Beginnings and endings direct how to read the movie. In the opening scenes, Prince Vlad defends the Church against the Muslim infidel. He impales, crucifies his enemies on the battlefield.
His wife, Elisabeta, tricked into believing that he is dead by a false letter sent by the enemy, takes her own life. She dies condemned by the Church. In response Dracula paraphrases and reverses the normal understanding of Christ's blood, "This blood is the life and it shall be mine."
The first five minutes of the movie establish the mythological nature of the story. The red body armor of Vlad gives him the appearance of a flayed war victim. It alludes to his destiny.
Blood pours from the cross when Vlad stabs its center. He has stolen the sacred blood of the Christ by alliance with Darkness for his own purposes.
Dracul, the Dragon, in his blood-red armor becomes by his own choice the Antichrist, the Dragon, Satan thrown down by the archangel Michael to the earth. Vlad converts from defender of the faith to its most vicious opponent. He and his followers literally devour children and enslave the women who bear them.
The final scene of the movie cements the overarching comparison between Christ and Dracula. Dracula dies, "It is finished." He directly quotes Jesus on the cross in John's gospel.
With Dracula's beheading peace returns to his home. Dracula has been saved from the powers of darkness, to God, by the love and execution of a woman.
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