I came upon "Sundown" in my search to see a bunch of Dracula movies since reading Bram Stoker's novel, but this one doesn't have anything to do with the book except for a couple character names, and a love triangle involving a vampire has some thematic similarity to Stoker's subtext of infidelity. For seemingly no real dramatic reason, the revelation of those names, Dracula and Van Helsing, is delayed. Bruce Campbell, of "The Evil Dead" franchise fame, plays the great grandson of Stoker's Dutch doctor, whereas David Carradine, son of John Carradine, who played Dracula in at least four films, plays a Dracula who changes his name to the near-anagram of "Mardulak" because, as he claims, his name became too famous. At least, they didn't use the semordnilap of "Alucard" again, which was used, among elsewhere, in "Son of Dracula" (1943) and "Dracula A.D. 1972," the latter of which one of the human daughters in "Sundown" has a poster of in her room.
Departing entirely from Stoker, Mardulak owns a town full of vampires, where they drink synthetic blood and try to avoid killing humans, because the Count wants God to forgive him and his fellow creatures. Another fraction of the town's vamps disagree. Led by a bloodsucker named, appropriately enough, "Jefferson," they start a revolution, which ends up as a Western-film-styled shoot-'em-up, but with wooden bullets. In the fashion of Hammer's Dracula series, there's a bunch of other vampiric lore employed, including a makeshift cross. The vampires also venture out in the daylight thanks to some powerful sunscreen lotion and sources of shade, such as hats and umbrellas. Again, none of this was in Stoker's book. His Dracula could be exposed to sunlight; it merely diminished his powers.
But, never mind, it's not necessarily a problem that the film doesn't respect the source. That is, if it does anything intelligent in its alteration, or at least something fun. My favorite Dracula-related comedies, including "Blood for Dracula" (1974) and "Love at First Bite" (1979), do both, to some extent. "Sundown," on the other hand, is just goofy. Rather than Stoker or any other novel idea, it clearly takes its inspiration from playing around with other movies--bad vampire movies (if the poster of "Dracula A.D. 1972" is any indication) and Westerns--and mixes them up. Fortunately, the result is light and seems as though it doesn't take itself seriously. The fake bats are especially absurd. It's fun.
(Mirror Note: The human mother character doesn't see a vampire behind her through the mirror due to his lack of a reflection. Van Helsing also uses sources of reflections twice to confirm vampirism.)
Departing entirely from Stoker, Mardulak owns a town full of vampires, where they drink synthetic blood and try to avoid killing humans, because the Count wants God to forgive him and his fellow creatures. Another fraction of the town's vamps disagree. Led by a bloodsucker named, appropriately enough, "Jefferson," they start a revolution, which ends up as a Western-film-styled shoot-'em-up, but with wooden bullets. In the fashion of Hammer's Dracula series, there's a bunch of other vampiric lore employed, including a makeshift cross. The vampires also venture out in the daylight thanks to some powerful sunscreen lotion and sources of shade, such as hats and umbrellas. Again, none of this was in Stoker's book. His Dracula could be exposed to sunlight; it merely diminished his powers.
But, never mind, it's not necessarily a problem that the film doesn't respect the source. That is, if it does anything intelligent in its alteration, or at least something fun. My favorite Dracula-related comedies, including "Blood for Dracula" (1974) and "Love at First Bite" (1979), do both, to some extent. "Sundown," on the other hand, is just goofy. Rather than Stoker or any other novel idea, it clearly takes its inspiration from playing around with other movies--bad vampire movies (if the poster of "Dracula A.D. 1972" is any indication) and Westerns--and mixes them up. Fortunately, the result is light and seems as though it doesn't take itself seriously. The fake bats are especially absurd. It's fun.
(Mirror Note: The human mother character doesn't see a vampire behind her through the mirror due to his lack of a reflection. Van Helsing also uses sources of reflections twice to confirm vampirism.)