Full-blooded vampire action

Rating: 6/10 (24 November 2015)

One of those films which is best to see at the cinema, due to the visual impact of the film in the many special effects and choreographed fight scenes within it. Forget watching LITTLE VOICE or some other film like that at the cinema, you don't lose anything when you see it on TV. When watching these kind of special effect epics, you simply have to be at the cinema. And I was. Myself and a friend had a choice between this, the PSYCHO remake, LITTLE VOICE or MEET JOE BLACK. And I'm glad we picked this one, as none of the others are as entertaining as this one was.
For a start it's an adult tale, so expect gritty realism (bones breaking, frequent swearing, etc.) and Snipes gave us some actual insight into his role as the vampire hunter, instead of being another po-faced action hero. Here he is, torn between his human and vampire instincts. So I was impressed with his skills here. The other nod goes to Kris Kristofferson (FIRE DOWN BELOW), who plays an old, limping mercenary with great skill. Aside from a Udo Kier cameo, the rest of the cast is full of fresh, unfamiliar but unblemished faces we are used to seeing in DAWSON'S CREEK and the rest of those boring American TV shows. Stephen Dorff is Frost, the big baddie vampire of them all. He's not much of an actor, but he remains suitably evil.
The film has many artistic scenes of blood dripping, guns dropping, all in slow motion as if they mean something. It certainly looks impressive, even if deep down it all means nothing apart from holding the audience's interest. Indeed this film is shallow, but it's so enjoyable that doesn't matter. The special effects are, predictably, the main star of the show, and they're in abundance. My record for "most deaths in a film seen in the cinema" was previously STARSHIP TROOPERS but this one overtakes it by miles. We've got impalings, decapitations, shootings, cuttings, burnings, meltings and even explodings (probably the most disgusting effect here). The audience was wincing and going "oh my God" at some of these effects so they obviously did work. Some of the effects look a bit computerised for my liking (especially the gargoyle-skeleton things which look like they were a cheap effect from an episode of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS). As the film is an action-horror flick, there are also a lot of fight scenes, and these are handled with such ferocity, skill and speed that they cannot fail to impress. Blade fights loads of vampires off at a time, getting punched and beaten but always fighting back.
The film also has a lot of interesting ideas about vampirism, and we learn about their society. Along with that is scientific analysis of the vampire virus, familiars who are the vampire's slaves and many other concepts. When the long-awaited SFX climax arrives it is slightly disappointing, but entertaining nonetheless. Blood literally burst on to our screens. There were a lot of references to other films (RETURN OF THE JEDI and THE SATANIC RITES OF Dracula to name but two) and a lot of the film was clichéd, but it was fun cliché. However the violence is numbing and excessive so it's not for the weak of heart. If you're an action fan, then it's probably worth your seeing.