Summaries

Synopsis

Prologue: 1447 Transylvania. "On a battlefield near Tirgoviste in the foothillsof the Carpathians, the Transylvanian prince Ianco De Hunedoara capturedVlad Dracul, ruler of Wallachia. With his elder son Mircea by his side,Dracul stood before the enemy. His two youngest sons, Vlad and Radu,watched helplessly in the face of treachery. Facing death, Dracul hurled asacred necklace across the battlefield to the elder of his remaining sons.In this moment, Vlad Dracul, the father, passed on to Vlad Dracula, theson, the leadership of his country. The necklace, said to have mysticalpowers, bore the emblem of Order Draculeus, the secret society to whichthe father belonged. Vlad would take vengeance upon those who betrayed hisfather. Taking the name of Vlad the Impaler, he would kill and torturecountless thousands, giving rise to the belief that even after his death,Vlad would continue to journey the earth forever in darkness as thetormented one. Vampire. Nosferatu. Dracula."

Modernday Romania. Order Draculeus still exists, and the secretnecklace is missing. At the University of Bucharest, Professor Adrian [Billy Zane] andDean Radescu [Brad Dourif] have received word that one of the four new foreign exchangestudents arriving to work on their theses may be bringing the necklacewith her. Dean explains that, if the necklace reaches Poenari, itspresence will be felt, and Vlad epe will return and place many lives indanger, so it must be retrieved. At a reception being held in their honor,the four new exchange students -- Americans Jeff Meyer (Stanford) and hissister Alexa (UCLA), Justin Wiley from England (Cambridge), and Marilena"Lensey" Constantin (Sorbonne) from Romania -- are sharing drinks andintroductions with each other. After presenting their thesis titles toDean Radescu, the students return to their rooms. Lensey [Monica Davidescu] is horrified todiscover that someone has been searching her room. Fortunately, theydidn't find the necklace. Later, as Lensey is bathing, she suddenly has avision of Vlad Tepes fleeing pursuers.

The next day, the students accompany Adrian to Tirgoviste where theymeet Professor Mircea Ileva [Emil Hostina] who has planned a hiking tour of the routeDracula took in 1459 when he marched all the nobles up a hill to build hima castle. Tomorrow, they leave on a two day hike to Poenari fortress. Thatnight, however, Lensey has another vision of Vlad Dracula in battle. Thistime, Jeff [Paul Popowich] catches her in the throes. Lensey tells him what she's beenseeing, and Jeff tells her how, in 1462, Vlad Dracula led a raid on MahmedII and failed miserably. When his wife was informed of the failed raid,she presumed Vlad dead and committed suicide. Vlad took his servants andhis infant son in an attempt to escape the advancing Turks. In the rush,one of the servants dropped Vlad's son. Rather than stop to pick up hisson, Vlad continued to flee and his son was trampled to death by horses.

Lensey thinks that the visions may be tied to the necklace. To proveto Jeff that the visions are real, she secretly slips the necklace intohis backpack. That night, after they all smoke some "devil's grass" andfall asleep around the campfire, Jeff has a dream about a girl attemptingto flee from Vlad Dracula. He awakens suddenly to see the girl kneeling infront of him. She speaks no English, so Lensey attempts to speak to her inRomanian, then French. No luck. When she tries German ("Mes [sic] Name istLensey"], the girl perks up and replies, "Ilona es mi nama," which Justinimmediately recognizes as Middle English and starts to recite Chaucer toher. [And they say a classical education is of no use these days!] Justinalso gets it out of her that she is from Oxford and was visiting with herfather when Constantinople fell and she was captured by Vlad when theTurks attacked.

Before continuing on to Poenari, they take Ilona [Iva Hasperger] to a nearbyveterinary research station in order to have her checked out and to spendthe night. Adrian pays a visit to Lensey and asks her to please give himthe necklace so that it can be returned to Vlad's grave. Lensey refuses.Turns out that Lensey knows all about the necklace's history. She reallygot it from her grandfather who found it on a skeleton in a cave nearPoenari during the war. He has asked her to return it to the cave for him.That night, Lensey and Jeff see a wolf standing outside the bedroomwindow. Suddenly they start having sex. Jeff takes on the face of Vlad,and the wolf turns into Vlad. Vlad Tepes Dracula [Francesco Quinn] is back!

Adrian knows of a holy man named Ilie who might be able to help them.Ilie [Guy Siner] tells them that Vlad justified brutality as being for the greatergood but became addicted to the pain of others such that God punished himby taking away all his loved ones and damning him to live trapped ineternity. He opens the necklace, which is really a locket, and they see apicture of what looks like Ilona. It's Vlad's wife, Ilie explains.Replacing the necklace in Vlad's tomb will give him peace, but thenecklace must first be immersed in a stream that runs through the burialcave before it is returned to Vlad's tomb.

It's not the necklace that Vlad is seeking, however. It is Ilona.When Adrian refuses to lead Vlad to Ilona, Vlad breaks Adrian's neck. Hethen kidnaps Alexa [Kam Heskin]. When Jeff says that he's going after Vlad, Mirceagrabs a gun and reveals himself as a member of Order Draculeus who wishesto restore Vlad as the ruler of modernday Romania. Ilie tries to convinceMircea that Vlad the voivode died 500 years ago and that the Vladcurrently amongst them is a creature who cares only for his own agenda.Mircea refuses to believe and runs off to find Vlad, who immediately killshim.

Jeff, Justin, Lensey, Ilona, and Ilie continue on to Poenari. Whenthey get there, Ilie goes into the chapel to pray while the others standaround waiting. As Ilona and Justin [Nicholas Irons] swear their love for each other (inOld English), Vlad basically rapes Alexa and drinks some of her blood.Ilie's prayers begin to fill Vlad's mind and he can't stand it, so he runshis sword through Ilie. When Alexa's screams are heard, Jeff, Lensey,Ilona, and Justin go looking for her. When Justin refuses to hand overIlona, Vlad breaks his neck. In order not to put the others at risk, Ilonawillingly goes with Vlad. Jeff, Lensey, and Alexa decide that they mustfind Vlad's tomb and immediately return the necklace.

They make their way to the cave. Just as they find the stream, Vladand Ilona appear. While Vlad and Jeff duke it out, Lensey drops thenecklace. As she tries to pick it up, Alexa leaps on top of Lensey toprevent it. Ilona then leaps on Alexa to prevent her from preventingLensey from getting back the necklace. As Ilona holds Alexa back, Lenseygrabs the necklace and immerses it in the stream. She then places it inthe tomb, and POOF, Vlad and Ilona disappear. Alexa gets back her senses,and they all leave the cave together. There is an alternative endingin which the closing scene shows Alexa with a look in her eyes thatsuggests she is still in league with Vlad.

Epilogue. Ilona has been returned to the 15th century village fromwhence she came. As Ilona walks down the street, a knight rides by. It isJustin. He recognizes her, places her on his horse, and leads her away.[Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]