A researcher (Craig Sheffer) and his students bring Dracula (Stephen Billington) back to “life” in order to use his blood as a cure for just about everything. As they study him, Dracula watches for a way to escape and a vampire-hunting, self-flagellating, priest (Jason Scott Lee) searches for the count.
Quick Review: This strangely titled sequel to Dracula 2000 (shouldn’t it have been called Dracula 2003?) sets stupid people and whining people in a confined, we-don’t-have-enough-money-for-a-decent-sized-set country “house” where they fret a lot but do little. In an action-packed vampire film, I’d like to see some action and maybe a vampire doing something. But Dracula II: Ascension prefers a few fight scenes that last less than a minute and keeps Dracula tied to a table till the last few minutes.
The acting is what I expect in an average low budget monster flick while the cinematography is a bit weaker, which means I need some other reason to watch. An interesting plot or absorbing characters would do the trick, but neither are to be found here. Lee’s martial artist priest seems tacked on, having little to do with the story and little screen time. He appears to be in the movie only so that he can be in the sequel (yup – there’s a Dracula III). Stephen Billington’s take on Dracula is the one entertaining thing is this flotsam. He has a slightly alien, roguish quality that makes for a good vampire. However, the extreme change in the character from the first film (he was a sensual, sophisticated, dark-haired, Jew in Dracula 2000 while he’s a punkish, blond, Arian here) is rather distracting. Still, if there had been a bit more of Billington, and a few more scenes like the one where he counts the beans (vampires count quickly), this would be a film worth watching. But as it is, spend the time on a better film.