Another Date

Does Dracula date? For those looking for the ultimate night owl, with a penchant for Victorian-era fashion, paler than pale features and and a very unique European accent, then he’s here in Lee Richards’ comedy Another Date. But, would-be vampire lovers beware - there is a red flag around this particular incarnation of fiction's most famous immortal. This Dracula isn’t very good at dating. No, not because he only has one thing on his mind. He’s just really, really shy.

Another day (or, to be correct, another night) begins for Count Dracula (Tyler Day) as he emerges from the coffin looking for love once again. But this stiff-necked Satanic servant just has nothing to sink his teeth into. Yet, an opportunity arises for the prince of darkness to dine once more; this time, not on a bare neck but on a date with the lovely Elizabeth (Wiktoria Bialek) who’s keen to unpick the shyness behind Dracula’s cloak…

In playing literature’s lord of the undead for laughs, Richards sends it up a lot like Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It yet shoots in crystal-clear black and white like Young Frankenstein. On a slightly more artistic note, the early scenes with the isolated Dracula wearily pottering around at home are ironically reminiscent of the lonely desperation of Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu: The Vampyre, the first successful attempt at portraying Bram Stoker’s creation not as a powerful predator but a haunted victim himself. That's the angle Richards and Day have gone for here. This isn't the omnipresent nemesis of Abraham Van Helsing with a long list of vampire brides to cuddle up to. This Count is gentle, kind but hopeless, overpowered by insecurity and nerves instead of garlic and the crucifix. And he's not Dracula. He's Jack.

Other than that, Another Date is very much need of another bite. As its title suggests, Another Date isn't unsurprising. It's rom-com a mile off. So, its refreshing that Richards does attempt to take things in a slightly different direction. Bialek is sweet and charismatic and she will fare even better in a film with some more tooth. The premise is there, but Richards’ script isn’t funny enough to cultivate the potential of a dating Dracula gone shy. With a rewrite or two, this could be a neat little spoof but a well-worn caricature in horror and comedy as the Dracula figure needs some sharper fangs to tackle it.