after having his face bit off by Dracula and turns into a strange faceless vampire. Uffizi goes after a now-free Dracula, telling Luke he will make a great vampire hunter someday. Uffizi catches up with Dracula, who taunts him with the knowledge that Elizabeth will simply die and Uffizi knows it. In his weakened state, Dracula is not quite a match physically for Uffizi. The priest manages to get a whip around Dracula's neck and begins the rite of absolution. Dracula then taunts Uffizi with images of Christ's betrayal and crucifixion, and insinuates that he turned Christ into a vampire. Elizabeth, now a vampire, attacks and wounds Uffizi. She leaves with Dracula, who lets Uffizi live because he knows he will follow and eventually find him. Cast Jason Scott Lee as Father Uffizi Jason London as Luke Khary Payton as Kenny Craig Sheffer as Lowell Diane Neal as Elizabeth Blaine Brande Roderick as Tanya Tom Kane as the voice of Cartoon Voice of Doctor John Light as Eric Stephen Billington as Dracula II Nick Phillips as Officer Smith John Sharian as Officer Hodge Roy Scheider as Cardinal Siqueros David J. Francis as Jesus Production Development Despite Dracula 2000 being a box office bomb, Dimension Films approached filmmakers Patrick Lussier and Joel Soisson for a sequel. The pair decided to use their original pitch for Dracula 2000, where Dracula is captured and studied. The character of Father Uffizi was initially a part of Dracula 2000, but was ultimately taken out in later drafts. Lussier and Soisson would write each scene individually and trade their scenes for revisions. The filmmakers opted not to include the year in the title as neither were "overly enamored" with the title of the previous film. Stephen Billington was cast as Dracula in place of Gerard Butler due to scheduling conflicts. Filming Production took place in the fall in Romania, concurrently with Dracula III: Legacy. Roy Scheider shot all of his scenes for both films in a single day. Reception Critical reaction to Dracula II: Ascension has been mixed to negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, Dracula II: Ascension holds an approval rating of 0% from seven reviews. Rebecca Isenberg of Entertainment Weekly said: "Dracula II is dripping with clichéd scare tactics, from abandoned houses to bathtubs filled with blood, [and] death scenes are equally predictable". John Puccio of DVD Town said: "The movie is a tired collection of