Dracula 2000 (2000)

Director: Patrick Lussier

Writers: Joel Soisson, Patrick Lussier

Composer: Marco Beltrami

Starring: Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Sean Patrick Thomas, Danny Masterson, Lochlyn Munro, Tig Fong, Tony Munch, Jeri Ryan, Shane West, Nathan Fillion

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Most Seductive Evil of All Time Has Now Been Unleashed in Ours.

Plot: A group of thieves break into a chamber expecting to find paintings, but instead they release the count himself, who travels to New Orleans to find his nemesis' daughter, Mary Van Helsing.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I honestly expected a lot more from this.  I had no idea it was so bad and cheesy. The music really goes over the top in a few scenes, making this look even more like a music video.  The story is just fine but the performances are mostly over the top and campy.  Plummer comes off the best and that's probably because he's, you know, a really good actor (he's had his moments of cheese but this isn't really one of them).  I think the big problem is in the direction and art direction.  I watched the Blu-ray and it looks super clean and too pretty.  I love the idea of setting it largely in New Orleans but even a lot of those shots look like they were filmed on a soundstage and look fake as hell.  The Mardi Gras crowd scenes look staged and unnatural.  I don't know, man, this just looks slick and superficial.  Yeah, it's a horror movie called DRACULA 2000 and that about says enough, but this should have been better.  The best part was seeing Nathan Fillion in a small role pre-FIREFLY.  I'm skipping the first sequel and the only reason I'm about to watch DRACULA III: LEGACY (2005) is because Rutger Hauer plays Dracula and it's also got Roy Scheider in it (he's also in the second one but it doesn't look like his role is substantial enough for me to waste my time).