Greetings! ScoreKeeper here risking the daylight sun to bring you the winners of the DRACULA A.D. 1972 (1972) CD autographed by composer Mike Vickers and actress Caroline Munro and also the CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974) CD.
I’ve been feeling much better since my vampire attack last month. Becoming the walking undead is a bit more adventurous than I thought it would be. It’s also given me a new perspective on vampire films which helped me better judge the entries for the contest.
If you recall, I requested that each entry submit to me a pitch for a new vampire film which would bring Sir Christopher Lee out of his coffin and into the cape for another spin as Count Dracula. I’ve finally read through all the submissions and have picked the five worthy of receiving the two soundtrack CDs courtesy of BSX Records.
In no particular order, here are the five winners and their winning pitches:
Vince Christiaans – Stein, The Netherlands
THE ETERNAL LIFE OF DRACULA
It’s the year 2012 and the infamous Count Dracula has taken residence in an old decayed castle. Dracula dwells here alone. His physique has faded, his hair has become gray and his strength has begun to disappear. This will be the end of the eternal life of Dracula.
The evil that Dracula once possessed has made way for melancholy. The Count is left alone, without his brides and even without an enemy. For his last and most formidable counterpart Lorrimer van Helsing has perished of old age.
Every day a boy walks down the path adjacent to the ruined castle. The ruins have always had a profound effect on him, because of the stories he was told. Stories of fantasy and fright had captured his young and innocent imagination. On this particular winter evening the boy is late for dinner. He dashes through the snow until he passes by the castle. A light is burning, he can see it through the windows. The boy, against his better judgement, decides to go in and have a look. Only to find poor old Dracula in the corner of the room.
The vampire was reminiscing of his youth, and now this young innocent lad stands before him. The boy is startled and asks: ‘’Are you the man of Hell, that my parents speak of?’’ A smile appears and the vampire speaks with his warmest voice: ‘’Come here, young lad. And let me tell you the tales of my eternal life.’’
Count Dracula then proceeds to tell the young boy about his long and cursed life. We ill then see the events through the imagination of the child. This allows the filmmaker to use different actors to play the characters we’ve already seen in the Hammer Horror movies.
Director: Joe Dante (He knows his old school horror.)
Starring:
Christopher Lee as Old Dracula
Ben Wishaw as Imagined Young Dracula
David Kross as Imagined Young Van Helsing
No idea on who should play the ten year old boy though.
Music composed by Danny Elfman. (In ‘Serenada Schizophrana’ mode.)
Bertram Gibbs – Lynn, Massachusetts
THE RETURN OF THE COUNT
Count Dracula is living out his eternal life in seclusion in a mansion in Europe. He is comfortable with his books, his art collection, and memorabilia. He has a small handful of slaves; some human, some vampires who bring him the homeless to feed on. The Count is visited by young fanboy vampires who want to meet the old man. The Count feels these ‘Hip-Hop’ vampires are ignoring their history, traveling in rival packs, and are far more violent than he ever was.
One young vampire arrives on his doorstep, wounded and dying from a battle with an army of vampire hunters who use high-tech weapons (bullets that contain Holy water, stakes shot from automatic rifles, etc.). The young man explains to the Count that the hunters are led by a Captain Van Helsing who is killing and capturing the vampires. As the young man dies, the Count feels that this is not his war; not his battle and wants to be left to his solitude.
But the Count wonders why this Van Helsing is capturing his people. The Count sends one of his human slaves undercover to find out what Captain Van Helsing is up to. This man has been the Count’s slave for years and has made him not only his confidant, but his only friend.
Van Helsing captures the slave and has him brutally tortured in order to find the whereabouts of the first vampire. The dying slave escapes and returns to the mansion and informs the Count that Van Helsing is using vampire blood to genetically alter soldiers to give them accelerated strength, speed and a blood lust that will serve them in battle.
The Count now must band the vampire factions together and stop what Van Helsing is doing to his people.
. . .
Count Dracula – Christopher Lee
Captain Van Helsing – Willem Defoe
Director: Len Wiseman
Score: Danny Elfman
Jonathan Conrad Hodges – Lima, Ohio
DRACULA: LORD OF THE LAST SIN
It is December 1st, 2012. Dracula, weary of his undead existence, tricks the Archangel Gabriel into a trap, and steals his sacred horn. Tormenting the angel, Dracula lets his servant, Nessus, blow the trumpet, summoning an army of vampires to ready for Armageddon. Dracula destroys Gabriel and plots to summon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse with the trumpet during the galactic alignment on December 21st, 2012.
Before being destroyed, Gabriel sends a mystical message to fellow Archangel, Conrad, who must seek the aid of the only man on Earth that can stop the ancient evil- Dr. Van Helsing. Van Helsing has given up on God and the will to live because he just buried his only remaining granddaughter, Mina, who died in the sin of suicide and could not enter Heaven. Conrad and Mina's fiance, Thomas Cochrane, must help Van Helsing discover the strength to fight one last battle for planet Earth.
This heroic trio are confronted and nearly defeated by Dracula, but are rescued with the help of the Pope. After doing research in the secret Vatican library, they realize the only weapon that can destroy Dracula is a Holy Cross found in an epic journey to the 7th circle of Hell, chronicled by Dante. Chased by Nessus' vampires, they must sneak into Hell, outwit Satan's monster guardians, acquire the cross and rescue Mina. The four of them must race against time to face Dracula in one final showdown to prevent the ultimate destruction of all creation.
Tagline for Poster: One final blasphemy by the Prince of Darkness!
The Cast:
Christopher Lee................Dracula
Robert Englund.................Dr. Van Helsing
Ewan McGregor................Thomas Cochrane
Tyler Mane.......................Dark Servant Nessus
William Moseley...............The Archangel Conrad von Hohenstaufen V
Liam Neeson....................The Archangel Gabriel
Danielle Harris..................Mina Van Helsing
Brad Dourif.......................Pope Avaristus II
John Saxon......................General Balberith of Hell
Udo Kier...........................Oberst Kaspar von Silenen of the Swiss Pontifical guard
Kristina Klebe....................Sister Macrina the Younger, keeper of the Papal Library
Clint Howard......................Pietro Della Vigna of the 7th circle in Hell
The Director: Christopher Nolan
Guest Director for Inferno sequences: Tim Burton
Movie to be scored by: Hans Zimmer
Douglas Davey – Ontario, Canada
THE LIVES OF DRACULA
DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro
STARRING:
Sir Christopher Lee as Sir Christopher Lee as Dracula
Guillermo del Toro as Guillermo del Toro
David Alpay as David Alpay as a young Dracula
Julian Richings as somebody, anybody, as long as he’s there
SCORE: Tan Dun
This mix of fact and fiction takes a PO-MO approach to the life and work of a beloved actor.
The camera pans along the black-clothed body of a prone and elegant figure. It passes over gnarled hands, up an elegant waist-coat, to the face of none other than… Sir Christopher Lee? The sleeping actor opens his eyes and looks over to the door of his personal trailer where a young intern is announcing tea time.
Having long abandoned his association with Dracula and Hammer, the octogenarian actor is currently experiencing a golden age. What better time than now to put a spike through the heart of a character that dogged his career? Putting aside past differences with Hammer, Sir Lee has agreed to return to his famous role so that he may end it. In The Death of Dracula, a film-within-a-film, Sir Lee’s Dracula will be killed once and for all, and a fresh young actor will be introduced as the new Dracula, as part of a planned series by Hammer.
In a nod to the past, The Death of Dracula (the film-within-the-film) will touch on elements from each entry in Sir Lee’s vampire oeuvre, often to humorous effect, and causing him to reflect on his life both on and off screen. He also develops a unique relationship with the young actor who is about to take on the heavy mantle of the lord of vampires.
The differences between the magic of the silver screen and the realities of film making will be a crucial theme throughout. The film culminates in the touching death of a now-aged Dracula, as played by a very-much alive Sir Christopher Lee, who rises from this false death to return to his everyday life.
Stefan Church – Point-Claire, Quebec
THE IMMORTAL HUNGER OF DRACULA
Peter Harker, 87, grandfather of a proud clan lives a quiet life in a small seaside village in the North of England where they’ve shunned most of the outside world. A strong sense of tradition for rural life underlies this community and its descendants. When one of Peter’s grandchildren is found exsanguinated, the grandfather takes it upon himself to discover the killer. He soon discovers more than he expects. The least of which, the village is a front. Its descendants can be traced back to the families of Dracula’s victims.
The ultimate revelation being decades ago , in a dark arts ceremony, Dracula was captured, turned human, and he is now the selfsame grandfather. In this long planned cabal of revenge by the village’s ancestors, he would be made to live out his life in a normal fashion, acquire a loving family and at an appropriate time these comforts would be ripped from him in a similar way to the lives of he took so wantonly as Dracula. With this new knowledge and his true nature revealed, Dracula’s revenge on the village knows no bounds, but he does find himself conflicted, as his acquired humanity is not easy to ignore. Has he been human too long? Or will Dracula’s unstoppable hunger be unleashed once more into the world.
CoStars: Like the Hammer films of old, we need great character actors and a few big names.
Ian McKellen, Terence Stamp, David Warner, for some of the village stalwarts keeping the village secret.
Perhaps Richard E. Grant as Dracula's "son."
And Michelle Ryan would fit the bill as a new generation of Hammer Scream Queen.
Director: Keeping it a British affair, I would love to see names like Richard Stanley (Dust Devil) or Clive Barker get back into the director's chair but ultimately Matthew Vaughn
would be more than capable of handling the Hammer vision and Sir Chris's talents.
Score: For a classical orchestral score it's an easy choice for Howard Shore.
But if a more 70's electronic edge is needed then look no further than instrumental group Zombi. You want a Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, Goblin type of soundtrack? This is it.(Neither is British but I'll bend the rules for the music)
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to every who entered! The prizes should be shipping out shortly.
For more information, check out the two links below where you can also hear audio samples from each CD:
DRACULA A.D. 1972
CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER
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