The movies have taken on Count Dracula so many times over the years that nobody seemed to think to look at his origins rather than advancing his existence through the 20th century and beyond. Vlad the Impaler is a historical figure that seemed to have his job description added after death due to his penchant for taking his enemies and impaling them. Prior, though, he was known as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, a much more astute title that nobody today refers to. And while the story of him becoming a vampire is all based on Bram Stoker merely using this Romanian Prince as an inspiration for Count Dracula, you have to look at it as clever to connect the two together in a horror fantasy.
In “Dracula Untold”, we’ll be able to have an eerie construct of history with vampire legend to presumably give a suspension of disbelief in Vlad possibly being a real vampire. That blend of history with horror fantasy might kick off other origins tales of famous horror characters that could give some new insights into how they came into existence. Or, in some cases, it can show their forebears to see how some of the most mysterious legends of horror came into existence later.
The Man Who Would be Frankenstein’s Monster
It’s been a mystery behind the identity of Frankenstein’s monster in life before he became a re-animated corpse. Even if he had a different, psychotic brain and perhaps other body parts, he presumably had the same face before he died. Why not have an origin film showing who that person was and whether he was a sane person in life or also insane? In a twist, perhaps Victor Frankenstein knew this person when much younger and knew more about his background than other movies let on. Despite the randomness of his grave robbing, perhaps he knew exactly where to go.
We’ve already seen Frankenstein’s monster in more human form through each ensuing adaptation. Seeing him in life first through to when he becomes the monster would give some chilling background and more personal connection between Victor Frankenstein and his so-called creation.
A Feature-Length Film or TV Series About Michael Myers
With “Bates Motel” recently becoming a hit on A&E, how many more years will go by before someone does a movie or TV series about the origins of Michael Myers from the “Halloween” franchise? He’s easily more evil than Norman Bates, perhaps by will rather than just through psychosis. He also has a haunting childhood as we only saw a short amount of in the first 1978 “Halloween” movie. Some novelizations were written in the late 1970s that expanded on Myers and attempted to explain why he turned murderous. And in the 1990s, there was a young adult series of novels that told additional horror stories of Myers as a young boy.
As with “Star Wars”, though, this expanded universe might want to be ignored for something much different to give some new insights into psychotics. As if we don’t have enough origin tales about serial killers, including the very stylized “Hannibal” on NBC.
Zombies in an Earlier Era
They say that history repeats itself, and perhaps “Night of the Living Dead” happened 100 years earlier before the time of the first 1968 classic. In the interim, perhaps the event was covered up in the same town where the original film takes place. The zombies we see in the original film might even be the same zombies who awakened a century earlier.
We’ve already seen historical novels like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, so we know a precedent has already been set about zombies in earlier eras. In fact, the above book is being made into a movie, though it won’t be out for a while. Plus, considering the “Night of the Living Dead” franchise is now quite vast in all its sequels (while also inspiring “The Walking Dead”), going to the past with the series is almost necessary.
Then again, we know what happened with “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Had it been zombies instead, perhaps there wouldn’t any studio resistance to the idea that the Civil War perhaps also had zombies.
Yes, that would put a new spin on the war movie, if also bringing plenty of debate on whether it’s really the right thing to do.
References:
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/film/dracula-year-zero
http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/10/30/top-25-horror-movies-of-all-time?page=1
