A number of reviews aren't wonderfully favourable, but I really enjoyed this Dracula Untold. Apparently the first of a series reboots for the Universal Monsters franchises, Dracula Untold eschews the Bram Stoker novel in favour of a sympathetic retelling of the story of Vlad The Impaler.
Set in Transylvania during the reign of Vlad III, the Ottoman Turkish Sultan demands a thousand boys from Vlad's country to join his army. Not wanting to surrender his people, he resorts to finding a legendary vampire that lives in a nearby mountain. Vlad is portrayed as a loving family man who wants only to help his people, and his ferocious reputation for impaling enemy armies on stakes came from the necessity of sending a strong message.
The direction is pretty solid and I very much enjoyed the cinematography and editing. Luke Evan's Vlad is torn between protecting his people and his family from the Turks, and succumbing to the bloodlust that the vampire gave him. Special effects are, of course, widely used, and well used.
This isn't a movie for logic, it's about going with the story and having some fun. There are a few nods to the Bram Stoker novel, almost in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but this movies shares more with the Brian Lumley Necroscope novels in historical references and war scenes. Something fun to see in the cinema if you like this kind of thing!