Vlad the Impaler (Rudolf Martin) tells the story of his life to a church inquisition. He recounts his battles against the Turks, his deals with the king of Hungary (Roger Daltrey), his marriage to Lidia (Jane March), and his brutal reign where he butchered many in the name of justice and to protect peasantry.
“True” is a nebulous term in film, and in the case of the The True Story of Dracula, it doesn’t mean that the events in the film happened. Here, it means that this isn’t a story about a guy with fangs drinking blood, but rather a vague rendition of the popular myth of Vlad Tepes, ruler of Wallachia in the fifteenth century. Known in the West as a barbaric dictator who tortured and killed thousands, he is considered a hero in Romania, saving the country from the Turks.
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula doesn’t ignore his crueler acts. While the low budget eliminates the field of impaled Turks, it gleefully includes his having the ambassadors’ hats nailed to their heads when they wouldn’t remove them. But told from Vlad’s point of view, his murderous acts are presented as just acts that saved his people. Only the fact that the atrocities drove his wife insane suggests that maybe he was a tad bit overzealous. I don’t get many cinematic chances to sympathize with a vicious, dark character, so I found it to be a pleasant change of pace.
Shot in Romania, the countryside is beautiful. Add in Rudolf Martin’s sensual, light, and sadistic performance, and the twisting plot, and the film has a solid foundation. However, this is too small a picture for the story. Where there should be huge armies slaughtering each other across fields and rolling hills, there’s about a busload of guys in a misty forest. It never feels like these events are changing a nation, but rather a small hamlet. Peter Weller’ Father Stefan doesn’t help either. Weller plays him as a man with the flu, for years. I’m not sure that gastric upset counts as character development.
And while this is supposed to be a story missing the supernatural elements, the filmmakers couldn’t help themselves and put in just enough to upset anyone who thought this was a documentary. I liked the addition, but I already knew the story was a fantasy.
Fans of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer have an additional reason to catch this film. Martin repeated his role as Vlad in the first episode of the fifth season, but as the undead version. Think of the film as a prequel.