Monday, February 07, 2011

Dracula the Un-dead (2009)

Dracula the Un-Dead

for the unofficial sequel, Freda Warrington did a tasty job with Dracula the Undead (1997) by giving us what we longed to know after all the heated drama in the original Dracula (1897). for the official sequel - Dracula: the Un-dead (2009), however, Dacre managed to put the old literature into something more modern, more imaginable by revisiting the site of where it all began.

being the great grand nephew to Bram Stoker, Dacre Stoker was finally able to stand up for his bloodline. ever since Bram's death in 1912, his wife failed to obtain the copyrights of Dracula (1897). the Stokers were pained from the loss of these copyrights, it caused them to be extremely resentful towards any involvements with Dracula's filming or writings. until recent years, they were approached by Ian Holt, a horror screenwriter. with his kind intentions, he finally won over the Stokers n came out with Dracula: The Un-dead together with Stoker's direct descendant, Dacre Stoker. an agreement was made, reassuring that the Stoker family will have the rights to this sequel, for both its book n film.

it has been 25 years since the band on heroes succeeded in their quest to destroy Dracula. however, they were left struggling, while the past continued to corrode them from within. Jack Steward became a morphine addict, obsessive with hunting down the undead. Arthur Holmwood (Lord Godalming) broke off his relation with the rest of the band, trying to forget his love for his Lucy, who fell into the hands of darkness, through a loveless marriage. Jonathan Harker buried his insecurities with alcohol n prostitution, for Mina, his wife, has Dracula's blood in her, n since then had been retaining her youthful appearance. Abraham Van Helsing remained brave but now a sickly old man that believed Dracula would return any minute. the band was again gathered around a mysterious lady, Elizabeth Bathory, whom Jack Steward claimed to be a vampire. she first tortured then bathed in young women's blood. being seen by Jack Steward, she brought along her 2 minions to hunt down the band of heroes. in the meanwhile, Jonathan n Mina's son, Quincey, was chasing after a career in theater despite the disapproval from his parents. he met Basarab, a Romanian actor who was taking Europe by storm, n was soon trailing after him, forming an unlikely friendship.

i haven't been reading the classic Dracula (1897) for eons, its rough images still imprinted in my head; the castle resided by Dracula, the house that they happened to be staying while found n approached by Dracula. that itself was enough to get the story going for me. n the book did a great job by putting together all the knowledge we had for the classic Dracula (1897), giving new images but still refreshing us of the old ones. the story was fast paced, with Bathony merciless attacks n Basarab's mysterious appearance, it was absolutely impossible not wanting to know more!

author: Dacre Stoker, Ian Holt
published: 2009
genre: Horror

sequels:
- Dracula (1897)
- Dracula the Undead (1997)
- Dracula The Un-Dead (2009)

5 comments :

  1. Kinda fancy this kind of story ever since you introduced vampire's story to us! :)

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  2. Happy Lunar New Year!
    No horror stories for this auspicious period for me. :)

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  3. akira:
    do let us know once you have read any!

    ecl:
    happy chinese new year to you too! haha, no worries, that is just for me. ;)

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  4. I've not heard of this book, but am familiar with the Bram Stoker book. I had no idea he had a nephew?!!? It sounds awesome!

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  5. ron:
    this book was somewhat new around here since last year. a totally must get when i first laid my eyes on it. though it might not be as impressive as Bram's, it wasn't bad either. i'm sure you'll have great fun with it if you like Bram's!

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