I saw this film at an Anthology Film Archives screening in New York City. I mention this at the start since the film still doesn't have a distributor; it's been screened on television here and there, though nothing else. If you can happen to come across it at a screening, or if it some day gets a little company to get it out on video, it's surely worth a look. Worth depending on what your taste is for low-budget vampires and digs at the Religious Right and good natured jabs at the homosexual community. It mixes its satire and horror like a good smoothie, and it goes between the two with some relative ease after a bumpy start.
Not that it's *too* bumpy, only that the film starts off with its story just a little unclear; a man and wife decide to meet at a bar, which neither know is a gay bar, where at that very night people who run the bar (and who happen to be vampires) are negotiating with a religious nut, Reverend Bob (Carson Grant, looking like a dapper second-tier Keith Carradine), who wants to 'convert' the people in the bar from being gay to being, uh, straight with a "syrum". But the guy, Michael, who was supposed to meet his wife at the bar, gets sidetracked in a room below the bar, and runs into some trouble - and some secret government-op (so secret no one can know who he works for, ho-ho), who is there to take out the bad guys. It's one hell of a night in store for all involved.
There are twists and turns that happen, most notably with a couple of the villain characters. There is plenty of good gore and violence, and at a couple of points some really impressive make-up (at least impressive on such a tight budget). And the dialog more often than not is enjoyable and quirky ("left-handed" people comments at one point are riotous), and at the least doesn't waste people's time. The characters are nothing special, but the director and writers take their time in drawing them out anyway for all their genre-fun can allow. And when it finally starts getting campy- mostly due to the "Doctor" played by Tom Cahill as a vampire with Lugosi meeting Willem Dafoe- it gets better than ever. It's a little too smart and not as juvenile as to be a Troma movie, though surely not polished enough to make it as a big-studio pick-up either (some of the audio isn't altogether polished, a strange criticism to have but it's noticeable).
It's for the genre fans, the die-hard ones, who are looking for some solid vampire violence and mayhem with a little social commentary thrown in. And if you're just looking for the commentary... you'll get some blood anyway, and some goofy jokes on the "Decency Channel" that is pre-empting their 'Adult' programming (Lassie and Father Knows Best) for the broadcast of a lifetime! By the way, be HAPPY!
Not that it's *too* bumpy, only that the film starts off with its story just a little unclear; a man and wife decide to meet at a bar, which neither know is a gay bar, where at that very night people who run the bar (and who happen to be vampires) are negotiating with a religious nut, Reverend Bob (Carson Grant, looking like a dapper second-tier Keith Carradine), who wants to 'convert' the people in the bar from being gay to being, uh, straight with a "syrum". But the guy, Michael, who was supposed to meet his wife at the bar, gets sidetracked in a room below the bar, and runs into some trouble - and some secret government-op (so secret no one can know who he works for, ho-ho), who is there to take out the bad guys. It's one hell of a night in store for all involved.
There are twists and turns that happen, most notably with a couple of the villain characters. There is plenty of good gore and violence, and at a couple of points some really impressive make-up (at least impressive on such a tight budget). And the dialog more often than not is enjoyable and quirky ("left-handed" people comments at one point are riotous), and at the least doesn't waste people's time. The characters are nothing special, but the director and writers take their time in drawing them out anyway for all their genre-fun can allow. And when it finally starts getting campy- mostly due to the "Doctor" played by Tom Cahill as a vampire with Lugosi meeting Willem Dafoe- it gets better than ever. It's a little too smart and not as juvenile as to be a Troma movie, though surely not polished enough to make it as a big-studio pick-up either (some of the audio isn't altogether polished, a strange criticism to have but it's noticeable).
It's for the genre fans, the die-hard ones, who are looking for some solid vampire violence and mayhem with a little social commentary thrown in. And if you're just looking for the commentary... you'll get some blood anyway, and some goofy jokes on the "Decency Channel" that is pre-empting their 'Adult' programming (Lassie and Father Knows Best) for the broadcast of a lifetime! By the way, be HAPPY!
