why was this film made?

Rating: 2/10 (1 December 2007)

I started watching this film with high expectations. First several scenes, with small village covered with snow were promising. But soon after that, when I realized that, even though I kept my eyes wide open, I wasn't able to see almost anything on the screen because scenes were so dark that film was barely watchable. Vampires in this film are not scary at all. Reduced from philosophical Gothic monsters in films of the sixties, to mindless beasts without history or charm in this film, they are less scary than a pack of wolves. You almost feel pity for those simple, pathetic, bloodsucking creatures who are freezing on minus 50 C just to get a meal, instead of enjoying immortality in their castle in Romania and waiting their servant Igor to bring them fresh blood in a golden bowl. There are almost no special effects in this film, due to the obviously low budget. That was unsuccessfully compensated with shaky camera and ultra rapid nervous editing which simultaneously prevents you from seeing any detail (which was probably intentional), and makes you feel dizzy. Scary effects are made only by intense music score, loud nerve-wracking sounds, and almost constant screaming. Why was this film made? There is nothing new or original in it. On the contrary, it is full of clichés. There is no scene in it which we hadn't seen in other films at least ten times. This is just yet another exploitation movie.