Essential vampire flick

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2015)

31 Days Of Horror: Day 24
Lean, mean and full of attitude just like it's main character, Stephen Norrington's Blade is one of the liveliest, most enjoyable flicks of the 90's, and injected energetic vitality into the vampire genre, which can get stuck in moody doldrums sometimes. Wesley Snipes plays Blade, a cranky half human, half vampire hybrid with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. He spends his time brooding through decaying nocturnal hell pits looking for vampires to slaughter. He's joined by even crankier Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) a human companion and Q to Blade's Bond. When a rogue faction of the slick vampire nation rebels with a nasty plan to resurrect a 'blood god', Blade races against time to find their leader, a hotheaded punk named Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff in a career highlight). Frost is a nasty genocidal fiend and makes quite the adversary for Blade, setting up one hell of a final smackdown in the third act. Donal Logue plays scruffy first lieutenant to Frost, N'Bushe Wright is a female scientist on Blade's side, and Udo Kier slink nicely through his scenes as vamp overlord Dragonetti. The action scenes have a throat ripping viciousness, the vamps are uniquely grungy and sleazeball, and it all coagulates into a nice piece of pure 90's comic book escapism. The night club opener is one of the best scenes in the horror genre, and is now iconic.