Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2316)

Content

ClareR (6256 KP) rated Dracul in Books

Dec 11, 2018

Dracul

J.D. Barker, Dacre Stoker | 2018 | Horror

8.7

(7 Ratings)

Book Rating

The start of Bram Stokers biography?

And to think that I nearly gave up on this to begin with! At about 20% in, it just didn't seem to be drawing me in at all. So how pleased am I that I persevered?!!

This is a prequel to Bram Stokers Dracula, and is the story of Bram himself. It postulates that Dracula and vampires really do exist, Bram and his family had an intimate relationship with one (not like THAT!), and Dracula was written as a warning about the Undead. Well, I clearly don't know what to believe now!
The language used in this novel is a little more up to date than Bram Stokers original: it's written for the modern reader (as Bram's was at the time, I suppose), and is consequently much easier to read. This book is supposedly based on notes that Bram left behind - whether they were ideas for another book, or they were 'actual occurrences', we'll never really know.

Bram and his family are followed from Bram's early childhood, up until well after their encounter with Dracul. It's exciting, there's loads of action, and I had some serious worries about Bram's siblings! There's loads of historical detail (potato famine in Ireland, disease, poverty) which I rather enjoyed. But it's the encounters with the vampires that I really loved. There's always going to be someone that makes the comparison to 'that' vampire series, and so I'll be the one. There IS NO comparison. These aren't nicey-nicey vampires who sparkle. These are largely speaking, evil, dark-magic-using, killing machines. Much more fun.

I think this is probably going to be a series. Which I will obviously be reading. Obviously.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

Kudos

Ross (3284 KP) Dec 11, 2018

I totally agree with the slow start. So glad you stuck with it and loved it. I'm not sure if there will be more, but Dacre has already written a sequel of sorts - Dracula - The Un-Dead, which is not totally dreadful but a similar offering to this, albeit of lower quality. It echoes Bram Stoker's time at the Lyceum Theatre so has that same element of being based on his life. The writing is nowhere near as good as this though. Its currently £1.49 on UK Kindle so not the end of the world if you hate it (I thought it was half-decent but I think it has been roundly slated).

Kudos

ClareR (6256 KP) Dec 11, 2018

Thanks Ross - I might just have a look!!

Kudos

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) in Movies

Nov 19, 2019 (Updated Nov 20, 2019)

Drunk Johnny Part 1

Yo-Ho, what do you get when you based you movie off of a disney ride, a great movie. Yes you read the correctly, this movie is based off of the ride at disney. So how does a 20-30 minute ride turn into a 2h and 20min movie, well you expand it. Expand it and make it have a great plot, good charcters, a great villian and a drunking Johnny Depp or Johnny Depp playing pirate Keith Richards.

The Plot: Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) arrives at Port Royal in the Caribbean without a ship or crew. His timing is inopportune, however, because later that evening the town is besieged by a pirate ship. The pirates kidnap the governor's daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), who's in possession of a valuable coin that is linked to a curse that has transformed the pirates into the undead. A gallant blacksmith (Orlando Bloom) in love with Elizabeth allies with Sparrow in pursuit of the pirates.

It was also significant in being the first film released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner to be rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

The film spun off four sequels, with the latest sequel released in 2017. The first two were back-to-back sequels in 2006 and 2007, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, respectively. The third sequel, On Stranger Tides, was released in 2011. The fourth sequel, Dead Men Tell No Tales, was slated to begin production in October 2014 for a summer 2016 release, but was eventually delayed to May 2017. It was directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg. While none of the sequels matched the critical acclaim of the first film, they were still box office successes nevertheless.

It is a classic movie, it has comedy, action, adventure and most importanly pirates.