Synopsis for
Vlad (2003)

Prologue: 1447 Transylvania. "On a battlefield near Tirgoviste in the foothills of the Carpathians, the Transylvanian prince Ianco De Hunedoara captured Vlad Dracul, ruler of Wallachia. With his elder son Mircea by his side, Dracul stood before the enemy. His two youngest sons, Vlad and Radu, watched helplessly in the face of treachery. Facing death, Dracul hurled a sacred necklace across the battlefield to the elder of his remaining sons. In this moment, Vlad Dracul, the father, passed on to Vlad Dracula, the son, the leadership of his country. The necklace, said to have mystical powers, bore the emblem of Order Draculeus, the secret society to which the father belonged. Vlad would take vengeance upon those who betrayed his father. Taking the name of Vlad the Impaler, he would kill and torture countless thousands, giving rise to the belief that even after his death, Vlad would continue to journey the earth forever in darkness as the tormented one. Vampire. Nosferatu. Dracula."

Modernday Romania. Order Draculeus still exists, and the secret necklace is missing. At the University of Bucharest, Professor Adrian [Billy Zane] and Dean Radescu [Brad Dourif] have received word that one of the four new foreign exchange students arriving to work on their theses may be bringing the necklace with her. Dean explains that, if the necklace reaches Poenari, its presence will be felt, and Vlad epe will return and place many lives in danger, so it must be retrieved. At a reception being held in their honor, the four new exchange students -- Americans Jeff Meyer (Stanford) and his sister Alexa (UCLA), Justin Wiley from England (Cambridge), and Marilena "Lensey" Constantin (Sorbonne) from Romania -- are sharing drinks and introductions with each other. After presenting their thesis titles to Dean Radescu, the students return to their rooms. Lensey [Monica Davidescu] is horrified to discover that someone has been searching her room. Fortunately, they didn't find the necklace. Later, as Lensey is bathing, she suddenly has a vision of Vlad Tepes fleeing pursuers.

The next day, the students accompany Adrian to Tirgoviste where they meet Professor Mircea Ileva [Emil Hostina] who has planned a hiking tour of the route Dracula took in 1459 when he marched all the nobles up a hill to build him a castle. Tomorrow, they leave on a two day hike to Poenari fortress. That night, however, Lensey has another vision of Vlad Dracula in battle. This time, Jeff [Paul Popowich] catches her in the throes. Lensey tells him what she's been seeing, and Jeff tells her how, in 1462, Vlad Dracula led a raid on Mahmed II and failed miserably. When his wife was informed of the failed raid, she presumed Vlad dead and committed suicide. Vlad took his servants and his infant son in an attempt to escape the advancing Turks. In the rush, one of the servants dropped Vlad's son. Rather than stop to pick up his son, Vlad continued to flee and his son was trampled to death by horses.

Lensey thinks that the visions may be tied to the necklace. To prove to Jeff that the visions are real, she secretly slips the necklace into his backpack. That night, after they all smoke some "devil's grass" and fall asleep around the campfire, Jeff has a dream about a girl attempting to flee from Vlad Dracula. He awakens suddenly to see the girl kneeling in front of him. She speaks no English, so Lensey attempts to speak to her in Romanian, then French. No luck. When she tries German ("Mes [sic] Name ist Lensey"], the girl perks up and replies, "Ilona es mi nama," which Justin immediately recognizes as Middle English and starts to recite Chaucer to her. [And they say a classical education is of no use these days!] Justin also gets it out of her that she is from Oxford and was visiting with her father when Constantinople fell and she was captured by Vlad when the Turks attacked.

Before continuing on to Poenari, they take Ilona [Iva Hasperger] to a nearby veterinary research station in order to have her checked out and to spend the night. Adrian pays a visit to Lensey and asks her to please give him the necklace so that it can be returned to Vlad's grave. Lensey refuses. Turns out that Lensey knows all about the necklace's history. She really got it from her grandfather who found it on a skeleton in a cave near Poenari during the war. He has asked her to return it to the cave for him. That night, Lensey and Jeff see a wolf standing outside the bedroom window. Suddenly they start having sex. Jeff takes on the face of Vlad, and the wolf turns into Vlad. Vlad Tepes Dracula [Francesco Quinn] is back!

Adrian knows of a holy man named Ilie who might be able to help them. Ilie [Guy Siner] tells them that Vlad justified brutality as being for the greater good but became addicted to the pain of others such that God punished him by taking away all his loved ones and damning him to live trapped in eternity. He opens the necklace, which is really a locket, and they see a picture of what looks like Ilona. It's Vlad's wife, Ilie explains. Replacing the necklace in Vlad's tomb will give him peace, but the necklace must first be immersed in a stream that runs through the burial cave before it is returned to Vlad's tomb.

It's not the necklace that Vlad is seeking, however. It is Ilona. When Adrian refuses to lead Vlad to Ilona, Vlad breaks Adrian's neck. He then kidnaps Alexa [Kam Heskin]. When Jeff says that he's going after Vlad, Mircea grabs a gun and reveals himself as a member of Order Draculeus who wishes to restore Vlad as the ruler of modernday Romania. Ilie tries to convince Mircea that Vlad the voivode died 500 years ago and that the Vlad currently amongst them is a creature who cares only for his own agenda. Mircea refuses to believe and runs off to find Vlad, who immediately kills him.

Jeff, Justin, Lensey, Ilona, and Ilie continue on to Poenari. When they get there, Ilie goes into the chapel to pray while the others stand around waiting. As Ilona and Justin [Nicholas Irons] swear their love for each other (in Old English), Vlad basically rapes Alexa and drinks some of her blood. Ilie's prayers begin to fill Vlad's mind and he can't stand it, so he runs his sword through Ilie. When Alexa's screams are heard, Jeff, Lensey, Ilona, and Justin go looking for her. When Justin refuses to hand over Ilona, Vlad breaks his neck. In order not to put the others at risk, Ilona willingly goes with Vlad. Jeff, Lensey, and Alexa decide that they must find Vlad's tomb and immediately return the necklace.

They make their way to the cave. Just as they find the stream, Vlad and Ilona appear. While Vlad and Jeff duke it out, Lensey drops the necklace. As she tries to pick it up, Alexa leaps on top of Lensey to prevent it. Ilona then leaps on Alexa to prevent her from preventing Lensey from getting back the necklace. As Ilona holds Alexa back, Lensey grabs the necklace and immerses it in the stream. She then places it in the tomb, and POOF, Vlad and Ilona disappear. Alexa gets back her senses, and they all leave the cave together. There is an alternative ending in which the closing scene shows Alexa with a look in her eyes that suggests she is still in league with Vlad.

Epilogue. Ilona has been returned to the 15th century village from whence she came. As Ilona walks down the street, a knight rides by. It is Justin. He recognizes her, places her on his horse, and leads her away. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]