Scene-goths' wet dream

Rating: 5/10 (19 January 2004)

A plot more fitting for a video game than a feature film doesn't help a
cast of actors -- who couldn't possibly be more out of place in a
vampire movie -- put together something worth watching. Nothing against
vampire movies, but being this many years since the genre-breaking
Interview, in order to provide some value to the theme, new projects
ought to at least feel more like an original story idea and less like
the result of any given Sunday's role-playing game. The movie is disappointing not only on an entertainment level, but even
on an empathic level. Anyone seriously considering watching this movie
will eventually find themselves not only not knowing who to root for,
but who the lead character should root for. But instead of being a
suspenseful and thrilling plot development, this process ends feeling
more like something out of the ending of a beach-blanket summer flick.
Sure, there will be almost token bits of grandeur, graphic effects,
gimmicky (and overshown) transformation sequences, and gore, in
sufficient detail deserving a movie focusing on them, but none in
consistent or sufficient amounts to lend anything to the feel of the
film -- each ends up feeling thrown in as if only there to satisfy
every available element of the genre, and then discarded or reused
tediously. Look for some stunning gothic costumes, but that's about all that shows
an ounce of filmographic originality in this movie.