Z/Web

Definitely an above-average vampire movie with a terrifically ironic conclusion that I loved, but it was much gorier than I expected (we’re talking horror-movie blood splatter here) and the story itself is somewhat shallow. Things just happen too quickly without enough set-up or explanation of the whys and wherefores. The premise is interesting: it’s a future world where 95% of the population has become vampires and now there’s a severe shortage of human blood. The few remaining humans are hunted down to be stored in blood farms, milked for their blood. The main character’s a blood scientist working on an artificial blood that would sustain the vampires. His money-hungry boss is head of the corporation and is the bad guy in the film. For some reason the scientist is human-sympathetic and ends up joining the humans in their battle against the vampires. The story’s pacing is sometimes awkward, jumping around and leaping forward without warning, but mostly this is to give us pure action, and in that sense, the film delivers, but I found some parts that to be tedious and boring. Far more interesting to me were the detail moments, learning about this future world (i.e. cars equipped with blockout shields and cameras with internal screens to allow vampires to drive in sunlight). The most flawed character for me was the scientist’s soldier brother, who appears out of nowhere with a “deep” backstory (it’s implied that it’s deep but it turns out to be trite) and though he’s important by the end, I found his presence in the first half to be a distracting puzzle. I didn’t buy the chemistry or bond between him and the scientist — they were so different they felt like strangers and because I couldn’t care less about the brother, I found the scientist’s love of his brother not to be credible. The other characters were excellent: the CEO’s spunky and beautiful daughter, Wilem Defoe’s crusty former vampire, and of course the independent female soldier who was an obvious love interest of our hero. The film is somewhat inconsistent: at times it’s visually striking and brilliant, but occasionally there’s a shot or effect that seems mundane. That could be due to budget restrictions (this is an Australian film, not a huge Hollywood production). The filmmakers show great promise and I’d love to see more of their work. This is definitely better than most vampire films, and I enjoyed it a great deal. The story’s choppy but does enough to keep you involved, and the performances are good. Recommended if you’re into this genre.