Dracula Untold

Few cinematic legacies are as strong as that of the Universal Monsters, whose films have spent the past 80 years aging from B-movies into genre masterpieces. These aren't just movies; they're the foundation of an entire genre, the roots of an entire cinematic language. These aren't just great movies -- they're vital components of human culture, touchstones whose reverberations can still be felt today. And Universal has no idea what to do with them.

'Gone Girl' may have barely won its first weekend at the box office over 'Annabelle,' but in its second week of release, it emerged as the real victor. Fighting off tons of new competition, David Fincher's thriller held onto the number one spot and made it look easy.

Time and again we've seen the classic 'Lost in Space' given the reboot treatment, from the 1998 big-screen version to a John Woo-directed TV take in the early 2000s, so what's one more? The Robinsons will pack up and head for the stars once more, as Legendary TV has begun development of a new 'Lost in Space' series with the writers behind 'Dracula Untold.'

While it's true that great stretches of Stoker's novel have been explored, transformed and extended by countless filmmakers over the years until every surprise feels like a cliche, there's one stretch of the story that feels fresher than ever. Upon a recent revisit to the novel, it was this portion of the book that most ignited the imagination and felt the most inherently cinematic. And yet, it's the portion of the book that gets overlooked in even the most faithful adaptations.

Luke Evans looks good in a cape. And I get the impression that Luke Evans knows that he looks good in a cape, though, the trick is, as he says, a good wind machine. This is now life for Evans, an admittedly private actor who is starring in what seems to be just about everything these days. I asked Evans if he can walk down the street without being mobbed, to which he responded that, outside of a stray fan every few blocks or so, he can still walk around in general obscurity. Soon after this interview, I left Evans’ hotel and was greeted by an almost block-wide spread depicting Evans as Dracula ... you know, those mobs might be coming sooner rather than later.

'Dracula Untold' is hitting theaters this weekend*, and truth be, uh, told, it doesn't look that great. But it could be worse -- a whole lot worse. Cinema has a rich history with blood-suckers, and thanks to the over-saturation in the genre, it's quite rare to see a great vampire film. For every good one, there's at least 10 not-so-good vampire flicks. Honestly, it was hard to choose just 10 because there are some real stinkers out there. As a disclaimer, we kept 'Twilight' out of this because it was just a little too obvious. We all know it's awful, we don't need to beat a dead sparkle-horse. *Does Dracula's story really need to be told again? Yeah, dude, we get it.

During Universal's horror golden age of the '30s and '40s, the studio's beloved monsters all existed in aesthetically similar movies. When they starting going into decline, they even started showing up in each other's films to team up and/or battle to the death. So it makes perfect sense for the Universal of 2014 to see potential in a shared cinematic universe of their iconic monsters and it looks like the upcoming 'Dracula Untold' will kick it all off.

'Dracula Untold' is looking to do to the world's most famous vampire what 'Batman Begins' did for The Dark Knight. This doesn't just look like a simple origin story, which could be a good thing! Or it could be a bad thing! What we do know is that Luke Evans is inspired casting as Dracula himself and that a new series of fresh videos arrived to let you start pre-judging this film as you see fit.