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Oct 25, 2013 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

Although they’ve lost some ground to zombies in recent years, vampires still hold a special place as pop culture’s supernatural creatures-of-choice. With there being no shortage of Nosferatu-relevant entertainment, NBC at least went back to Bloodsucker Numero Uno for their primetime re-imagining of Dracula. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) stars as the titular Count, who’s risen from the grave in the late 19th Century. He wastes no time setting himself up as a wealthy industrialist in Victorian England, where he plots retribution on the enemies who cursed him with immortality and took away the love of his life.

Meyers’ Dracula is in line with the seductive, brooding bloodsuckers we’ve become used to lately, sipping fine whiskey as often as he does blood. The pilot moves very slowly, but the production values are outstanding. (The producers of Downton Abbey are behind the series, and Dracula looks like it will be equally lavish.) Hopefully the show will focus less on soap opera-like love stories and more on Dracula’s quest for revenge; the Count will need to be given sharper fangs to work with than he had in the series premiere for the show to rise above its vampiric competitors. (www.nbc.com/dracula)

Author rating: 5.5/10