Dracula 2000 Wasn’t that Bad… You Just Weren’t Nu Metal Enough

March 12, 2021 ● Meltem Yalçın Evren

Every decade has its own interpretation of Bram Stoker’s beloved novel, Dracula. Whether it's critically acclaimed or universally hated, at least one retelling pops up every ten years like clockwork and as expected, the 00s were no exception to this rule. With the turn of the new millennium fresh on the public's mind, promising a step forward into the future of modern living, the filmmakers tackling the 00s rendition of the all familiar vampire tale, including frequent collaborators Patrick Lussier and Wes Craven, knew they had to do something daring. What we got was an appropriately named Dracula 2000. An unapologetically 00s time capsule, capitalising off the new blooming sub-genre of Nu Metal with its aesthetics and soundtrack, entwined with the classic vampire story.

Dressed as if they wandered off the set of The Matrix and onto another, the film opens with a band of thieves infiltrating a giant vault belonging to Matthew Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer), a descendant of 19th-century physician and vampire killer Abraham Van Helsing. Under his antique shop situated at Carfax Abbey in 2000s London, Matthew is hiding a sealed coffin, protected by a deadly defence system. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's inside the coffin, yet the thieves, hungry for riches steal it anyway and by the time Matthew and his assistant Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) realise what has happened, the coffin is gone.

During the plane journey back to America, one of the burglars manages to open the coffin revealing a withered and dormant Dracula (Gerard Butler). Gone were the days of the Count being a grotesque creature of the night, after rejuvenating himself to full health by consuming the blood of everyone on the plane (consequently causing it to crash into a Louisiana swamp), our new Dracula is revealed.

Gerard Butler looks a lot less scary and a lot more sexy as Dracula. It makes sense that he would take the clothes of his first victim as his own but what we see is the most outrageously noughties costume design. Wearing an all-black ensemble topped with a black trench coat, Butler’s Dracula looks more like he's on his way to hang out with the local mall goths at Hot Topic than to wreak havoc on the world, which by default sets the tone for the angsty Dracula we’re about to follow.

Straying away from the novel slightly, the Count is on the hunt for Matthew Van Helsing's daughter Mary (Justine Waddell), a young woman working at the not so subtle Virgin Megastores. If you didn't get the gag the first time, the whole film feels like an advertisement for the now non-existent entertainment chain, further cementing it to the CD loving noughties. In a bizarre attempt to get the audience to understand that she's “untouched”, Mary comes across as if she has an unhealthy obsession with her retail job, even wearing her uniform to bed with the words “virgin” plastered to the front, making it all the more comical at how unsubtle it is.

Surprisingly, this isn't the reason why Dracula is after her though. After finding her father's diary, Mary discovers Matthew is the real Abraham Van Helsing, who after realising his inability to destroy Dracula permanently in 1897, has been injecting himself with the Count's blood to prolong his life in hopes of one day finding a way to eliminate Dracula for good. Since Mary was born after Van Helsing began injecting himself, she now shares the same blood and a telepathic link to Dracula. Although arguably this is the most interesting part of the film, it's cut short with another big reveal taking the limelight.

Playing with vampiric lore, we find out that Dracula is in fact Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Full of shame, Judas tried to hang himself but the rope snapped and he was cursed with immortality. In other words, Dracula 2000 suggests God made Judas a vampire as punishment. Now, the tortured soul Dracu-Judas only drinks the blood of people who have sinned and roams around graveyards demolishing mausoleums with Christian Iconography whilst System Of A Down blares in the background - clearly, he’s not over what happened 2000 years ago.

Although staked through the heart by critics for its not so groundbreaking narrative, Dracula 2000 somewhat quenches your vampiric thirst and remains an enjoyable 00s horror flick, reflecting on the rise of the booming sub-genre of its time. Its abundance of Nu-Metal bands which dominate the soundtrack, such as Linkin Park and Taproot is its most endearing aspect if you're a veteran emo, if not though, Dracula 2000 might be a bit of an earache.

Meltem Yalçın Evren ● Writer

Twitter: @belalugosismom

Instagram: @meltemyalcinevren

Horror filmmaker and writer. You can usually find me with a cup of coffee in hand, either watching a true crime documentary or reading about the paranormal.