Dracula 3000 | |
---|---|
Genre | Science fiction horror |
Written by | Ivan Milborrow Darrell Roodt |
Directed by | Darrell Roodt |
Starring | Casper Van Dien Erika Eleniak Coolio Udo Kier Alexandra Kamp Grant Swanby Langley Kirkwood Tommy Lister Jr. Udo Kier |
Theme music composer | Michael Hoenig |
Country of origin | United States South Africa |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Frank Hübner Brad Krevoy David Lancaster David Wicht |
Cinematography | Giulio Biccari |
Editors | Avril Beukes Ronelle Loots |
Running time | 86 minutes |
Original release | |
Release | December 7, 2004 |
Dracula 3000 (stylized as DRACULA.3000, and also known as Dracula 3000: Infinite Darkness) is a 2004 made-for-television science fiction horror film directed by Darrell Roodt. An international co-production of the United States and South Africa, it is an adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula in the futuristic setting of outer space. Despite its title, the film is not connected to the Dracula 2000 series.
In the year 3000, the salvage spaceship Mother III happens upon the derelict transport Demeter. Captain Van Helsing and his crew board the abandoned ship.
They explore the bridge and find the corpse of the Demeter's Captain tied to a chair and clutching a crucifix. Despite the misgivings of the crew, particularly intern Mina Murry and vice-captain Aurora, the Captain claims salvage rights and decides to tow the ship back to Earth. As the crew prepares to return, Mother III suddenly uncouples from the Demeter, leaving them stranded with no means of communication.
Later, cargo specialist "187" and deckhand "Humvee" discover a cargo bay full of coffins. 187 speculates that the coffins could contain smuggled goods and opens one, only to find sand. Humvee heads back to the bridge while 187 stays to open the other coffins; he's soon mysteriously attacked. The crew rushes to 187's aid, only to find that he's now a vampire. Under orders from his "master", 187 vows to kill the entire crew.
Aurora, fleeing 187, runs into the "master", a vampire named Count Orlock. Aurora makes her way to a recreation room, where she reports her encounter with Orlock and reveals his intentions to return to Earth. Upon questioning, she's unable to explain how she escaped Orlock unharmed. Thinking that Aurora could be lying, the Captain ties her up, and Humvee guards her. Soon, 187 gains entrance and attacks Humvee, who manages to stake him in the heart with a pool cue. Aurora, still tied up, confesses that she's an undercover android cop investigating salvage activities. This is why Orlock didn’t bite her, as he sensed that she had no actual blood flow. The Captain and Humvee feel betrayed but untie her, thinking that they can use her as a weapon against Orlock, due to her immunity against vampirism. Searching the ship's database, the Captain and the Professor, who uses a wheelchair, discover that the legendary vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing was one of the Captain's ancestors. The Professor believes that Orlock will seek revenge against the Captain. The Captain learns how vampires can be stopped and decides to steer the Demeter on a course towards a binary star system.
Orlock soon confronts the Captain and Aurora. Aurora leaves to rally reinforcements, leaving the Captain to fight Orlock alone. Orlock eventually gains the upper hand and turns the Captain into a vampire. Aurora and Humvee return, only to be attacked by the Captain. Aurora stakes him with another cue stick, but Mina (now a vampire herself) attacks, allowing Orlock to escape. Humvee dispatches Mina. The Professor, despairing of his chances of survival, finds Orlock, who promises to free him from his disability in return for aiding Orlock's return to Earth. When Aurora and Humvee return to the bridge, they find the Professor passed out. Aurora stabs him with a cross, revealing that he was a vampire. A furious Orlock tries to enter the bridge, but Humvee and Aurora close the door on him, cutting off his arm in the process.
As the Demeter draws closer towards one of the binary stars, Humvee and Aurora confess to each other that neither knows how to pilot the ship. Knowing they are about to die, they take comfort in the fact that Orlock's plan to return to Earth has been foiled. Aurora reveals that she was originally a sexbot before being upgraded to be a cop, meaning she can give Humvee some solace before the end. Humvee accepts the offer and they spend their remaining time having sex.
The movie ends with a video segment from the Demeter's Captain Varna, who announces his intention to sacrifice himself and his ship. The Demeter explodes in space, killing Humvee and Aurora and destroying Orlock.
Critical reaction to Dracula 3000 has been negative. Andrew Stine of Something Awful said, "Whether it's out of some facsimile of genuine interest (rare) or because I just want to see how completely stupid things can possibly get within ninety minutes, I have so far been able to keep myself from lapsing into a waking coma by latching upon some facet of the movie which is not utterly, interminably boring. That is, until Dracula 3000." [1] Mitchell Hattaway of DVD Verdict said, "Dracula 3000 is a shining example of complete filmmaking ineptitude. You can look all you want and you won't find even the slightest hint of intelligence on any level. ... It sucks. Dracula 3000 makes Leprechaun 4: In Space look like Alien ." [2]
David Oliver of CHUD.com said, "This is the worst movie I've ever reviewed so far for CHUD. How is it bad? Every particular way you can think of: the acting, the writing, directing... I can go on for paragraphs. ... To call this film shit is an insult to fragrant brown logs everywhere." [3]
Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc.", indicating a wealth of experience, education and expertise. He is a doctor, professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist, and metaphysician. The character is best known through many adaptations of the story as a vampire slayer, monster hunter and the arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, and the prototypical and the archetypal parapsychologist in subsequent works of paranormal fiction. Some later works tell new stories about Van Helsing, while others, such as Dracula (2020) and I Woke Up a Vampire (2023) have characters that are his descendants.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Leslie Nielsen. It is a spoof of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and of some of the story's well-known adaptations. Brooks co-authored the screenplay with Steve Haberman and Rudy De Luca. He also appears as Dr. Van Helsing. The film's other stars include Steven Weber, Amy Yasbeck, Peter MacNicol, Harvey Korman, and Anne Bancroft.
Dracula is a 1958 British gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel of the same name. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, the film also features Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing, along with Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen. In the United States, the film was retitled Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the U.S. original by Universal Pictures, 1931's Dracula.
Count Orlok, commonly but erroneously known as Nosferatu, is a fictional character who appears in the silent film Nosferatu (1922) and its subsequent remakes, which is based on Bram Stoker's character Count Dracula.
Dracula is a 1979 gothic horror film directed by John Badham. The film starred Frank Langella in the title role as well as Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence and Kate Nelligan.
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character and the main female character in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.
Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 gothic horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. It is set primarily in 19th-century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, and was conceived as a stylistic adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, taking the title of F. W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. The picture stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, and French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield. There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.
Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family and is Mina Murray's best friend. Early in the story, Lucy gets proposed to by three suitors, Arthur Holmwood, John Seward, and Quincey Morris, on the same day. Turning the latter two down due to already being in love with Arthur, she accepts his proposal. Before getting the chance to marry, Lucy becomes Count Dracula's first English victim, and despite Seward contacting Abraham Van Helsing for help, she transforms into a vampire. Following her return as a vampire and attacks on children—dubbed the "Bloofer Lady" by them—she is eventually cornered into her crypt by Van Helsing and her suitors who destroy her, putting her soul to rest.
Dracula, the Musical is a musical based on the original 1897 Victorian novel by Bram Stoker. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.
Count Dracula is a British television adaptation of the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Produced by the BBC, it first aired on BBC 2 on 22 December 1977. It is among the more faithful of the many adaptations of the original book. Directed by Philip Saville from a screenplay by Gerald Savory, it stars Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula and Frank Finlay as Professor Van Helsing.
Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler, who was also known as Vlad Dracula, and by Sir Henry Irving, an actor for whom Stoker was a personal assistant.
Dracula, also known as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Dan Curtis' Dracula, is a 1974 British made-for-television gothic horror film and adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. It was written by Richard Matheson and directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis, with Jack Palance in the title role. It was the second collaboration for Curtis and Palance after the 1968 TV film The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Dracula is a television adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula, produced by Granada Television for WGBH Boston and BBC Wales in 2006. It was written by Stewart Harcourt and directed by Bill Eagles.
Dracula is a stage play written by the Irish actor and playwright Hamilton Deane in 1924, then revised by the American writer John L. Balderston in 1927. It was the first authorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. After touring in England, the original version of the play appeared at London's Little Theatre in July 1927, where it was seen by the American producer Horace Liveright. Liveright asked Balderston to revise the play for a Broadway production that opened at the Fulton Theatre in October 1927. This production starred Bela Lugosi in his first major English-speaking role.
Dracula is an adaptation, first published in 1996, by American playwright Steven Dietz of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel by the same name. Though it has never run on Broadway, the author lists it among his most financially successful works, and it is frequently performed near Halloween in regional and community theaters. Closely following the plot of the novel, the play chronicles Count Dracula's journey to England, his stalking of two young women, and his pursuit and eventual defeat by the heroines' suitors and their associates.
Transylvania Twist is a 1989 comedy film that parodies horror films. Originally released by Concord Production Inc., this film is distributed on home video by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In the film Angus Scrimm reprises his role of the "Tall Man" from the Phantasm films, as a parody. The humor of the film is most often said to be in the style of Airplane!, and Mel Brooks comedies. It occasionally breaks the fourth wall rule with characters looking at the camera, and one even saying "I'm in the wrong movie". The film's main theme has been released on a variety of albums, and the entire soundtrack was released on CD and as a direct download in the year 2010, twenty-one years after the movies initial release.
Dracula: Origin is a point-and-click adventure game for the PC based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Released by Frogwares in 2008, it follows the company's catalogue of adventure games such as the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series.
Dracula the Un-dead is a 2009 sequel to Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel Dracula. The book was written by Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Previously, Holt had been a direct-to-DVD horror screenwriter, and Stoker a track and field coach.
"Dracula" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as the premiere episode of the series on Monday, July 11, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
Hrabě Drakula is a Czechoslovakian 1971 black and white TV film adaptation of Bram Stoker's original novel Dracula.
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