If you remember, a while back I reviewed this little gem of a filmand now the time has come for you to enjoy it for yourself! Vamp U is officially available on VOD and digital download and scheduled for a DVD release on March 12! AND, If you are attending the SXSW Film Festival, you can join them for a special one-night only screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane March 14 at 10:00 p.m. Click on TUGG for more info. Check out the trailer below to see what you'll miss if you skip this one!!
Synopsis Wayne Gretzky (Adam Johnson) is a vampire with fangs that won’t grow. His “impotence” began when he inadvertently killed Mary, the love of his life, 300 years ago. To take his mind off the pain, he teaches college history – who better than a guy who’s been around for centuries? Attempting to regain his full vampire powers, he enlists help from his friend and colleague, Dr. Levine (Gary Cole). But nothing works…that is until a new semester brings freshman Chris Keller (Julie Gonzalo) – a dead ringer for his beloved Mary. They begin to have an affair, which quickly goes south when he accidentally turns Chris into a vampire. Now, as she leaves a bloody trail of destruction across campus – converting a sorority house full of co-eds including the irresistible Samantha (Alexis Knapp) to her vampire legion – Wayne is faced with the task of stopping her before they kill the entire student body!
Cast Adam Johnson (Orc Wars, Frozen and upcoming Dragon Warriors) Gary Cole (Pineapple Express, Talladega Nights, Entourage, Office Space and Dodgeball) Julie Gonzalo (Dodgeball, A Cinderella Story, Must Love Dogs, Eli Stone and currently starring on Dallas) Alexis Knapp (Pitch Perfect, Project X, Percy Jackson & the Olympians and Couples Retreat)
So it seems 20th Century Fox has dropped the trailer for Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and from the looks of it, it's kinda like Buffy the Vampire Slayer only with Abe Lincoln and top hats. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to this one or not. But at least it's not the same 'ol shit so that's a plus.
Being a horror film reviewer is pretty interesting. Some people do it as a job and some people do it as a hobby. In other words, some people get paid and I don't. Bummer? Yes. But who cares. I get to watch really cool films (sometimes) by really cool people (some of them) and I enjoy it (always). Some might say I'm overly critical but I like to think I'm just brutally honest. And why not? Why would you want someone to sugar coat it and tell you your film is good when it's clearly not? If you're opening yourself up for critique you should put on your big girl/boy pants and just take it. Good or bad.
Having spent the last three days watching crappy B grade horror films, to catch up on his website movie reviews, Charles (Simon Wallace) attempts to attend his first day of Summer School. All he wants to do is get his Physics class out of the way before starting senior year. Attending Summer School as well, by court order no less, are two of Charles' friends Dennis (Lance Hendrickson)... no, not THAT one... and Steve (Tony D. Czech). Also his crush Lindsey (Amy Cocchiarella) appears to finally be noticing him. If his teacher, Mrs. Wickham (Jennifer Prettyman), doesn't drive him insane what lurks in the school just might.
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of talent in this film. Especially considering when you're working with a super low budget, one bad apple really can spoil the bunch. Wallace did a pretty stellar job. He was convincing and believable as a teenage horror reviewer who has seen one too many and ends up losing his grip on reality... or does he? Even the supporting cast was really good. Hendrickson and Czech banged it out as the goof ball buddies and while we're on the subject... Hendrickson's smile reminded me so much of Corey Haim in the 80's. Don't ask me why because I really couldn't tell ya. BUT, if it had been genetically possible for Corey Haim and Corey Feldman to have a love child, it would look like Hendrickson... ok, maybe that's not the best way to describe him but that really is a good thing. I thought he was a cutie! Cocchiarella went in and out of the different characters she was playing like a pro. I don't think you can really ask anything else from such a green cast.
Each 15 minute segment pays homage to a different genre of horror. You have cults, monsters, slashers, nazis, hillbillies and vampires and they hit it dead on every time. From the lighting to the mood, to the colors they used and the characters they developed, it's what horror really should be. Not only did they manage stay true to the look and feel of the different sub genres explored, but they successfully tied each segment together in a believable way all while keeping the viewer (ME) entertained. The effects were really well done. It's not one of those films where they just threw in a gut slice to get a shot of entrails falling out. They use it where it's needed and there's just enough to satisfy even a Gore Whore like myself.
In my opinion, what was done with this film was pretty phenomenal. There were six different segments of the film written and directed by a total of five different people... Ben Trandem, Hendrickson, Steven Rhoden, Troy McCall and Mike P. Nelson. You would think with so many minds working at once, things would get lost in translation and become just a mess of cluttered ideas but it never does. The writing and directing of each segment fall together so well that you'd never know they were done by different people. This kind of idea would never work in Shittywood, I mean Hollywood. I don't think it would ever be possible to get that many egos in one film and actually make it work. Not to mention the fact that the budget for this entire film was a meager $8,000.00. This is a film made BY horror fans, FOR horror fans and if you get the opportunity to watch it, do it.
Occasionally I get the opportunity to lock myself in the bedroom for the entire day to catch up on screeners or randomly purchased DVDs. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. Yes, yes I know. I've berated myself a million times for buying DVDs before actually seeing them but, like everyone else, I never listen to myself.
Amber (Courtney Hope) dreams of escaping her small town existence and persuades her friends to accompany her to find an apartment in the big city. When their transportation breaks down, she and her friends gratefully accept a ride in the back of a semi. But when the driver refuses to stop and they discover the cargo is hundreds of cartons of blood, they panic. Their panic turns to terror when the truck disgorges them into a dark, abandoned warehouse where blood-thirsty creatures learn to hunt human prey, which, the friends realize, is what they now are...
For the most part, the acting here was decent. Hope gives a performace that's pretty consistent with her level of experience. I was extremely excited to see Bruce Payne but even his performace seemed stiff. Maybe it was that ridiculous southern accent he was trying to pull off. He normally does the creepy bad guy thing really well but it just didn't work for me AT ALL. Saxon Trainor pops in and out a few times and does a great job commanding the screen while flawlessly rattling off the little bit of drab dialogue she was given. I'd comment on the other performances but the only other cast member that has more than 10 minutes of screen time is Ruta Gedmintas and I guess she did okay.
I'd like to say premise wise director Patrik Syversen and writer Tim Tori had some good ideas but I'm not convinced they did. It just seemed like a jumbled, unfinished, unpolished mess. Once the action finally kicks in the entire cast, save for two of them, is obliterated within 5-10 minutes and not even on screen. After that it's mostly shots of vampires scaling walls and victims hiding/running for their lives but if I wanted to see that, I'd watch an action film. I wasn't a fan of the camera work. The film is riddled with scenes of the main character running... where and for what reason I'm not entirely sure but the jolting camera at times made me want to vomit. The cast was so one dimensional and unrelatable that you really didn't care who survived. In fact, I wanted them all dead. It was your stereotypical horror film cast... the good girl who is the moral compass of the film, the everybody likes me even though I'm a slut, the lovesick, out of luck geek dude and the stoners. Why do the majority of filmmakers think that "going cliche" makes a film better. It doesn't. It makes it predictable. You know from the beginning who will live and who will die and you can pretty much bank on the fact that they'll throw in some ridiculous twist ending. Let's make it predictable.... but not. I'm over it.
When did making bad horror films become okay? This is why no one (meaning Hollywood) really takes horror films seriously. It's the only genre that you can literally sleep your way through filming, piece it together like an aging Hollywood starlet and still get distribution. In this day and age, half ass just doesn't cut it. When you have great films out there like Leslie Vernon and Pontypool that push the boundaries of their subgenres to compete with, it's time to step up the game. Wake up and smell the decomp... they're laughing at us.
I wouldn't recommend this film unless you just wanna see it for the gore, which is pretty minimal for a vampire flick. The effects are the only good thing I can say about this one even if they did look similar to those of 30 Days of Night. Watch it before you purchase it... hell, if after you've seen it you decide you wanna buy it, let me know and I'll send you mine. I don't even like it enough to give it a spot on my shelf.
