Around Grounds, students are packing away their costumes, snacking on leftover candy and catching up on neglected homework. All of this indicates one thing — Halloween has passed. As we patiently await another season of ghosts, ghouls and vampires, NBC is prolonging the festivities with its new series “Dracula.”
Based loosely on Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic novel of the same name, “Dracula” follows the notorious vampire’s quest for revenge after his true love is burned at the stake by the Order of the Dragons.
In London, he poses under the façade of Alexander Grayson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) — an American entrepreneur and technological innovator. In the pilot, Grayson hosts a lavish Victorian ball with high-class attendees — some of whom are far too sexually liberated for the time period. He meets Mina Murray (Jessica De Guow), a promising young woman resembling Grayson’s dead love.
But as we’ve seen before, no vampire narrative is complete without a love triangle. Enter: Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) — Mina’s long-term boyfriend and investigative journalist who questions Grayson’s intentions. After a few brief encounters among these central characters, the pilot follows a fairly standard format — Dracula sucks blood, kills a few enemies and proudly displays his pearly white fangs.
On the surface, “Dracula” has the right components for a successful fantasy series: dramatic music, extravagant costumes and mysterious characters. The only missing element is an enticing storyline.
The pilot starts off intriguing, but the story barely develops in the first episode, offering little incentive for viewers to return. When the plot does progress, it does so slowly. Yes, there’s action, blood and violence, but the motivation behind Dracula’s haphazard killings is thinly explained, leaving an ultimately confusing storyline.
Based on the show’s premise, it’s clear NBC is (belatedly) jumping on the vampire bandwagon that has produced successful series like “The Vampire Diaries” and “True Blood.” But the genre has been overrated ever since Edward Cullen eliminated the possibility of there being a truly terrifying vampire.
Far too often, we see vampires as romanticized creatures whose main purpose is wooing women rather than killing them. “Dracula” isn’t an exception. Meyer’s portrayal is sexy, not scary, and although he ruthlessly kills others, he does so for love rather than mere thirst.
Speaking of unoriginality, many elements of the show allude to other famous works. In one scene, Jonathan and Mina attend an opera where Grayson spies on them from a distant box seat — sound familiar? As a matter of fact, the show is sort of a laughable hybrid between “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Twilight,” featuring fake British accents and over-the-top period costumes. NBC’s “Dracula” does little to redefine the genre, simply presenting an overdone and melodramatic retelling of things we’ve seen before.
Read More
A time of bittersweet endings and fresh beginnings for Natalie Blue
By Amelia Preble | 11 hours agoWith graduation on the horizon and multiple members planning to move away from Charlottesville, the band is preparing to say their goodbyes.
Liv Quintero is proof that the future of filmmaking is here at U.Va
By Madigan Lounsbery | 3 days agoSince arriving in Charlottesville, the Chesterfield, Va. native has taken the University arts scene by storm both in and out of the classroom.
In Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” the score is love, all
By Caroline Lee | May 4, 2024The film, one of the year’s most anticipated releases, follows a decade-long love triangle between three tennis prodigies, tracking them across the years through triumphs and defeats.
