Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Dracula 3000’

Written by Scott Edwards 

Growing up, I was always intrigued by someone or something that was out of the ordinary. Within the Vampire genre, I was more than interested in what the world would look like if they took it over. Having loved the idea of living forever since I was a child, this is the one genre I was willing to bond with quickly and have never lost interest in it. With only a couple of ways of possible deaths being brought to you by mortals, it seems to be one of the best changes you could go through to live and prosper.

Captain Abraham Van Helsing is running his salvage operation with his rag-tag group of specialists that all have their special abilities. Running into a ship called the Demeter that appears to be abandoned, it is still moving as if it has a heading. Boarding the dead ship, the crew finds only death and once they are able to unlock the ships logs, they find out why. Trying to make this salvage profitable, crew member 187 finds a group of coffins in the cargo bay and decides to open them as there may be some sort of treasure inside.

Thanks to some blood being spilled in the Demeter, an ancient force is unleashed upon the crew and it is something that none of them could have ever imagined. Dracula has come back to life and is hungry and when looking for his next meal from Van Helsing’s crew, he is met with the technology of the day as he tries to feed off of an artificial human. With nowhere but the past to focus on, Dracula is met with the child of his ancestor's biggest foe. Will the technology of the day be able to save Van Helsing’s crew from the ancient evil, or will it be too much and the out of date methods of killing be too far out of reach?

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Dracula 3000 is futuristic look on a classic story that involves the internal battle between good and evil. Although the story has not changed, the technology has and that could be the downfall for the human race. Without having the weapons of the 1700’s at their disposal, Van Helsing’s team has to find a way to survive the darkness being imposed by the resurrected Dracula. When everyone discovers that bullets are useless against the ancient beast, it is up to the great (many times over) grandson of Abraham Van Helsing to find a way to save the crew and kill the greatest threat to earth.  

As a lover of the vampire genre, I am more than willing to see what is out there on the subject. Vampires in space? What could go wrong with a storyline like that? Sometimes dreams can fall short, but what Dracula 3000 brings to the screen is something that can make you laugh out loud. Take for example how little changes when it comes to space travel in this film, since there are few differences to be found in the ships in this flick, regardless of their age difference. Plus, fashion does not seem to change over the course of thousand or so years from now, and it is apparent here that most of the technology does not either. Having a person confined to a wheel chair just seems silly but adds to the storyline.

However, being overcritical is something that you should never be when you are looking to be entertained, so let’s look at the bright points. Vampires in space, awesome. A crew member that is looking to smoke anything and everything in sight adds to the levity of the film. A crew that does not want to be there, along with accents a plenty and a beast from the past who has not changed his outlook on life makes even the novice of vampire fans smile. Taking a shot on something that has not been done before in the genre is very gutsy and for what it is worth, this movie gets points for trying to combine two genres. Stay Scared.

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