[MOVIE SUMMARY] "Dracula's Curse" (2006)

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NOTE: This summary is presented for those who have already
seen the movie and/or would like a summary for personal use.
Contains spoilers.

2006
DRACULA'S CURSE
(aka BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA'S CURSE)

Cast
Jacob Van Helsing .................... Rhett Giles
Colonel Rufus King ................. Thomas Downey
Rafe ................................. Jeff Denton
The Old One ........................... Leigh Scot
Gracie Johannsen ................... Eliza Swenson
Christina Lockheart ................... Erica Roby
Rick Tattinger ......................... Tom Nagel
Countess Erzebet Bathorly .... Christina Rosenberg
Trixie McFly ...................... Rebekah Kochan
Jimmy "The Kidd" D'Amico ........... Derek Osedach
Rich "Mebraska" Zulkowski .......... Chriss Anglin
Anatasia Ravenwood ............... Marie Westbrook
Sadie Macpherson ...................... Sarah Hall
Alex Deveraux ...................... Sarah Lieving
Konstantinos ......................... Griff Furst

Comments
"Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse" does not draw from Stoker's
novel other than the character names -- Abraham van Helsing,
Dracul(e)a, and the three vampire brides. The movie title comes
from an alternate title for Stoker's short story, "Dracula's
Guest" (1914), although the movie does not bear any resemblance to
that story, either. In fact, although Dracula's name is mentioned
several times (as Draculea), he appears as Dracula in only three
brief flashbacks. The movie was hard to follow at first, not
because the story line is overly-complicated but because there's
just too many characters to keep straight. The vampires follow
Stoker's template, e.g., dislike sunlight and garlic and can mind
control (they call it "thought walking", but they have green blood
when staked. That's how a hunter can tell whether or not s/he's
killed a real vampire. There's also a bloodline called
"purebloods" who aren't vampires themselves but are direct
descendents of Draculea and his vampire brides. Their blood is
supposedly most powerful to a vampire, so other vampires known as
"stalkers" have been turning purebloods into vampires in order to
dilute their blood so that no vampire clan can become too
powerful. The ending twist sets up the movie for the sequel that
is currently in the works. "Wolvesbayne" is scheduled for release
in 2009. "Dracula's Curse" is presented in "chapters" that are
supposed to separate events, but they do not add to the movie in
any appreciable way (in fact, I think they detract), so I've not
bothered to present the following summary in chapter form.

Summary
Prologue: Jacob Van Helsing, the great grandson of Stoker's
vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, put together a troupe of nine
experienced vampire hunters, led by Colonel Rufus King, all of
whom took their jobs seriously and their weapons even more
seriously. On Walpurghisnacht (April 30th), after staking Orlock
and his clan in their nest, the Nine were summoned by the vampire
Rafe to a meeting of the High Council in order to discuss
armistice between vampires and hunters. The Old One spoke for the
vampire clans, and Rufus spoke for the Nine. Between them, they
agreed that the vampires would stop hunting humans, including
purebloods, and that the Nine would stop hunting vampires. As he
leaves the meeting, Rufus is approached by his right hand (wo)man,
Gracie Johannsen, apparently wanting to continue their
relationship on a personal level. Rufus turns Gracie down, and
Gracie stalks off in a huff.

Present time: Five years have passed. The Nine have moved on with
their personal lives, except for Gracie who has taken to the
bottle. However, when pureblood Christina Lockheart is abducted by
three vampiresses (Dracula's brides) from the bed she shares with
fiance Rick Tattinger, Rufus is called to action. He is informed
that Countess Erzebet Bathorly, once protegee to the great Count
Draculea, is behind the abduction, still alive after she was
presumed dead over 100 years ago. Bathorly doesn't care a fig
about the armistice and aims, with the help of the three brides,
to strengthen their blood by drinking the blood of purebloods in
order to gain enough power to take over the city. She begins by
destroying The Old One. With offers of help from Rafe and from
Christina's fiance, Rufus decides to reassemble the Nine in order
to hunt down Bathorly and her followers.

At first, the reassembling doesn't look promising. Rufus
deliberately left out Gracie. Trixie McFly doesn't want to come
back if Gracie isn't coming back, and no one wants to work with
Rick just because he's Christina's fiance. After Jacob takes the
time to train Rick, and Jimmy "The Kidd" arms Rick with guns, the
group begins to fall together. There's Jacob, Rufus, Trixie, and
Rick, along with Rich "Nebraska" Zulkowski, Anatasia Ravenwood,
and Sadie MacPherson. Rafe also agrees to lend a hand. Jacob
visits his vampire lover, Alex Deveraux, asking her to see if she
can discover the location of Bathorly's lair.

Meanwhile, Rafe has decided to side with Bathorly. He's
reassembled the Stalkers, and they are searching and abducting
purebloods. Alerted by Rufus' vampire friend Konstantinos, Rufus
and the Nine confront Rafe, who explains that they are feeding on
purebloods in order to regain their strength so that Bathorly
cannot obtain power over both vampires and humans. Rufus agrees
not to kill Rafe on the spot, but he makes him promise that he
will not feed on the humans. When Gracie's sister, a pureblood,
goes missing, Gracie shows up at the Nine's bunker and demands
that they help find her. After a blowup with Rufus, however,
Gracie grabs two submachine guns and goes looking for vampires.
She shoots up every vampire in a bar, but is horrified to find
that one of the guys she thought was a vampire was actually a
human.

Gracie returns to the bunker and agrees to rejoin the Nine in
their raid on Bathorly. Alex, having infiltrated the lair, relays
to Jacob its location, and the Nine are ready to roll.
Unfortunately, Bathorly allowed Alex to drink from a pureblood,
and Alex can't remember what she might have told the Countess
about Rufus and their plans to annhilate the clan. Gracie and
Rufus leave together, but they are met outside by Rafe and two of
his henchmen. Rafe admits that he has no intention of upholding
the pact, and Rafe attacks Rufus with a sword. Rufus gets the best
of Rafe and beheads him. Gracie stakes one of the henchmen, and
Rufus stakes the other, just as he's about to bite Gracie's neck.

The Nine break into Bathorly's lair and find both Christina
Lockheart and Gracie's sister have been turned into vampires. Rick
is forced to kill Christina, and Gracie kills her sister, but
bullets don't even slow down the Countess. She's become too
powerful. A big fight between vampires and hunters commences, and
Jacob is wounded. As he lay dying, Alex turns him. Gracie, now
revealed also as a pureblood, offers herself to Bathorly in place
of Rufus. In the ending twist, Rufus reveals himself to be
Draculea and, through thought-walking, he kills Bathorly. He then
explains that he made a deal with the Dark Forces to renounce his
identity and live as a man, fighting against vampires, against the
plague that he himself created. In revealing himself to the
others, however, Refus is returned to his former state and must
continue to exist as a vampire.