In its attempt to repackage one of cinemas great monsters into an action hero, Dracula Untold becomes a bloodless, directionless affair void of personality, but does boast some bite in the casting of Luke Evans.

It’s been 12 years since the last substantial Dracula movie, and if Dracula Untold is any indication it’ll be 12 more years until another. Despite its rich imagery and striking Welsh actor Luke Evans proving his leading man chops as the title character, Dracula Untold lacks passion and personality, trying to straddle the line between comic-book action and gothic horror yet failing to be effective at either one.

Much like Maleficent and Snow White and the Huntsman before it, Dracula Untold takes on an inherently evil figure and tries to humanise him through an origin story, with the “Prince of Darkness” presented as feared warrior turned Transylvanian Prince, Vlad III Tepes (or also known as Vlad the Impaler) whose dream of ruling a peaceful kingdom is threatened by invading Turks led by Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper).

To protect his people, Vlad seeks help from a mysterious monster in the mountains (Charles Dance) and (in the films best scene) strikes a deal to gain god-like powers and immortality…along with the side effects of bloodlust, aversion to silver and a severe reaction to sunlight.

While its bigger is better approach by director Gary Shore (his feature debut) does provide plenty of blockbuster scenery with its North Ireland location (captured by cinematographer John Schwartzman) meets green screen grandiosity, it’s Shore’s inability to inject his aplomb with any kind of personality that makes Dracula Untold such a forgettable affair.

As a horror movie it’s tediously safe, with fleeting moments of nightmarish gothic imagery overwhelmed by the boorish limitations of its PG-13 (the bane of all genre fans) glass ceiling, which allows a high body count yet curiously little bloodshed for a vampire movie.

Action wise there is little improvement, with battle scenes a wasted jumble of chaotic camerawork played to the sounds of screams, thuds, and little thought into who has slayed who since there is no idea about who is who in the first place.

What does work is the casting of Luke Evans as the iconic title character. While Evans comes nowhere close to legends of past who portrayed the iconic dark prince (Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman), he does provide an intense performance and brooding charisma that makes him look like Brando when compared to his underwhelming co-stars.

It’s clear that Dracula Untold is gunning for the superhero market in its rebranding of the character as a Batman meets Superman meets Nosferatu hybrid, yet its lack of presence and identity does it no favours. And while Evans has the look and the chops to become a blockbuster megastar, he needs a much better film than Dracula Untold to make that promised ascension a reality.