Dracula 2000 is a horror film released in 2000, "presented by" Wes Craven but actually directed by Patrick Lussier, that sees Dracula (Gerard Butler) being awoken by a band of thieves who make off with his coffin. Dracula awakens and causes the thieves' plane to crash in New Orleans, where Mary (Justine Waddell), the daughter of Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer) (who has kept himself alive with Dracula's blood) happens to live.
It also starred Jonny Lee Miller, Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Vitamin C, Nathan Fillion, Danny Masterson, Lochlyn Munro, Shane West, and Jeri Ryan.
Has two Direct to Video sequels (which contradict the ending of 2000): Dracula II: Ascension, with Stephen Billington taking over as Dracula and Jason Scott Lee, Roy Scheider, and Khary Payton joining the cast alongside him, and Dracula III: Legacy, where Rutger Hauer played Dracula, with Lee and Schneider reprising their roles.
Unrelated to Dracula 3000.
This film provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: This isn't the first film Christopher Plummer played a vampire hunter up against Dracula, as he appeared in Nosferatu in Venice, the 1988 sequel to Nosferatu the Vampyre.
- Artistic License – History: This version of Dracula is said to have not only been Vlad the Impaler but Gilles de Rais. He'd have had to be in two places at once because they lived at the same time! Would also make this a case of Adaptational Villainy.
- Annual Title: The number in the title is the year of release. Renamed Dracula 2001 when it was released outside the US in... 2001.
- Armor-Piercing Question: During the final battle, Mary and Dracula, aka Judas Iscariot, end up in front of a crucifix, and Dracula sneers "He won't have me." Mary replies with a simple question: "Did you ever ask?" Dracula is so stunned by the retort—and so furious at himself for never thinking of that in two millennia—that Mary is able to get the upper hand and overpower him.
- Badass Longcoat: Dracula gets one by killing one of the thieves and stealing his clothes.
- Biblical Bad Guy: Dracula is Judas Iscariot.
- Big Bad: Dracula, obviously.
- Big Good: Van Helsing, Dracula's Arch-Enemy.
- Blood Bath: Dracula's corpse is revived with one in the first sequel.
- Booby Trap: When the thieves try to remove the silver coffin, two of them are impaled by Spikes of Doom. However this only convinces the rest that there must be something valuable inside.
- Catapult Nightmare: Mary, several times. Also a subversion of Instant Waking Skills, because she is noticeably incoherent for several minutes.
- Celebrity Paradox: Lucy stands in front of a row of Vitamin C CDs at her workplace, the Virgin Megastore. Lucy was played by Colleen Fitzpatrick, aka pop singer Vitamin C.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Marcus, an atheist vampire, is not frightened by a crucifix. Dracula is so anti-theist that when confronted by a bible, the bible flies apart.
- Confessional: Mary goes to see a priest who is a old childhood friend, to confess the weird dreams she's been having about a strange man (Dracula, unsurprisingly) and to ask about her mother's dying confession.
- Cursed with Awesome: Dracula. Apparently, God's idea of a curse is to turn someone into a completely immortal, superpowered pornomancer. Of course, he will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Dead Star Walking: Christopher Plummer, the biggest and most seasoned name in the cast, also gets killed less than halfway through the movie.
- Deader than Dead: What Van Helsing is trying to make Dracula.
- Deadline News: Valerie, a news woman reporting on the plane crash that was originally flown by the thieves, ends up having her pre-recorded news segment interrupted by a revived Dracula who proceeds to kill her cameraman and make her into a vampire.
- Decoy Protagonist: Van Helsing is well known as Dracula's Arch-Enemy and takes up the Big Good role in this movie and played by the biggest name in the cast Christopher Plummer, then he is Killed Offscreen for his Mary to see the aftermath.
- Divine Punishment: When a vampire escapes from his coffin and goes on a bloodlust, The Hero aims to track him down. In his research, Van Helsing learns that Dracula is really Judas Iscariot, punished by God for his betrayal with immortality and an unquenchable thirst for blood. Dracula will be forever hated, hounded and hunted by men, and can only get respite by being buried alive.
- Double Entendre: Quite a few!Vampire Selena: You know why you never had me, Simon? Because you Brits like to sweet talk and you Brits like to romance...and all I want to do is suck.
- Eye Scream: Marcus gets stabbed in the eye with a crucifix blade.
- Face Death with Dignity: Dracula mockingly advises this to Doctor Seward, who whimpers and cries the whole time.
- Foreshadowing: "Why silver? It's not uniquely Christian. Has to be something more... Something personal." Cue a shot of the Last Supper.
- Hero Killer: The Brides of Dracula killed Van Helsing, the Big Good of this picture.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: This being New Orleans, it's... Mardi Gras!
- Hotter and Sexier: Compared to other Dracula adaptations, this one lays the fanservice on thick.
- I Do Not Drink Wine: "I don't drink... coffee."
- I Know You're Watching Me: The interrogation room glass version. As the detectives behind the glass have just been smirking over Solina's "delusion" that she's a vampire, they're noticeably freaked out when she shouts, "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" She then continues to screw around with their minds, making them more freaked out.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000 (Craven was an executive producer, but not the director).
- Julius Beethoven da Vinci: Dracula is Judas Iscariot.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:Valerie: So tell me...you ever dream about making it with a TV star?
- Looks Like Orlok: The tomb holding Dracula's remains also has skulls of vampires that Van Helsing has killed in the past, one of which has ratty front teeth like Orlok.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Van Helsing, who acts as Simon's mentor on how to fight vampires, is killed later on.
- Missing Reflection
- In a flashback scene it's shown Van Helsing used this to lure Dracula into a trap. As Dracula could see Van Helsing in a disguised mirror but not himself, he failed to realise the vampire hunter was actually standing behind him.
- In the present day, Dracula attacks TV reporter Valerie Sharpe and her cameraman while they are filming the crashed plane he was on. Initially the cameraman can't see him through the viewfinder, so when Dracula grabs Valerie and cuts at her neck a bit, all he sees is her struggling and the cut suddenly appearing, until he lowers the camera. Likewise when Valerie runs to their van, she sees her cameraman being tossed aside by an invisible force on her monitors.
- Monster Progenitor: Dracula's the first vampire, turned into such shortly after the death Jesus Christ.
- My Grandson, Myself: Dr. Abraham Van Helsing uses Dracula's blood to keep himself immortal, in order to continue research on how to kill the vampire king for good. In the modern day, he passes himself off as his grandson, "Matthew Van Helsing". Unfortunately this creates a connection between Dracula and Mary—Van Helsing's daughter who was born after he started this practice.
- Off with His Head!: Most of the vampires get beheaded.
- Once More, with Clarity: A truly epic version that spans all of vampire lore. After The Reveal described below, the heroes recall everything they ever learned about how to repel vampires, and realize that it's related to Dracula being Judas Iscariot: the aversion to crucifixes and other Christian iconography comes his guilt over causing Jesus's death, while the weakness to silver is derived from the thirty pieces of silver that the chief priests paid Judas for his betrayal.
- Out with a Bang: Lucy winds up turned when she is seduced by Dracula and they have sex which winds up going off the bed to the ceiling (due to Drac's flying powers). She's so mesmerized that she doesn't notice Drac spouting fangs until he bites her.
- The Power of Imagination: Parodied. When Simon brandishes a crucifix, Marcus laughs it off, remarking, "sorry, sport. I'm an atheist." So Simon resorts to practical means - springing a dagger from the crucifix's base - and quips, "God loves you anyway."
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: To the above-mentioned atheist vampire: (while popping a switchblade out of the crucifix): "God loves you anyway."
- Product Placement: Mary works at the Virgin Megastore and the film is intent on the viewer not forgetting this.
- The Reveal: Dracula is Judas Iscariot.
- Reveling in the New Form: Marcus and his crew break into Van Helsing's vault and steal Dracula's coffin, believing it to hold valuable treasure. Dracula revives as they're flying him to America and kills the robbers. They later rise as vampires and the first thing Marcus says upon revival is "Better than money!"
- Shown Their Work: The Armor-Piercing Question described above— "Did you ever ask?"—is based on genuine Christian principles. Church doctrine states that no sin is too great for God to forgive, but the sinner must admit their fault and request forgiveness, which shows they are truly penitent and thus open to God's mercy.
- Transhuman Treachery: Unknown for the first two women (Solina was always dubious since she was a thief and Valerie was a generally self-centered and egotistical person) but Lucy has no problems turning against Mary (who was her roommate and friend) once she's become a vampire.
- The Triple: Valerie Sharpe to her cameraman.Valerie: You gettin' the crash? You gettin' the sunset? You gettin' the tits?
- Vampires Are Sex Gods: Dracula and his three brides. Solina, after being turned, lampshaded this during the interrogation scene, drawing a connection between vampires and lovers:Detective: Solina, Dr. Seward here tells me you believe yourself to be a vampire. Now how does one become a vampire, Solina?
Solina: No, how does one become... a lover?
Detective: Well, I-I don't know.
Solina: [rises up in a non-human manner] One is chosen.
Detective [calls Dr. Seward]: You see that?
Dr. Seward [turns around to face Solina]: See what?
Solina: [sighs; sultry voice] Would you like to be chosen, Mr. Detective? Are you waiting for a woman to choose you as a lover?
Detective: [turns to look at Dr. Seward] You getting this on tape?
Solina: Look at me when I'm talking to you!
Detective: [unnerved] Now, Solina, you... you can't see me.
Solina: Of course I can. [moves closer to window] I can even see the outline of your cock against your pants, so don't even pretend you're not interested. - Vampire's Harem: After arriving in New Orleans, Dracula starts converting various women to become his new brides. The first one, Solina was one of the thieves who initially stole his coffin and accidentally set him free. The second one, Valerie, is a news reporter trying to cover the plane crash that brought Dracula to New Orleans. The third, Lucy, is the roommate of Mary.
- Villain's Dying Grace: Dracula, as he dies, releases Mary from her vampirism. That or he genuinely cared for her and it was an act of redemption.
- Wandering Jew: Dracula, literally, since he is Judas Iscariot.
- Wight in a Wedding Dress: When Simon goes after Dracula, he runs into the vampire brides now all wearing white gowns.
- Wall Crawl: Solina and Lucy do this when the brides confront Mary.
- You Need to Get Laid: Mary has been dreaming of Dracula even though she's never met him. Her roommate Lucy suggests that having "a man in your bed will get rid of the man in your head."
- Zero-G Spot: Involving vampiric levitation, rather than freefall.
