Review: The Curse Of Dracula

Director: Tomaz Gorkic

Screenplay: Tomaz Gorkic

Year: 2021

Sometimes I wonder if marketing strategies where the name of a famous character is included are effective in bringing the public to their movies. “The Curse Of Dracula”, previously known as “The Curse of Valburga”, a much more appropriate name considering how little importance that character or even vampires have on the plot, but marketing won. Some will defend the change of name arguing that the mythic vampire is mentioned in some parts of the movie, but really they could all have been left out and you will end with the exact same movie.

Two friends start a tourist service in a house in the city of Valburga, which is nothing but a scam to make some money. The hook for attracting tourists is that they claim that the house belonged to Count Dracula’s cousin. On their first trip to the house, all seems to be going as planned until the tourists start disappearing.

After the neverending opening credits, we meet Borjan (Marko Mandic; “The Hitman’s Bodyguard”) and Marjan (Jurij Drevensek; “Killbillies”) while they are at a bar, and the idea of the scam tourist attraction is born. Besides establishing the slapstick humor of its comedy, some background about the curse of Valburga is offered; an urban legend they want to make the most of. But don’t let the campy humor mislead you; once the plot starts unfolding and the first victim drops, the gore doesn’t stop.

The movie’s title suggests a vampire movie, but what “The Curse of Dracula” offers is a full-fledged slasher. Once Bojan and Marjan make their way to the house with the group of eccentric tourists, from which stands out a trio of porn actors, an alcoholic couple, and a group of friends who want to hunt a vampire, we already suspect something will go horribly wrong. This suspicion becomes a reality once the tourists start dropping at the hands of a murderer equipped with a huge circular saw.

The strength of “The Curse of Dracula”, as common with slashers, lies in its gore and realistic special effects. Evidently, the director and screenwriter Tomaz Gorkic (“Killbillies”) ‘s objective was to create a fun, and gory movie made clear in a good way with the special effects and soundtrack, but not so good in the script. Some elements about the villain and the curse are included in the story that are not all that useful and make the background of the place be incoherent and confusing.

Instead of a vampire movie, as the title suggests, “The Curse of Dracula” is a fun slasher with plenty of gore and absurd comedy. Once the gore makes its appearance, it doesn’t stop, and with good reason: this is the best thing the movie offers. On the other hand, except for the over-the-top comedy and gory moments, the script is weak enough to hinder its entertainment factor.