Video: 3/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2/5
If Interested in Dracula 2000, Seek Out the Canadian Release.
First Film: Dracula 2000, Wes Craven's produced Dracula flick taking place in London to New Orleans. Van Helsing is protecting Dracula's tomb in which gets stolen and soon the king of the undead will rise. Dracula is awaken and hungry and feeds off the grave robbers turning them into vampires. As Dracula makes his way to the U.S, he starts feeding off on beautiful women and searching for a woman who unknowingly is related to Dracula.
The movie scores a four out of five. I found the film to enjoyable considering how old the film is. The video presentation by Echo Bridge will come off as either average or poor to A/V enthusiasts. The film is in 1080i and is presented in 1.78:1 from it's 2.35:1 presentation. I was so disappointed to see the image fill the screen after the opening credits which were presented in 2.35:1. Video scores a 2.5/5. Audio is just average, audio scores a 2.5/5.
Second Film: Dracula II: Ascension, in a continuation of Dracula 2000, a charred corpse appears in a morgue which appears to be a vampire. At the same this discovery is made, a mean vampire slayin' priest shows up to try to bless the corpse. The med students who take the corpse bathe it in blood and Dracula is born again but not looking anything like Gerard Butler from the first film. They contain Dracula in a burned out factory where they try to uncover the secret of his eternal life.
Movie scores a three out of five. It's all right but it seems to pale in comparison of Dracula 2000. Jason Scott Lee is pretty awesome as the vampire slayin' priest. The video scores a 3/5 and Echo Bridge has provided us with a 1.78:1 1080p transfer of the film. I cannot comment if this is cropped or matted from the 2.35:1 transfer. It looks a lot better than the 1080i transfer of Dracula 2000. The audio is again average and it scores a 2.5/5.
Third Film: Dracula III: Legacy, the priest and lone med student are tracking down Dracula in the Eastern Europe. Dracula again changes his form and looks nothing like the vampire from the previous installment and is now portrayed by Rutger Hauer. Soon the priest and Dracula duke it out to save the fate of mankind.
The film scores a three out of five. I feel a little let down that we go from Dracula 2000 to Dracula II: Ascension and then finally to Dracula III: Legacy; I mean, what was one of the key points of Dracula 2000? That Dracula's blood line kept on and then after that, they just ignored it and focused on these med school kids. The video again was presented in 1.78:1 1080p by Echo Bridge. Not sure if it's cropped or open matted because the last time I saw this movie was when it came out in 2005 on DVD; video gets a 2.5/5. I have a problem with the audio presented on this disc; the dialogue sounds echo-y and the music is way too loud. Audio scores a 1/5.
Fourth Film: They. A college med student gets a message from a childhood friend who's been having trouble sleeping. It turns out that there's something evil and sinister hiding in the dark. These creatures are coming to take them to hell or whatever.
As you can tell by my last sentence, I couldn't care about this film at all. I found it to be downright horrible. The ending was one of the biggest pieces of BS I have ever seen. It was like; "Why don't they do that from the get-go?" Movie scores a .5/5. The video scores a 3.5/5 as Echo Bridge gives us a 2.35:1, OAR, 1080p transfer. The video has print damage that pops up here and there throughout the film; it's not that bad but it could have been a better transfer. The audio is just average again, like every other film on this disc.
Overall:
Film: 4 + 3 + 3 + .5 = 10.5/4 = 2.625 = 2.5/5
Video: 2.5 + 3 + 2.5 + 3.5 = 11.5/4 = 2.875 = 3/5.
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5 + 3 + 2.5 = 8/4 = 2/5
Even though it gets a two out of five, I can recommend this if you need the Dracula sequels in HD. I cannot stress it enough that if you're just buying this for Dracula 2000, skip it and get the Canadian release by Alliance because it's presented in it's original 2.35:1 and has an amazing transfer. They, which sucked in my opinion, was the only film they presented in it's original aspect ratio. Don't pay more than $10 for this release.
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