Dracula 2000 ** Starring: Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer Directed by: Patrick Lussier Rating: AA (horror, not recommended for children) Playing at: Orleans, Cinema 9, SouthKeys, Coliseum, SilverCity, StarCite, AMC Kanata "Hey man, what's with all the voodoo?" A...
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‘Dracula’ stakes claim to Lestat’s home turf
Movie-goers who leave their brains at home should have a fun time at "Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000," an update of the classic legend in which Dracula tries to stake a claim on the vampire Lestat's home turf. Designed for the music video age, the movie has a few...
‘Dracula’ sans bite
Barely arriving in megaplexes before its self-imposed expiration date, "Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000" plays like a throwback to the golden era of '50s B movies, when outfits like American-Intl. could get bookings for a film on the strength of its title, before...
Twenty-first century Dracula is not scary enough
What does today's audience expect from a horror movie? Someone inevitably will follow a spooky sound into the dark, there will be some number of gory murders, the main bad guy will be really hard to kill and the dialogue will be sprinkled with one-liners. "Dracula...
Bite Club
Wes Craven's Dracula 2000 is an anemic addition to vampire lore As the wizened Van Helsing, Christopher Plummer speaks in a standard, fakey sort-of-German accent, at least until the moment he has to intone the name of the evil one. Believe me, you have never heard it...
Fangs … but no fangs
In his encore to playing "60 Minutes" interrogator Mike Wallace in "The Insider," Christopher Plummer is again going after big game in "Dracula 2000," the latest attempt at dragging Bram Stoker's well-traveled vampire into modern times - a frequent destination for the...
A surprisingly good Dracula movie
Most vampire movies are downright awful, but "Dracula 2000" is better than most, achieving some suspense and a lot of creepiness with some deft direction by veteran horror film editor Patrick Lussier, backed by a lot of flashy special effects and competent acting....
Focus plants ‘Flowers’
Universal Pictures' specialty division Universal Focus has picked up U.S. distribution rights to "Harrison's Flowers," which stars Andie MacDowell and David Strathairn. The first English-language pic from French helmer Elie Chouraqui, pic was released in France on...
Harrison’s Flowers
A 7 Films Cinema/StudioCanal/France 2 Cinema production. (International sales: Studio Canal, Paris.) Produced by Elie Chouraqui, Albert Cohen. Directed by Elie Chouraqui. Screenplay, Chouraqui, Didier Le Pecheur, Isabel Ellsen, Michael Katims. Camera (color,...
A Life in the Day of Phil Hunt, Producer of “Fast Food”
Haven't quite worked out why we do it. Is it the glamour? (Not for producers surely.) Is it the sense of accomplishment as you stand in a screening of your completed film? (Or should I say sit in your wheelchair as all your limbs have finally given up on you.) Or...
Fast Food
I sat down to Fast Food with high hopes. It promised inspiration from new Asian cinema, and boasted Douglas Henshall as the lead - always a very attractive, watchable performer even when, as here, he is let down by the script. Fast Food quickly degenerates into just...
London Calling…
Well, you must hand it to British writer-director Stewart Sugg for squeezing this much style and energy out of such a low-budget production. Fast Food is one of those hip London thrillers that blends strong violence and black comedy (ie, heavy doses of A Clockwork...