Flawed from the start by a continuity screwup....
I know this is more of an Ascension topic but,
In the epilogue of 2000 Van Helsing's daughter has a voiceover bit when she says something to the affect of "I'm taking Dracula's remains to safeguard in case any spark of life remains" We even get a visual confirming this...
And then in the first half hour of Ascension they ignore (Same production team mind you) the conclusion, with medical personel recovering the body from the place where it wasn't left in the first film. Sloppy. Blowing what's been established to make something more convenient in a followup is rubbish.
Also, the crap about Dracula regenerating forms is also suspect; In 2000 we get flashbacks to his origins as Judas, guess what it's Gerard Butler...granted they couldn't have planned the sequel and the whole changing appearance (And actor) rigamarole and I have no problem with the concept in and of itself but when Roy Schneider's character tells his subordinate about the face lift thing...HOW DOES HE KNOW? If Judas, Dracula's original appearance, was based on Butler than he's never done this before right???
It would've been easy enough to have Lee's priest find this out to his surprise.
And lastly, to head off cries of "So what, it's a movie" I just want to say that as someone who dabbles in writing myself there's nothing that pisses me off like lazy writing to make something more convenient...from the same writers who started the continuity!!!!!!