I always rent a film with the desire to like it. However, this film started with two strikes against it. The first strike is that its lead is Don "The Dragon" Wilson, an inept actor by anyone's standards but a solid martial artist. I'm not a martial arts fan so I'm not big on Mr. Wilson. Second, its a vampire flick and you can count all the decent vampire films in history on one hand--and you won't employ all your fingers. So, you might be wondering, why I rented this. Well, I'm a video completist and will watch anything that Melanie Smith appears in. So there you have it.
The film focuses on Don who plays Jack Cutter, the son of vampire hunters who were killed by head vampire Nicholas Guest and his minions when Don was just a boy. He grows up determined to rid the earth of vampires. When the police chase him (he has the ignorant tendency to run around town with a shotgun at any hour, day or night) he is hit by a vehicle driven by Melanie Smith. Melanie's intro isn't a casual hello for she, in Mina Harker like fashion, is the reincarnation of a lost love from Guest's past. So Don must save the world from bloodsuckers and the girl from the head fang-face.
Don does battle with far more eyeliner than Melanie Smith wears... I guess vampire killers need to look dark-eyed. Also, filmgoers that can't stand movies that have vampires walking around in broad daylight will hate this film. They can combat the sun with shades.
STORY: $$ (Too clichéd. The reincarnation subplot wasn't needed. This film borrows too heavily from other sources to flesh out its weak script, such as the Bram Stoker borrowing. Also, when Melanie gets shot while driving her car, she clearly gets it in the left tit, which made for a tricky Kennedy-esque shot from the officer who accidentally drilled her. Yet when Don treats her, her wound is in the right shoulder. However, jumping wounds aside, the head vampire is quite progressive and should be applauded for adhering to the call for diversity. His four vampire followers are a woman, an Asian, a black guy and a white guy. Way to go!)
ACTING: $ (Although this is B-Rate fare there are many B-Rate films that boast solid acting. When your lead is the wooden Don "The Dragon" Wilson, you've ascribed, before filming, to low-grade acting. We also have the terrible erotic-thriller actress Maria Ford as the female vampire and Nicholas Guest is quite less-than-menacing as the lead vampire. Melanie Smith does a fine job with what little she has to work with and James Lew, who, perhaps, should have been the lead, gives a fine cameo performance as Don's dad).
NUDITY: None