A blood-thirsty tale of love, lust and vengeance.
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula is a 2000 American Biopic Made-for-TV Movie about Vlad the Impaler. It first aired on the USA Network.
After returning from being a Turkish hostage, Vlad Dracula leads the people of Romania in a rebellion against the invading armies. Slowly growing more and more brutal, Vlad takes up such tactics as impaling enemy soldiers on giant stakes. Despite having to deal with rumours of vampirism brought on by his cruelty, Vlad is undaunted. However, when his traitorous brother Radu enters the fray, Vlad vows to destroy him.
Not to be confused with Dracula: The Dark Prince.
This film contains examples of:
- All Crimes Are Equal: Under Vlad's rule, people can be impaled for as minor an offense as falling asleep on guard duty.
- The Antichrist: There are rumors that Vlad is destined to be this.
- Artistic License – History: Vlad is said to be prince of Romania, which would not unify until 400 years after the film's set. The real Vlad ruled Wallachia, which was an independent kingdom at the time but is now part of Romania.
- Artistic License – Religion: Mahomed refers to Vlad's religion as "your Jesus," when Muslims actually consider Jesus a prophet as well.
- Barred from the Afterlife: Legend has it that an excommunicated believer will be forced to walk the Earth, rejected by both Heaven and Hell. The ending shows this did happen to Vlad.
- Big Bad: Sultan Mohamed II, The Emperor subjugating Romania.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Vlad's son is born as he's slaughtering his father's killers.
- Buried Alive: A group of traitorous nobles bury Vlad Dracula alive when he won't bow to Mohamed.
- Cain and Abel: Radu ends up joining the Turks, and is the primary commander working against Vlad.
- Casting Gag: Rudolf Martin also played Dracula in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula".
- Corrupt Church: The Romanian Orthodox Church are willing to turn the people against Vlad for working with Catholic nations, even if that keeps the Romanian people under Ottoman rule. In the end it turns out they even shelter the traitorous Radu and excommunicate Vlad because he's a threat to their power.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Vlad's brother Radu serves as Sultan Mahomed's trusted advisor and envoy into Romania, but Mahomed himself only appears in the beginning of the film.
- The Dreaded: Vlad deliberately cultivates an image of fear in his enemies, which spirals to the point that the rumors are gorier than his actual deeds, which involve impaling people.
- Driven to Suicide: Lidia throws herself from the castle wall into the moat, with Vlad futilely trying to stop her.
- The End... Or Is It?: Vlad the Impaler is betrayed and killed, but he comes back to life due to being excommunicated, with it strongly implied that he'll become Count Dracula.
- Enemy Mine: While Vlad loathes The Pope, he agrees to accept his funding because the Turks are a greater threat.
- Evil All Along: Father Stefan, who initially seemed to be Vlad's only ally in the church, turns out to have been the one who killed Vlad Dracula, and leads Vlad to his death because he's convinced he's the Antichrist.
- A Fête Worse than Death: Vlad organizes a dinner party for the nobles who killed his father, laying into them for their corruption before having his men slaughter them all.
- Frame-Up: Radu has Vlad framed for betraying Hungary, his sole ally, so he'll be imprisoned.
- Framing Device: Vlad tells his story when tried by the Church for his crimes.
- Going Native: Radu grows to like Turkey, and eventually converts to Islam and becomes Mahomed's trusted advisor.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Vlad's wife Lidia begins to lose her grip on sanity after learning of the horrifying way Vlad treats his enemies, saying she can hear the voices of those he has killed, suffering from nightmares and believing her husband is cursed for his sins. She eventually commits suicide.
- I Have Your Wife: Mohamed orders Vlad and Radu abducted when their father refuses to pay tribute.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Naturally, Vlad uses this as his primary method of execution.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: Vlad sees Mahomed as simply a conquering warlord, but his envoy Radu is Vlad's brother, so he's torn between his love for him and his horror at his betrayal.
- Karma Houdini: Sultan Mahomed II and Radu Dracula escape punishment for being a brutal conqueror and selling out his homeland to said conquest, respectively.
- Kick the Dog:
- Sultan Mahomed II carving a wound into Radu while making Vlad watch.
- Prince Karl whipping a peasant for no reason.
- Kingmaker Scenario: The Romanian Orthodox Church's blessing is necessary for anybody to become Prince of Romania.
- Knight Templar: Father Stefan buries his own king alive, sells his people out to foreign invaders, and leads the only hope of fighting the invaders off to his death because he's convinced said leader is the Antichrist. He even says he'd have drowned Vlad in his crib if he could.
- Les Collaborateurs: Many Romanian nobles are shown to be working with the Turks.
- Occupiers Out of Our Country: Vlad leads La Résistance in an attempt to drive the Ottoman Empire out of Romania.
- Outscare the Enemy: Vlad intends to drive off the Turks and crush their collaborators through fear.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: Vlad goes from an idealistic prince fighting foreign invaders to a brutal Well-Intentioned Extremist willing to partake in whatever brutality secures his homeland.
- The Quisling: Prince Karl, who had Vlad Dracul buried alive and rules Romania as a sadistic vassal for the Ottomans. When Vlad Dracula returns, he kills Karl first.
- Rightful King Returns: After being held hostage for the Turks for years, Vlad returns and takes his throne back, promptly leading the charge to drive the Ottoman Empire out of Romania.
- Short Title: Long, Elaborate Subtitle
- Sins of Our Fathers: Father Stefan mentions the descendants of those excommunicated by the Romanian Orthodox Church are societal outcasts for three generations after.
- The Un-Favourite: Vlad Dracul regards Radu as a weakling, and respects Vlad Dracula much more.
