Rating: 
Summary: A Little More Research Would Have Gone a Long Way
Review: What happened here? The story of Vlad the Impaler is a fascinating, if gory, epoch that deserved proper treatment. Granted, even in the best light he will come across as something like the Stalin of 13th Century Romania, but he deserves a better portrayal than he got in this film.
Let's face it; a great many people in the English-speaking world don't know anything about the history of our Western European neighbors, which is a sad thing. In the time of Vlad's reign as a prince (which was an elected/sometimes appointed office in his place and time), the Ottoman Turks, no tea-and-crumpet crowd themselves, were bringing down civilzations all over what we came to know as Hungary, Romania, Austria and Czechoslovakia. (Okay, maybe one or two of those names need to be changed now, but who can keep up?)
This film covers practically no facts that aren't already known to even the most casual student of Vlad, his country and his time. His family name was not Dracula; that was a title conferred on those belonging to the Order of the Dragon, as did Vlad and his father before him. His first (and most say only) wfe committed suicide by leaping from the walls of their palace into the river below. The real Vlad impaled his own countrymen by the hundreds (he didn't invent the practice; it was standard treatment of enemies of the state), and once he nailed the turbans to the heads of emissaries of the Sultan for their refusal to remove their headgear in his court. Anyone reading a one-paragraph biography of this complex despot would have known that.
Vlad is also said to have had a very sick sense of justice, in that he once won a war on poverty in Transylvania by inviting nearly 500 homeless and destitute people to a feast, then setting the building on fire to kill them all. He is said to have impaled a peasant wife who did not properly mend her husband's work clothes. If all said about Vlad is true, he was a sadist at a time when no one less ruthless could have saved his country from the perpetually invading enemy--which invites another comparison to Stalin, another monster with whom admirable people were compelled to align themselves for a while, whether they liked it or not.
There is nothing in this film that would explain why Vlad the Impaler is still to this day a hero in his homeland. The Vlad of this film goes through his life as a perpetual apologist for himself. I have to feel that the real Vlad would have impaled the entire production staff connected with this drivel.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical horrors are worse than fiction!
Review: When this movie aired on USA Network I was skeptical of the presentation thinking it would be another pseudo-horror movie. This movie was refreshingly new and I truly reccomend it to all fans of history and the Dracula legend! It expanded on what was seen at the beginning of Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula. It appears to be based on the book "In Search of Dracula" by Raymond T McNally and Radu Florescu (although I did not see the end credits to know if they were given any acknowledgement by the filmmaker but I would assume they were.) The book which is available from Amazon.com is a historical novel on the life of Vlad Tepes who was a brutal hero to his people and a feared Christian champion to the Muslim Turks that were invading Eastern Europe in his day. I really reccomend that you also get this book as companion to the movie. The reproductions of what was written about Vlad Tepes and his actions in his day and the wood carvings of him are fantastic and horrifying!The movie depicts the violence, treatury, and private power struggles of his reign in what is now Romania very accurately. It is well shot with beautifully authentic locations and costumes (considering it was Romania in the 1400's) and was surprisingly well acted by former All My Childern actor Rudolf Martin who played Anton in the show a couple years ago. This is not another re-hashing of the vampire tale, but a fascinating look at the real man that so inspired Bram Stoker to pen possibly the best fictional horror tale of all time. Unfortunately, they tried in the last scenes to make a connection from the factual Dracula to the fictional vampire that was not necessary. It is almost that they felt you needed help to make the connection yourself, very silly. After seeing this movie and reading "In Search of Dracula", the real Dracula may be more frightening than Stoker's tale and overall this movie is a well done and very welcome addition to the lore of Vlad the Impaler who is still fearfully spoken of throughout Eastern Europe and hailed as a national hero to a few Romanians to this day.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining movie about Vlad Tepes
Review: While not as "real" as the film would have you believe, "Dark Prince" is an entertaining movie about Vlad the Impaler. While his connection to Stoker's Dracula has been exagerrated over the years, Vlad Tepes is a controversial and fascinating figure, and it is about time somone made a film about him. Don't expect vampires. The cover art and trailer are very misleading. However, this is still a solid little film. If you like medieval action films, or just want to get a vague idea as to what the historic Vlad was like, this film comes recommended.
Rating:
Summary: My apologies (and sympathies) to Roger Daltrey!
Review: With all due respects to Roger Daltrey, whose acting talents are beyond reproach, This movie is a ridiculous farce!!!
First of all, it is grossly inaccurate from a historical standpoint! In the fifteenth century Romania didn't exist!! It was divided into three seperate autonomous nations; Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia, only the latter of which Vlad Dracula was the ruler, and his birthplace, Transylvania was actually a HUNGARIAN province at the time! Yet throughout the film, Dracula's land is referred to as "Romania". Also the writers of this film would have us believe that Dracula was the first excommunicant ever to be condemned to vampirism! In fact Vampire legends had existed in Eastern Europe thousands of years before Dracula's birth! Besides, The Daco-Romanian accents are anything but convincing!!
My gut reaction to this film was,"Are You Kidding!!!"
Its attempt to transform history's most blood-crazed murderer into a handsome,flexi-hipped, flat-bellied, yuppie heartthrob is nothing short of colossal conceit!! I only watched this movie because I was brain-numbingly BORED and I have regretted it ever since! Roger Daltrey must have been in grave financial straits to accept the role of King Matthias in this pathetic excuse for a movie, a fact which must be a great embarassment to him. It's an insult to his Talent! This movie is a waste of time, a waste of money and, to put it delicately, a waste of film!! You can blow your hard-earned money on this snore-o-rama if you want, but don't say you weren't warned!!!
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