Nowhere near as good as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2012)

I find it rather amusing that almost twenty years since this film was made I am now comparing it with vampire films that I have recently seen, despite the fact that back when it was released it pretty much set the benchmark for vampire movies. Mind you vampire movies have always been popular, right back to the German silent classic Nosferatu (which is based on Dracula). Dracula itself pretty much defined the modern vampire genre, however many of the subsequent films that were based on that book all generated into slasher flicks when in the end the vampire is staked in his coffin.
I guess Anne Rice set a new standard for vampires, and in my mind this moved on to the Vampire: The Masquarade roleplaying game which took the standard even further, to the point that I found it difficult to watch any vampire movies or read any vampire books because they simply did not meet or exceed that particular game. I still believe that Vampire: The Masquarade is a very well developed product, however it now being almost ten years since I last played it I has sort of lost interest in it.
Look, I did enjoy this film, but I do not think it is anywhere near as good as some people seem to think it is, and I feel that the end of the film actually drags it down. Okay, it is the first in a series of books, however, like with books, one probably should not actually make a movie with a cliff hanger (unless of course it is Lord of the Rings). Pretty much, even a film, or a book, as a part of a series, should in itself be self contained.
There are many other much better vampire films out there, and though I find the Ricean vampires interesting, in the end it simply bores me. Despite the fact that this film stars Brad Pitt, I found that it did not have a clear movement, and was sort of a little baffled about the whole scene where Louis is imprisoned in a crypt, and then goes on a rampage killing all of the vampires in Paris, despite the fact that they were only following orders. This is probably one of those movies that is worth seeing once, but I would probably leave it at that.