As a devoted fan of the original Bram Stoker novel, I was hopeful that a descendent of the author would have finally produced the perfect sequel to Dracula. What I found instead is a horrifying travesty that surely has Bram rolling over in his own grave. Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt profess to having the ambition of finally writing the novel Bram himself would have penned. Dacre claims to be salvaging the family name and the original creation, which lost its copyright protection in the United States almost from its inception. I believe he was taken for a ride by his co-author, a screenwriter named Ian Holt, who thinks of himself as a huge Dracula fan. Truly, Mr. Holt simply saw an incredible opportunity to give a “new” twist to all the vampire drivel on today’s bookshelves by using the Stoker name. Devotees like myself would surely scoop it up, but why not also throw in some story elements that would appeal to fans of Twilight and the Anne Rice novels as well?
What are my specific complaints with the novel? Just about everything between the front and back cover. WARNING: There will be plenty of plot spoilers coming up shortly. First, let me say that I did take the time to read Stoker and Holt’s perspectives on why they made some of the changes they did. I read these essays before diving into the story so I shouldn’t have been so appalled. Didn’t help. Our faithful band of heroes, minus Quincy P. Morris, is turned into the most heinous of misfits. Jack Seward is a morphine addict who has lost the respect and trust of his former associates and is considered a raving lunatic. He turns out to be quite sane, but bites it in the first couple of chapters with only a posthumous chance of redemption. Jonathan Harker is a drunk who has become estranged from both Mina and their son because he cannot get past Mina’s eternal youth and the romantic liaison she shared with the Count. Arthur Holmwood is still in love with Lucy, but married to a woman he rescues from poverty, and has traveled the globe seeking out dangerous task after dangerous task hoping to join Lucy in death. He has completely disavowed any ties with his friends and goes by Lord Godalming exclusively. Van Helsing? Old, crazy, and being followed as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper crimes. Really??
Readers are introduced to a new character in the vampiress Countess Elizabeth Bathory. I suppose we should sympathize with the history she tells of her loveless marriage and perhaps we are supposed to understand how it leads her into a life of homosexuality and brutality. Still, most readers I hope will be horrified by the way she ravages young woman after young woman (turns out she is truly Jack the Ripper). Now, I know you’re wondering, if Bathory is the obvious new villain, and the original band of heroes are, well, less than heroic, who is going to save the day? Maybe Quincy Harker, Jonathan and Mina’s only offspring? He spends the majority of the novel whining about his parents and trying to enlist the help of their original cohorts. Mina? She’s certainly a contender with her superhuman strength given to her by her bloodswap with the Count and the mind link she shares with Bathory from another bloodswap with the Countess. But no, Mina is too torn between her motherly love for Quincy, her dutiful love for Jonathan (or at this point, his memory), and her undying passion for Dracula (yes, you read that correctly). So by now you’ve undoubtedly guessed who the true hero is…yes, it’s Count Dracula himself! Of course, he was never truly the villain; he was only trying to track the true demon, Bathory. He’s a good vampire, after all, and only bit Lucy out of famished desperation, Mina out of love and devotion. Sounding a little Edward Clullenish yet?
As I’ve written here before, the vampire is supposed to be evil to the core. The original vampire tales were about evil versus purity and the ensuing fight to protect the purity at all costs. Dracula: The Un-dead strays from the original in more ways than I can count and becomes just another sell-out. The good news? There’s a new vampire gateway drug that may take some of today’s focus off Twilight.