Dimension pictures and their hired scribe Joel Soisson (who's had his fingers in plenty of their genre films) decided to do a modern day take on Bram Stoker's classic character as some jewel thieves unwillingly let loose the centuries old bloodsucker (played by Gerard Butler) from his coffin after which our vampire pal destroys them all and heads out on a quest after Justine Waddell whom he wants to marry. Hot on his trail is Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer who's almost better than this movie deserves) and his partner Jonny Lee Miller.

This leads to all sorts of varations and interpretations on moments from the source material (it even does modern flips on the books original dialogue) as director Lussier hyperactively throws the camera to and fro.

As it stands it's a mostly watchable time that's not bad, just so-so and it does manage a twist that works at times. Butler isn't nearly menacing enough as the bloodsucker of lore and the Matrix inspired finale is just lame; but there's one scene in the vault that trots out some nasty traps and Plummer (like mentioned before) is fun to watch.

Virgin Megastores get massive product placement throughout and even manage to become an ironic in-joke (where would Dracula look for a virgin bride? Why at "Virgin" of course! Ha ha...).

Only one nagging question though: wouldn't Plummer's character be hard to kill also if he's been injecting the blood of Dracula? Just a thought.

Directed By: Patrick Lussier.
Written By: Joel Soisson.

Starring: Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer.