A vampire clan is somehow transplanted to a planet in deep space in the future. In Dracula 3000, the vampire clan highjacks a freight ship headed back to Earth in the year 3000. At the beginning, this story, although not terribly original, sounded interesting enough to watch. So I watched it.
Director Darrell Roodt is able to tap some real star power for this low budget thriller including Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers); Coolio (Batman & Robin); Erika Eleniak-Goglia (Tales of the Crypt: Bordello of Blood); tough guy Tommy Lister Jr., (The Fifth Element); Udo Kier (Blade); Grant Swanby; Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld and Langley Kirkwood.
The one person who looks painfully out of place is Langley Kirkwood. I have nothing against Kirkwood. But when Kirkwood's character appears in the film for the first time, the film looses any credibility as an heir to the Dracula legacy. He is simply not believable as the vampire overlord from the planet Transylvania. He'd be better cast as Napoleon Dynamite.
The story of space voyagers finding an abandoned ship in deep space is nothing new. The crew decides a salvage mission is in order, which again is predictable. Coolio proceeds to steal the show as a disrespectful, drug-addicted crewmember searching the salvaged ship for swag. He accidentally wakes the vampire overlord who had been sleeping on the ship. After becoming the vampire's first victim, Collio's character is transformed into a fearsome (and sometimes hilarious) vampire. Sadly his character's life is brief.
Other opportunities to bring the plot to life are completely ignored, such as the revelation that Van Dien's character is a descendant of famed vampire killer Van Helsing. I immediately expected some hard core vampire killing action. Instead, Van Dien is killed off. Then the plot slowly limps to an anticlimactic end.
The only other highlight is sexy Erika Eleniak-Goglia. She plays a tough second-in-command of the ship and looks good in tight, black leather. She becomes more interesting when she reveals that she is a cyborg. Not just a cyborg, but a pleasure-bot! Guess what happens next? That's right, she dies. Like I said, there are a lot of missed opportunities to make this a better movie.
The script is poorly written and there are very few action scenes (other then various crew members running up and down the endless corridors of the abandoned ship, if you can call that action). Since Roodt is both writer and director, I place the blame squarely upon him. The basic storyline was interesting and these actors have talent, but the script gave the characters no depth.
Because this movie lacks entertaining dialogue and a clever plot, it's a disappointment. True vampire aficionados may want to check it out anyway just to see Coolio's attention-grabbing performance. However, casual fans of vampire and horror flicks should probably pass on it.
