Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula

2000 1h 32m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🥫

20%

ROTTEN

⭐

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 50🥫20%Rotten Tomatoes★6IMDB · 2,694

TV MovieHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Meet the man behind the legend in this true story of Vlad the Impaler, whose vicious and cruel reputation as a bloodthirsty warlord became the basis for the myth of Dracula.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Rudolf Martin
Vlad
Jane March
Lidia
Christopher Brand
Bruno
Peter Weller
Father Stefan
Roger Daltrey
King Janos
Michael Sutton
Radu
Răzvan Vasilescu
Aron
Radu Amzulescu
Inquisitor

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joe Chappelle
Writers: Thomas Baum, Adrian Cancer
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joe Chappelle, shot by Dermott Downs. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Joe Rabig shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Rudolf Martin and Jane March and Christopher Brand carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0240793 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 50 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joe Chappelle directs. Dermott Downs behind the camera. Joe Rabig cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

126 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Joe Chappelle, shot by Dermott Downs. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Joe Rabig shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Rudolf Martin and Jane March and Christopher Brand carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt0240793 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 50 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dermott Downs
Editing: Joe Rabig
Production design: Christian Niculescu
Makeup / hair: Cătălin Ciutu
VFX supervisor: Robin Trickett
Sound: Don Digirolamo
Stunt coordinator: Adrian Pavlovschi
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 20% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 6/10 · 2,694 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 nomination

Also by

Joe Chappelle

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-28
★ 5/10
I was drawn to this film by a trailer in which I could swear that I saw Roger Daltrey (from "The Who") and indeed, sparingly, here he is as "Janos", the King who decides to empower "Vlad Tepes" (Rudolf Martin) to fight against the Ottoman empire and to free his Romanian nation from their occupying yoke. This film makes no reference at all to any of the more traditional vampiric myth. It's basically just a low-budget history of a princely freedom-fighter who galvanises his people to resist their oppressive overlords. There are plenty of bloody battle scenes, a fair amount of impaling and generally the story processes well and quite excitingly with a decent degree of production values. The acting and the writing, however, are really poor with a stilted dialogue clunkily delivered by a lacklustre cast. I found there to be no chemistry at all between the lead and his Princess "Lidia" (Jane March). Insofar as there is any fact about this man, this effort does depict a story of a flawed and compromised man with a mission - and of one you crossed at your peril - well, and makes for a good adventure worthy of far better casting.

Production companies