I’m enjoying a book about horror films in a book called Screaming and Conjuring, and it’s given me a bunch of films to take a look at that I either forgot about or couldn’t be bothered with.

Dracula 2000 is mentioned, and I figured, why not? The only thing I remembered about its original release was that a lot of it was shot in Toronto, and that B.C. Place made an appearance.

It’s pretty bad, but what a cast – Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Jeri Ryan, Nathan Fillion, Omar Epps, and Jennifer Esposito. Wes Craven has his name attached as an executive producer.

It’s not much more than an updated take on the original story. Butler is Dracula, Plummer is Van Helsing with Miller as his assistant Simon, who doesn’t believe what is happening at first, of course.

A group of (incompetent) thieves led by Marcus (Epps) and Solina (Esposito) break into Van Helsing’s private holdings and abscond with a coffin that they believe is a safe. Of course, it isn’t, it’s the contained body of Dracula, the ultimate vampire, and now hat he’s loose, he seems to be connected to Mary (Justine Waddell).

She and her friend Lucy (Vitamin C) find themselves caught up in a supernatural fright fest, with only Helsing and Simon standing in front of Dracula and his brides (including Jeri Ryan).

It’s a little bloody, but could have been more so, and it’s a little silly. The story is pretty bad, but it’s interesting to see this cast at this point in time.

The story bounces between England and New Orleans – just in time for Mardi Gras, so plenty of good feeding for ole fang face.

Out of all the actors in the film, Plummer seems to be the on having the most fun. He leans into it, going full Van Helsing. Apparently, he’s a big Dracula fan. There are some fun reveals about his character through the story, and one would argue his side of the film is the most interesting.

Some of the effects and gore are pretty solid. Some of them also suffer from early CGI work.

Butler, obviously has an easy charm and sex appeal, but the film doesn’t him shine as much as it could. He almost has a Jerry Dandrige look in this film, that almost works, but he film doesn’t take enough chances with its characters and story.

There is something truly abysmal about the dialogue, and the story bottoms out pretty quickly as the story tries to deliver some twists that aren’t really surprising.

It’s a pretty bland film, that could have been smarter, sexier, and scarier. It even misses the chance to be fun.