Dracula II: Ascension (2003)
A group of medical students discover the body of the infamous count. Soon, they find themselves in the middle of a bizarre and dangerous conflict when a shadowy figure offers them $30 million for the body so that he may harvest his blood.
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There are three reasons to watch this film:1. It's a Dracula/Vampire Film. 2. Jason Scott Lee is in it. 3. Roy Scheider is in it. I actually liked this movie better than the first one (Dracula 2000). I loved to watch Jason Scott Lee as Father Uffizi -- he reminded me of Van Helsing mixed with Bruce Lee. That provided most of the entertainment for me. I loved Roy Scheider since I was a young girl in the 70s - Jaws! Roy did a good acting job as Cardinal Siqueros although his part was a bit smaller than I would have liked. No, it's not the greatest Dracula film but it is quite entertaining to watch! 6/10
Oh, I am confused, the way I read some of these comments here on IMDb, I was thinking that Dracula 2 was going to be a decent horror movie. I had recorded this film expecting at least a good story. But honestly, the reason why I can't enjoy Wes Craven's take on Dracula is because it seems like he has no clever way of telling this classic story. Dracula is one of history's most famous villains and Wes Craven has made him into nothing but a joke. I don't like the new characters, they're clichéd and boring not to mention that they're horrible actors. The effects, the characters and the story just didn't work with me. Not to mention that I don't know where the heck they got the idea that mustard seeds and rope weaken Dracula? Why not just squeeze a mustard bottle on him? Then I can take a hot dog and rub the mustard off Dracula's body with it and have some dinner. I can't take this stupid story seriously and I don't know how anyone really could.A small group of scientists hope to use Dracula's desiccated body to discover the secret of immortality. Elizabeth who examines the corpse, leads her to alert her boyfriend Lowell, who is suffering from an ultimately fatal degenerative sickness. Lowell claims a wealthy investor wants to fund their research into the mysterious corpse. They take the body away. On their heels is Father Uffizi, seemingly the Vatican's official vampire hunter. He has been given the task of not only killing Dracula, but granting him absolution. This will allow the vampire to rest in peace. What the Cardinal giving Uffizi this task may or may not know is that the priest was scratched by a vampire fang in a previous hunt. Each day he exposes himself to the sun. But one of the scientific team, Luke, doubts Dracula is a purely natural phenomenon. He surrounds the now-awake vampire with folkloric wards like mustard seeds and knots. Elizabeth, meanwhile, feels increasingly strange as the infection in her grows, as does her attraction/bond to Dracula.Well, like Dracula 2000, I just couldn't stand this film. Nothing about this story made sense and all the folklore that fascinates me about Dracula does not exist here. Now the movie could have worked a lot better if it dealt with a better director and different actors, not to mention that they shouldn't make the characters so clichéd, it could have been better. I also don't like the way they handled how you become a vampire, it seemed like the most small bite in the world, that doesn't even require your blood to be drained, just get a little nip and you're becoming a vampire. The "love" story that was incredibly random between Elizabeth and Dracula didn't make any sense, their connection didn't seem real at all. Uffizi is another character that didn't make any sense and once again the actor was just horrible. Nothing about this movie made me think that it could be good, I couldn't wait for it to be over and I don't get how anyone could think that this was a decent horror movie.1/10
While "Dracula 2000" didn't quite set the box office on fire, it did well enough to warrant a sequel – two, as a matter of fact. Released straight to video, "Dracula II: Ascension," finds everyone's favorite bloodsucker in the custody of a group of med students, following the events of the first movie. When experimenting with his charred corpse in hopes of helping their crippled professor turns out to be a bad idea, all Hell breaks loose and things get rather nasty, as you would expect.Director Patrick Lussier returns to the director's chair, and perhaps the biggest difference with this installment is its surprisingly restrained style. Less action packed and not as flashy in the visual department, the film is a more straight-up Dracula flick that gets its job done efficiently and in a timely manner. It also boasts a lot less star-power, in spite of a brief appearance by the late Roy Scheider. You'll spot a few C-list stars (Jason London, anyone?) but the big surprise is Jason Scott Lee, who plays a vampire hunter and virtually carries the film on his shoulders. It's a crime, then, that his character isn't given as much time as the over-dramatic students that drive the plot.Of course, the film was shot back-to-back with the third sequel, and it shows. The thing that keeps it from being as good and as complete as it should is that too much time is spent setting up the next installment and not enough time giving the film enough meat and potatoes to stand alone. Also, it doesn't help that this version of Dracula (re-casted from Gerard Butler to Stephen Billington) is slightly neutered and isn't given much to do. If you can forgive its shortcomings, though, you'll find it to be a fair sequel that is at least a lot better than a lot of direct-to-video fare and serves as a decent enough way to whittle away 80 spare minutes.
I saw WES CRAVEN'S Dracula II (ASCENSION) on Showtime the other night; and, I found it to be is a fairly unique take on the vampire mythology. That is, until I saw Blood of the Vampire on AMC; and, realized that a "scientific" approach to vampirism isn't that original.First, I have to admit that I have not seen DACULA 2000, so I may be a bit lost. However, I did like the opening sequence as an introduction to Father Uffizi. I found him a compelling and credible character; and, think the part was well-acted by Jason Scott Lee.The rest of in the cast are one-dimensional and the acting is pretty average. The psychotic, controlling, wheel-chair bound homosexual / bisexual) mad scientist, played by Craig Sheffer could not have been a worse foil to our vampire hunter. And, his "reveal" at the end is just the film makers' ridiculous attempt to tie up loose ends.WES CRAVEN'S Dracula II (ASCENSION) is only an average horror film, which shows many flaws.