15 Recent Horrors You Should Avoid This Halloween

8. Dracula Untold

The Thing 2011
Universal Pictures

Dracula Begins.... as a dullard warlord fighting for supremacy against, um, Dominic Cooper. This half-baked attempt to reboot the Universal Monsters lot as a shared universe stalls right out of the gate due to its reluctance to make Dracula actually scary. Instead, it repositions the intimidating Vlad Tepes as an unintimidating romantic warrior turning vampire to save his people.

Physically, Luke Evans cuts an imposing figure as Dracula, but is rarely given the opportunity to play any recognisable Dracula we've ever seen. Instead, the film concentrates on cliched CGI battle sequences and a flimsy, obvious romance.

Were it not for a bit of vampirism during the back half and a risible sequel setup, we wouldn't even know it were Dracula at all. At least the costumes look nice though.

Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.