"Dracula II: Ascension" is a sequel to "Dracula 2000," with the ageless vampire again returning from apparent extinction. The twist is that Dracula's blood will be used by a researcher (baroque performance by Craig Sheffer) to reverse the effects of a crippling disease; Sheffer's assistants (read: vampire fodder) will help. Joining this scientific survey is long-haired vampire slayer Jason Scott Lee, who seems to have stalked in from another picture--but never mind Roy Scheider, whose wizened priest might be onscreen for all of 60 seconds.

Sniper 2 wants so hard to be good. It wants to offer intense action and tripwire suspense as it moves its characters through an intricate plot revolving around ethnic atrocities, war crimes, revolution, political assassinations and government cover-ups. And for a while, it does deliver in a kind of derivative direct to video cruise control manner of movie making. Stock characters amble through a rote set of circumstances, meeting and beating the same old villains, all painted in a new, more PC set of clothing and still everything ends up with guns firing and things blowing up. Sounds like a decent night at the macho motion pictures, right? Well, that's the problem with Sniper 2. For all its pyrotechnical temptations and Eurotrashy locales, it just can't seem to connect. Perhaps it's because the mission our heroes go on is pointless and ill explained. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the entire double-cross surprise is pointless and ill explained. Or possibly it's the fault of the characters in the film, all of which appear pointless and ill explained. Whatever it is, vehicles detonate, round after round of ammunition spouts across the screen in over-cranked Ridley Scott beige and moss green, and characters sit and stare at stuff. But the most telling reason why this movie fails is in the way it handles the actual procedural aspects of sniping. It is a safe bet to assume that a professional hit man or trained military killer would never use his targeting device as a means of cinemascopic tracking or image framing. More times than one cares to count, however, the filmmakers employ the wandering cross-haired gobo effect to follow the action or make a dramatic composition choice. And while interesting in a kind of pedestrian POV fashion, the only shooter able to accurately make his mark while waving his rifle around like a retard is Lee Harvey Oswald (if you believe the Warren Commission).

Trust your instincts. Listen to that little voice inside that whispers this sequel has ‘bad idea’ written all over it. “Basic Instinct” didn’t deserve a sequel immediately following its release back in 1992, and now in 2006 there’s even less of a reason to make a follow-up. The only explanation as to why this thing exists is as a vanity project for Sharon Stone. There simply can’t be any other legitimate excuse for “Basic Instinct 2.”

What passes for a plot is a silly mess of twists and turns that are not only predictable but downright ludicrous. This time around finds novelist Catherine Tramell in London doing who knows what with various men. Accused of murdering a football star, she’s arrested and then sent to Dr Michael Glass (David Morrissey) for psychiatric evaluation. Dr Glass' job is to try and figure out if Catherine should be considered a threat to the general public or if the judge can release her on bail. Glass quickly figures out she’s addicted to taking risks – hence the working title of the film: “Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction.”