic powers to put Clifton under his command. Dracula tasks Clifton with recovering his coffin as he cannot sleep without it.

At the Nightstalkers headquarters, Frank tells Rachel that he is in possession of Dracula's coffin, having taken it from the castle to sell it. Rachel tells Frank that they will need to use the coffin as bait to lure Dracula. The Nightstalkers arm themselves and Frank takes them to the auction house warehouse where the coffin is being kept. They are ambushed by Dracula and Clifton. Frank and Clifton fight while Taj fires a crossbow at Dracula that shoots wooden stakes. The warehouse catches fire during the fight. Dracula summons a swarm of bats to attack the Nightstalkers. Clifton loads Dracula's coffin into the back of a truck in the commotion. Dracula locks Frank, Rachel and Taj in the burning building. As the warehouse fills with smoke, Quincy and Edith Harker arrive and free them.

Rachel and Quincy thank Frank for trying to help them, but they tell him that his services are no longer needed as he is no longer in possession of Dracula's coffin and he has no experience hunting vampires or any other kind of monster. Frank tells that that he refuses to give up trying to stop Dracula since it ultimately is his fault that Dracula was awoken in the first place. 

Meanwhile, Clifton Graves drives a truck through mountains back toward Romania. Dracula sleeps in his coffin in the back of the truck.

Post-Credits:

Vampirism is on the rise following Dracula's return. Frank Drake, Edith Harker and Taj Nital get their weapons together to go out vampire hunting in London.