Vampires in space. What a fun idea, and in a campy way, this movie makes it work. Almost. My movie barometer acts in strange ways once in awhile, the range of varying quality films of which I derive enjoyment can be staggering at times. Sometimes this B (or lower) grade films are among the most enjoyable.
This is the latest premiere of a Sci-Fi Channel's Original Picture. I don't often wade into the waters of these films, as most tend to be of such schlock value that they are not entertaining at all, but when I read the description of this one, I had to risk the bite of a bad movie. I mean, how can you read this description and not be intrigued: "Capt. Nicholas Churchill (Joe Lando) leads a team of intergalactic vampire hunters who answer distress calls from planets overrun by the creatures. (from www.TVGuide.com)." Sounds like fun to me.
So Saturday rolls around and I settle in for an evening of corny vampire fighting action. I wasn't disappointed.
The setting is about 200 years into the future. There are civilized worlds all over the galaxy, some by humans, some by vampires. It appears that vampires have taken on a variety of cultures themselves, complete with different breeds, but equally nasty dispositions. They attack colonies of humans, sometimes for food, other times for sport, sometimes to replenish their ranks.
We pick up our intrepid band of misfit heroes on a hunt, where one of their ranks, a newcomer, hesitates and is almost killed. This sets up the rest of the film, the newcomer, Damian Underwood (Dominic Zamprogna) doubts himself as leader material, but his current captain, Nicholas Churchill (Joe Lando), convinces him to give it some time.
His leadership potential is put to the test when the next hunt goes south, Churchill is lost, and his crew members turn on him. This leads to a new battle, to work with his crew, while facing down a variety of these neckbiters. And this doesn't even get into the fact that they have a vampire as a member of their team.
They are then sent on a mission which puts them face to, uh, mouth(?) of a new type of vampire. This then sends them on a chase of another ship, bearing what they thought were survivors, but was actually a budding alliance between humans and vampires.
This is a fun movie in a goofy kind of way. None of the acting is terribly good. Leanne Adachi, as Rosa, is good at delivering exclamatory lines at odd times. And our lead, Dominc Zamprogna, seems lost most of the time. The bright spots would have to be Natassia Malthe, as the lovely good vampire Quintana, she was also Typhoid in the Elektra, the other would be the always fun Michael Ironside is one of the ruthless vampire leaders.
The effects definitely not first rate, highlighted by the good, but not terribly convincing, spaceship scenes. I do give them credit for doing a decent job on the severed body parts and pulling flesh, stuff you would normally see in a zombie film.
For a Sci-Fi Original this is better than the Nature Unleashed films they have been serving up lately, which I have not been able to bring myself to check out. This was goofy to the level of actually being fun. It knows what it is and succeeds at what it sets out to do. I would actually be interested in seeing a DVD of this, I can imagine that it is considerably bloodier as some scenes appear to have been cut short.
I was also amused at how it appeared to try mirroring current events and some attitudes towards the US. This is evidenced by the see=ming desire to equate the vampiric forces with the terrorists, ans also through the whole speech at the end about how the humans are the "real" problem, through the destruction that they have wrought on various planets. It goes on to say how we should be able to coexist. Of course, the vampires go and play to their violent nature, double crossing the gullible humans.
Recommended for the fun of it.
Also at Blogcritics.
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