Night Hunter starts in '1968' as a young Jack Cutter (Chris Aguilar) is unexpectedly handed the family tradition of becoming a Vampire hunter when a fellow Vampire hunter Sid O'Mack (Sid Haim) betrays his family & hands them over to the Vampire's, to aid Jack on his quest he is given a book that contains the name of every Vampire alive, or dead whichever way you look at it... Jump to 'June 1995' & Los Angeles where the now adult Cutter (Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, also credited as co-producer) has but four names left in the book including, Argento (Vince Murdocco) & Carmella (Sophia Crawford) together they are the last of the American Vampires. As they all dine in a restaurant Cutter crashes the party & kills them, job done right? Wrong as King of the Vampires Bruno Fischer (Nicholas Guest) calls in the last four remaining Vampires from around the world, the French Tournier (Maria Ford), the Asian Hashimoto (Ron Yuan), Ulmer (David 'Shark Fralick) & Sangster (Vincent Klyn) to track Cutter down & kill him. Meanwhile Detective's Hooper (Marcus Aurelius) & Browning (Cash Casey) don't have a clue & a nosey reporter named Raimy Baker (Melanie Smith) becomes involved in the battle between Cutter & the Vampire's on which the very fate of Earth rests!

Directed by Rick Jacobson I thought Night Hunter was quite a fun way to pass 85 odd minutes. The script by William C. Martell mixes martial arts & horror with a fair degree of success, it moves along at a nice pace & is at least never boring & thankfully doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. The character names that reference other horror film director's/actors are a little tacky though. Some may be surprised at how closely Night Hunter resembles Blade (1998) yet was made a couple of years prior, the lone moody long coat wearing Vampire hunter who happens to be an expert in martial arts, the scene set in a nightclub & the innocent woman drawn into the world of Vampire's. Night Hunter doesn't really stick to traditional Vampire film law, for instance sunlight only irritates their eye's, they can only breed on a solar eclipse (why?), stakes through the heart & garlic is no good as the way to kill a Vampire in Night Hunter is to break it's neck. I could have done with a bit more horror & a bit more blood as it leans more towards the martial arts side of things. The dialogue is suitably cheesy & the character's are just about likable enough in a silly way.

Director Jacobson does his best to ruin the film, the actions scenes are OK but lack a certain something & for some bizarre reason whenever an action sequence takes place he shakes his camera constantly, it's like the camera is placed upon a washing machine full cycle! Hey Rick, mate, it's not clever or stylish it's irritating & annoying. The gore is disappointing with a few gory gunshot wounds & a few splashes of blood, breaking Vampire's necks don't involve much blood unfortunately.

With a budget that probably didn't amount to much Night Hunter is competently made throughout. The acting was bad most of the time & what's with 'The Dragon' thing in Don 'The Dragon' Wilson's name? Has he legally changed his name? Does he sign cheques Don 'The Dragon' Wilson?! Does he get mail addressed to him in that name? I think I might do something like this, from now on I want to be known as Paul 'The Killer Klown' Andrews...

Night Hunter is one of those crap films that transcends it's limitations & awfulness to become pure golden entertainment. If you like your films fun then Night Hunter might be for you, if your looking for big-budget thrills in a similar vein (! Vampire's, veins & blood get it?) then Blade & it's sequels would probably be a better choice. What the hell, I liked it so sue me.

Sentiment: positive