Upcoming Dracula Movies

The last couple of the days i`ve been reading quite a bit of news on upcoming Dracula films. Now thankfully none of them are straight adaptations of novel by Bram Stocker, because we have PLENTY of those! No these ones are all original stories taken from different perspectives of Dracula, sort of like all the Hammer Dracula movies like Taste The Blood Of Dracula or Dracula A.D 1972. Anyways here they are:

THE LAST VOYAGE OF DEMETER:
Predicted release date: 2013

This movies story is going to be solely about that ship in the novel Dracula that transports the Count and Renfield from Romania to England, only thing is when it crashes ashore no one on board is alive, or like in the Universal Dracula movie only Renfield remains laughing manically.
Personally out of all of the upcoming movies this is the one i`m most looking forward to. If they do it right it can end up being one hell of a scary movie. The cast is not really set so far i`ve heard rumors of both Jude Law or Adrian Brody to play Dracula, which as much as I like both of those actors I can`t see either of them playing Dracula, they just don't have the edge that people like Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee had. Plus I bet if they were in the movie the studio would have it so they were on screen like the whole time which would kill the suspense and make the movie much less scary. Then i`ve heard that both Ben Kingsley and Val Kilmer were up for playing the captain of the ship. Ben Kingsley would be perfect for that role, but Val Kilmer is about one of  the worst ''actors'' for the role not only would it just about piss off ever Horror fan but to have him as the Captain of the ship would just look stupid,plus he`s to fat and annoying. The only other person who I can think of at the moment fit to play the role is John Rhys-Davis. To bad this movie wasn`t made like 30 or 40 years earlier then we could have had like Peter Cushing or Vincent Price play that role.

HARKER:
Predicted release date: 2014

 
Harker is a bit unique in how its about the character Jonathan Harker except instead of being a lawyer like he was in the book hes a Scotland Yard detective who`s consumed with finding Dracula. I am completely unsure if this is supposed to follow the Dracula story or if its supposed to be its own thing entirely. I have a feeling though this is going to lean on more of a Thriller Action angle as opposed to straight Horror (think Van Helsing). As for the cast they are looking at getting Russel Crowe to play Harker which is very wise casting decision. As of now Jaume Collet-Serra director of Unknown and Orphan is set to direct. All I can say is sounds pretty awesome; almost like something Dark Horse Comics would publish and with Russell Crowe to play Harker I think this film sounds promising.

DRACULA YEAR ZERO
Predicted release date: ?????

This movie serves as a origins story to Dracula. Meaning its going to combine Vampire mythology with the true history of Prince Vlad (aka Vlad the Impaler) showing how a Romania ruler became Dracula the prince of Darkness. So far I have not heard anything about the cast and its going to be directed by a unknown director named Gary Shore which I have no problem with , and I`m not even familiar with either of the writers  currently attached. Though I do know they have talked of doing this movie for quite sometime and its been in dreaded development hell for years, but recently its looks like studios are taking an interest in it and it just might get made. Personally I think it will be a great movie if its done right and serve as a excellent companion piece to Dracula. I just have no idea how soon we can expect to see it.  

Overall I am very happy to hear about all these Dracula movie that have suddenly popped up, the one i`m looking most forward to would have to be The Last Voyage Of Demeter, for some reason its story just really appeals to me and i`d really love to see it get made. 

Now what say you? Which of these Dracula movies most appeals to you? 

Zombies On Broadway (1945)

Genre: Zombie, Comedy

Source: My Own Collection

Grade: B-

Zombies On Broadway is basically the Shaun Of The Dead of the 40s. Except unlike Shaun whose parodying  viscous flesh eating zombies from Dawn Of The Dead, Zombies On Broadway is a parody of the slower,and  traditional voodoo zombies of the movie I Walked With A Zombie. In the end however Zombies on Broadway achieves getting a couple laughs, provides some great Voodoo style sets, and really cool appearance of Bela Lugosi, but other than that its a bit slow and comes a little short of achieving a A list movie.

The story's about these two very "Abbott and Costello" like characters who get themselves in some hot water after they piss off there club owning/mobster boss and given in return the cast of going out to some creepy tropical islands and bringing back a REAL zombie for the nightclub. Along the way the cross paths with some unique characters like  Bela Lugosi's mad scientist character whose trying to cross science with dark voodoo magic, long story short; after a series of strange and silly events they get back to the club with a zombie only its not what you'd expect. The rest you'll just need to see yourself.

   The performances in this movie were pretty funny, or in the case of Bela Lugosi sinister as usual. Alan Carney had a very stooge style 40s comedy routine going on throughout the movie, not that am complaining or anything. Anne Jeffreys was also in the film as the seductive girl, I looked her up on IMDb and was amazed to see shes still alive and doing roles in movies! Finally Bela Lugosi was fun to watch as the mad scientist Professor Renault ( I wonder if his name as Renult is a nod or connection to the 30s mad scientist movie Dr.Renaults Secret?), though the only thing they're simply wasn't enough of was his character in the movie.

     Altogether I think this movie is probably not for everyone. On the other hand I personally had a good time watching it and laughed at a bunch of the gags and non offensive jokes. Now the DVD set this movie came in is one i`d really recommend to classic horror fans. Its called "Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics" it comes with four movies two of which are Frankenstein 1970 and The Walking Dead two of the best and most underrated Boris Karloff movies. All four of the movies are very well restored, though the only drawback is the special features are kinda skimpy, its just two trailers one for Frankenstein 1970 and the other for You'll Find Out. Then of course there are some commentaries on the DVDs. Oh well anyways Zombies On Broadway is a funny little zombie comedy from the 40s that if your curious enough to watch it i`d defiantly say check it out.