Movie Review: The Hills Run Red (2009)

Hey, this movie wasn't too bad... I guess. I heard really good things about it from several reviewers - and also some really bad things, calling it mediocre and nothing to get all excited about. For me, The Hills Run Red does boast some pretty decent performances, a few uninteresting kills, and not a bad story. Two out of three ain't bad, I guess.

Tyler is obsessed with tracking down a legendary slasher film called "The Hills Run Red," which was deemed so horrible that it was pulled from theaters upon it's release 20 years ago. Since then, every print of the film, the director, and the cast have all vanished without much of a trace - until Tyler manages to track down the director's daughter, Alexa. He and his friends Serina and Lalo follow Alexa to the original filming locations and the director's house, where they get more involved with the movie than they bargained for.

The story kicks off pretty fast, especially after the opening credit sequence, which I really liked. In this scene, a kid is sitting in front of a mirror and he starts cutting off his face with a pair of scissors. Self-mutilation always gets to me so this was a good way to get this horror girl into the story. This kid grows up to be the villain of the movie (and the villain of the movie within the movie, as well), a hulking figure similar to Jason Voorhees who doesn't speak and has superhuman strength. He wears a broken doll mask that is sewn to his head and he's cleverly known as "Babyface." His look is definitely different from what we've seen before, but everything else about his character is cliche and overdone.

Sophie Monk's pouty Botox-lips and propensity for showing naked flesh will no doubt make her popular with the male crowd, but I think she gives a good performance as Alexa Concannon. She starts out as a strung-out stripper, then is like a vulnerable girl with a violent past, and by the end, she ends up being a psycho badass which is kind of hot. William Sadler plays her father, elusive director Wilson Wyler Concannon, and he's always been a favorite character actor of mine so of course he turns out as great a performance as ever. The rest of the cast is a few no-names whose under-developed characters don't give them much to work with. They're basically the same type of victims you've seen in every slasher movie ever. 

Likewise, there's nothing all that new on the gore side either. I mean, the kills are somewhat inventive and nicely graphic and bloody, but I wasn't super stoked about any of them. The best gore scene wasn't even any of the kills but the part where Serina is hiding from Babyface in the barn with all the decaying bodies. Babyface can't find her and leaves, and Serina emerges from a huge drum filled with blood. If you can't get 'em with a good kill, go for the gross-out. It always works.

Overall, The Hills Run Red was more enjoyable and less amateur than I was expecting for it being a straight to DVD release. The story changes a few times and seems like it could go several different ways as the movie goes on. The final scene with Tyler being strapped to a chair and watching 20 years worth of real murders was delightfully ambiguous. Plus the double ending after the credits start give us the possibility of a sequel, which I don't really think is needed. The movie is good enough to stand on its own and a rehash would only cheapen it more. 

Movie Review: A Horrible Way to Die (2011)

Sometimes it kills me how people are usually so divided in their opinions on movies like this. When you see something that to you is obviously so beautiful and engaging, you wonder if everyone missed something or if you were looking too much into it. Oh well. I loved A Horrible Way to Die! It reminded me a lot of the film Red White and Blue, so if you liked that movie (or if you even saw it, because I don't think many people did), you'll definitely like A Horrible Way to Die as well.

Convicted serial killer Garrick Turrell has escaped from prison and is in pursuit of his ex-girlfriend Sarah, who has moved to another town. At the same time, Sarah is reluctantly pursuing a new relationship with Kevin, a man she met in AA.

Okay, the first thing I have to comment on is the fact that this movie was shot in Columbia, Missouri which is about 40 minutes from where I am sitting right now! Columbia is writer Simon Barrett's hometown so I guess he convinced the director, Adam Wingard, whom he's worked with on several projects, that'd this be the perfect place for a story of stalking and murder. Anyway, this information is awesome because movies are so rarely filmed (or at least filmed entirely) in my home state. It's probably a fairly cheap place and easily accessible place to make movies so I don't understand why more filmmakers don't come here. I didn't recognize any of the locations in the movie so they must have gone to parts of Columbia I've never been before.

Anyway. A Horrible Way to Die has a unique visual style, and it seems to be people's main complaint when they speak against it. The whole movie is shot handheld with mostly medium and close-up shots, and a bit of the shaky cam comes into play as well. It's unconventional and risky because it turns people off, but for me the story, acting, and character development was more than enough to keep me watching and the camerawork only distracted me in one short scene. When Sarah finally tells Kevin about her psycho ex Garrick, the camera goes all over the place except on the character's faces and it was a little nauseating. I understand that it was probably shot like this to convey how frenzied the situation is for Sarah and to show the turmoil of Sarah's emotions, but it just didn't look that good, I'm sorry to say.

There's no doubt that the star of the film is AJ Bowen, who turns out an amazing performance as Garrick. His character is the most interesting of the bunch and also the most confusing, mostly because of the way Bowen plays him. He's a cold-blooded serial killer, yes, but it never seems like he wants to commit any of the murders that we actually see him do. It's like they're simply a necessity so he can get to where he is going. The anguish and torment on his face before and after the murders is quite intriguing, and is one of the reasons that kept me watching, so that I could find out what was going on with this guy. Amy Seimetz is a nice actress because she's a normal looking girl and she plays Sarah very naturally. The only problem is that sometimes she is a little too natural in her line delivery, stammering and repeating herself - you just want her to finally spit out her lines. Joe Swanberg is at first not that impressive as the nice guy Kevin - it's not until the end that you realize how great and calculating his performance was.

A Horrible Way to Die (gosh, I freaking love that title) has one of those ever-popular twists at the end that makes you rethink everything you've seen thus far. And I thought the twist was pretty close to brilliant. I certainly never expected it - I wasn't expecting a twist at all, really - and I sure as heck never would have guessed it, despite some cleverly hidden clues about how Garrick had a lot of "fans" in prison. With the flashback sequences of Sarah and Garrick's relationship, the twist does make sense and it's actually kind of sweet in a messed up way. If you were watching this movie thinking it was all dull and slow and boring and blah blah blah, I hope that this change of events kicked you in the pants and made you realize that you were watching something really special here.

The title of the film seems to offer much to make the horror lover happy but don't go into this thinking you're going to see something bloody and nasty. People do die, but they don't really die all that horribly... well, except for that one friend of Sarah's. I don't even know what the hell happened to her. Anyway, this is a character study and a damn fine one if you ask me. You could see this as a story about relationships, both romantic ones and the simple relationship of human to human. There are people who can't relate to other humans and hurt them, and there are people who are unable to see others for what they really are. This could also be a story about addictions with Sarah's alcoholism and Garrick's supposed addiction to murder. Either way you see the movie, it works, and I think the whole thing is beautifully done in every way.

I expect to see plenty more great films from this duo of Barrett and Wingard if A Horrible Way to Die has taught me anything. It was a nice change of pace from the bloody action of other movies I've been watching recently. With this one, it was easy to just sit back and be thoroughly engrossed by what was in front of me. If anything, I would recommend this movie just to let others know of the seriously talented AJ Bowen, who really rocks this whole movie from start to finish.

Movie Review: The Human Centipede 2 [Full Sequence] (2011)

So like I said on my previous post that included this movie, I tried to tell myself beforehand that I just had to see it, as I am a card-carrying horror movie fan and this horror movie (and its predecessor) had been relatively big news upon its release. But who am I kidding? I couldn't wait to see The Human Centipede 2! When the first movie was pretty lame and didn't give us near the graphic-ness that was promised, how could I pass up a movie that was claiming to be so much more gross and disgusting?

I really am an idiot sometimes.

Martin is a rotund little person who has an obsession with the movie The Human Centipede. Probably quite mentally ill from suffering sexual abuse as a child and constant haranguing by his mother as an adult, Martin's fantasy is to create his own 12-person human centipede. He sets out retrieving victims from the parking garage he works at, and his fantasy soon becomes a frightening reality.

I can't say with full conviction that I actually liked this movie, because I don't want to have liked this movie. Everything about THC2 makes you feel dirty, uncomfortable, and guilty about even watching the damn thing. But at the same time, I've always said that I like, or at least admire, those films and filmmakers that have the balls to go as far as they can with whatever subject matter they choose. Tom Six may have chosen a topic that no one wants to hear about or see on film ever in their lives, but I still give him props for having the courage to make these movies. No matter what he makes after the hype from the movies has blown over (and maybe it sort of already has), he will forever be known as the guy who created The Human Centipede. Time will tell whether that will be a good or bad thing for his career.

I never have a problem with a movie shot in black and white because I think it looks absolutely beautiful, and this movie is no exception. It looks even better with the digital technology of film nowadays. The edges and shadows are crisper, more defined and the shades of gray are varying and interesting. The choice of using black and white for THC2 is fairly understandable - it might just have been unbearable to watch, even for me, with all the pretty colors that come out of the human body splashed across the screen. And yet, there is still the famous climax scene of the movie where a certain brown substance is literally splattered on the camera lens. It's the only color in the movie, obviously done by Tom Six to either further traumatize the audience in this scene, or just to fulfill his promise of showing absolutely everything in this sequel that he restrained from showing in the first movie. Uh, thanks Tom. Really wasn't necessary, though.

The most disgusting thing about THC2 to me was Martin himself. They found the perfect actor for this role - a short, overweight man with ears that stick out and balding hair that seems to be permanently plastered to his head with sweat. However, I found myself sympathizing with Martin a lot during the first part of the film, much the same as I would sympathize with anyone who obviously never had a chance at a normal life. He was sexually abused by his father as a young child and still lives with his mother whom he gets no love from because she's a whackjob and says she misses her husband and that it is Martin's fault he's in jail. He's extremely introverted and never speaks a word through the whole film. Martin is also an interesting character in that at the same time you may feel sympathy for him and his shitty life, you are also disgusted by him physically and as a person.

I don't really feel the need to focus on the graphic ways that Martin goes about making his own human centipede or the two instances of serious sexual dysfunction that he displays, because I'd merely be repeating what everyone else has already said. There are a couple of things about this movie that I found interesting that almost no one has mentioned. First of all, bodies that have been mutilated beyond recognition really, really gross me out, so the scene where Martin bashes his mother's head in with a crowbar and then sits her body up at the kitchen table was truly traumatizing for me. The sight of her mushy skull seriously made me want to throw up more than the pooping scene. Go figure. Excellent work on the makeup effects there, because I had to look away from the screen.

Another thing that really bothered me was a silly plot point that was insanely overlooked by the filmmakers. Martin gets his candidates for the centipede by kidnapping them from the underground garage where he works as a security guard. He hits them on the head with a crowbar (some people get hit several times, amazingly without any serious effects), ties their wrists and ankles with duct tape, and then just throws them in his empty warehouse while he goes to get more victims. At one point, there are several people left in the warehouse alone together, and yet they don't seem to make any attempt to escape! You're telling me that nine adults can't manage to free at least one person from freaking DUCT TAPE? And what makes this even more ridiculous is that the pregnant woman's hands aren't even tied. Shenanigans.

I also thought it was interesting that I heard nothing about the horrific scene where the above-mentioned idiotic pregnant woman finally does escape the warehouse. She runs out with an obscene amount of blood gushing from between her legs, gets into a car, can't start it (because this is a horror movie), gives birth to her baby in the front seat, then gets the car to start, and slams on the gas pedal - squishing her newborn's head underneath it. OH MY GOSH. That is horrible. I can't believe there hasn't been more backlash about that little tidbit, because it sure bothered the hell out of me.

So in conclusion, all I can say is that Tom Six made good on his promise to go even further than was thought possible with The Human Centipede 2. He gave us a disgusting villain who in turn gives us an hour and a half of some of the most repulsive acts ever put on screen, which amazingly seem almost comical at times because they are so over-the-top. THC2 will certainly not be forgotten by those who see it, that's for dang sure!

Weekly Movie Roundup: 3-4-12 to 3-10-12

Disfigured (2008)
This movie was actually very interesting and I'm glad I watched it. It's about an anorexic woman and an overweight woman who form a bond over their struggles with weight. The actress who played the anorexic really could have been anorexic in real life, her body was quite scary. And I have to give props to both the filmmakers and the actress playing the overweight girl Lydia for showing a fat chick buck nekkid in a sex scene! It was fantastic, and she seemed fairly comfortable with showing not only her breasts, but all those usually unflattering parts on a woman's body. The style of the movie is very indie-looking and much more dramatic than what you would expect. It's still very brilliantly done and as "a movie about women and weight," it brings up a few issues that aren't usually discussed on the topic - both from the side of overweight women and anorexic women.

What Lies Beneath (2000)
Okay, say what you will about What Lies Beneath, but I have always enjoyed this movie. Of course, it's about a ghost so right away I'm a little biased, but I think it is quite an entertaining little thriller with some actors in the lead roles. Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford are believable and real as a married couple and I'm glad that they agreed to do a movie like this. This is another one of those adult horror movies that are in such short supply nowadays, where there is no blood and the body count doesn't even exist, but the movie still manages to be somewhat spooky and mysterious. The ghost-scares are subtle but still creepy (love the part where Pfeiffer leaves the bathroom and then comes back in less than a minute later to find the bathtub full of water). While the climax isn't exactly the best, everything else leading up to it is genuinely well done and fulfilling, and What Lies Beneath remains one of my personal little favorite movies that I still love to watch every now and then.

The Human Centipede 2 [Full Sequence] (2011)
Ohhhh, boy, this was... interesting. I tried to tell myself that it was my, uh, duty as a horror fan to see The Human Centipede 2, but we all that's not the truth. Yeah, I wanted to see this, I admit it and I knew I was probably going to regret the experience. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to do a formal review on it,  even though I have a slightly different take on it than most other reviews that I've read online. I agree that the sequel was a couple hundred times more graphic and disgusting than the first one. I agree that Martin was perhaps not as interesting as Dr. Heiter, but he's definitely more fucked up and disturbed. I also agree that poor Ashlynn Yennie might not have the big Hollywood career that she was hoping for, but I applaud her conviction for being in both of these movies. Eh, what the hell. I'll do a review. Even though coprophagia is not generally one of my favorite topics for discussion.

Random Stephen King-ness: Needful Things (Viking, 1991)

Needful Things has always held a special place in my heart because it was the first Stephen King book I ever read. Well, it was the first one I ever read all the way through - I was about 11 years old when I tried to read Pet Sematary but soon gave up on it because of immature frustration. Since then, Needful Things has remained one of my favorites of King's novels. According to the top ten list I made for David over at Talk Stephen King, it is number 4, and I think that is the perfect place for this under-appreciated novel.

Needful Things is the last major story in King's string of tales taking place in the sinister fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, where there have been many horrific occurrences that continually add to the town's evilness. The latest foe is a demon disguised as a man named Leland Gaunt who opens a new store in Castle Rock called Needful Things. Gaunt seems to have just what each resident wants the most, and he'll give it to you for a fair price. Somehow knowing all the townspeople's deepest secrets, Gaunt pits one person against another by having them play pranks on random people, until the seemingly innocent fun turns nothing short of deadly.

The first thing I love about this book is the prologue. The first page only has a single sentence on it - "You've been here before" - and then reads as if an old-timer resident is telling a new-comer a bit about the town and its people, and the new store that's opening up on Main Street. The reader is introduced to the backgrounds of some residents and their rivalries and lets them know that things are about to get bad in this town, that "a storm is on the way" - which proves to be true both figuratively and literally. The epilogue reads the same way and begins with the same phrase. Gaunt has been defeated and run out of Castle Rock, but according to this, he's starting up new business in Junction City, Iowa (and mentions Sam Peebles - the main character from the horrifying novella "The Library Policeman").

"You've been here before." It took me a bit of thinking to figure out the meaning behind that, and what I get from it is simply that people are the same everywhere. Gaunt has been peddling his wares and stealing people's souls since the dawn of time basically, but the people of Castle Rock are nothing special to him because he's probably seen it all before. Their trivial fights with one another may seem unique and specific to certain people but at the core it's the same old story - jealousy, greed, revenge, prejudice.

The second thing I love about this book is the characters. Needful Things is one of those King novels that has a ton of characters to keep straight and get to know. By this time, though, I think King had become a master at organizing his novels in a way where each character could have his or her story told and not make it confusing to the reader. It's easy to pick who the really important characters are in this story - Alan Pangborn, Polly Chalmers, Danforth Keeton, and Leland Gaunt are the ones that I would identify as the most central to the story. Pangborn is one of two Castle Rock natives who make a reappearance from two previous King stories. Sheriff Pangborn is the successor of George Bannerman, who first appeared in The Dead Zone, utilizing John Smith's psychic visions to capture the Castle Rock Strangler, and then came back again in Cujo only to be killed by the rabid dog at the end. Pangborn's involvement in the unusual case of Thad Beaumont in The Dark Half may have messed with his head a lot, but it no doubt made him stronger and more able to deal with the evil Leland Gaunt. In fact, Thad's sparrows and Cujo the rabid dog are tools that Alan uses against Gaunt in their final (if rather anticlimactic) battle - in the form of his famous shadow puppets. This was one detail that I really enjoyed about Needful Things, and thought it brought a real finality to the Castle Rock saga - along with the fact that most of the town was blown up at the end. The other Castle Rock townie to return is the resident bad boy Ace Merrill, now older but definitely not wiser. Though he plays a big role in carrying out Gaunt's master plan for Castle Rock, his character is no different than what you remember from "The Body" and he never changes and then he dies, so that's it for Ace.

I think what I love most about Needful Things though is the originality of the story and the appeal of Gaunt's sadistically fun plan for people to plan pranks on others. I can just imagine Stephen King standing in front of a corkboard with push pins and strings - constructing the web of who's fighting with who and who plays the pranks that set them off. The supernatural element of the novel is somewhat downplayed, so that the story can focus more on the characters and the effect that Gaunt's tricks are having on them. Yes, Gaunt is a demon who steals souls, and seems to know just about everything about everybody in town, and has eyes that frequently change color, and is able to repulse anybody with just a touch, but that is the real extent of the supernatural that we get. It's the characters that are really at the forefront here, and what is brought out in them when their biggest fears are shoved in their faces, and I love the way that King chose to present that with this story. It's a highly original idea and it completely works with what King was trying to say. His writing style in this book is also what most people refer to as "vintage King" - like he's slightly sophisticated but still naughty and nasty at the same time.

So what did we learn from Needful Things? Obviously, the main one is "Caveat Emptor!" You may think you are getting exactly what you want, but what are you sacrificing to get it? And what are you willing to do to keep it? Pride is a good thing to have sometimes, but remember that it is also one of the seven deadly sins. Grief is a necessity, but it's okay to move on. Questioning a loved one's death can only do more harm than good to your sanity. And finally, and maybe most importantly - drugs are bad. But you all knew that.

YOU'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE.

Project Terrible: Don't Go Near the Park (1981)

Oh, Maynard, you shouldn't have.

You really, really, really, really shouldn't have. This thing was atrocious. This is not so bad it's good, this is just plain bad. And yet at the same time, it's way too easy to hate on Don't Go Near the Park. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Is it a bad movie? You betcha. Did I like it? Not at all - but I guess I can appreciate it's inherent charms as a bad movie. It's still a really bad movie, though, make no mistake.

So our movie starts 12,000 years ago with an ugly old lady in a cave cursing her children Tra and Gar. They were eating kids in their tribe to stay young, so their punishment is that they will never die, which makes no sense. They have to keep eating people to keep their youth until 12,000 years go by when they have to kill a virgin descendant of their tribe to finally achieve eternal youth.

Ugh, I don't even know how to write about this movie. It jumps so many time periods, brings in so many new characters, and changes plots so many times that it is extremely hard to follow from one scene to the next. First the story is about Tra and Gar, then it's about Gar (now named Mark) meeting Linnea Quigley and marrying her and knocking her up. Then on their daughter Bondie's - which is actually not a horrible name - sixteenth birthday, Bondie runs away after constant bickering between her parents because the father dotes on her more than the mother. After avoiding rape by some creeps in a van, Bondie runs into the woods and meets up with two other runaways, Nick and Cowboy, at an abandoned building in what is supposed to be a park but doesn't look anything like one. The kindly ugly old lady that takes care of these runaways is none other than Tra, now named Patty. Do you follow this at all? Me neither!

Let's put the problems with plot aside for now, because that could take days to work through. How about the acting? Believe it or not... it sucks! Part of it is a byproduct of stupid dialogue and an incoherent plot, and part of it is just plain bad acting. Both Quigley and the girl who plays Bondie have ridiculous scenes where they over-scream (it's like over-acting but with really stupid screaming) and make themselves look like idiots often enough. I kind of feel sorry for them. Mark, played by a guy named Crackers Phinn (BAHAHA!), is no better. His acting consists of looking all intense by keeping his eyes open wide while he delivers all his lines. He never smiles or even really moves any of his facial muscles throughout the whole movie. You know who I really liked? The old lady mother from the beginning. She was a hoot, and she had this strange voice that is now permanently stuck in my head.

This is a movie about people eating other people, so there's got to be some cool gore, right? Nope, not so much. When the bro and sis team kill their victims, they rip open their stomachs with their bare hands and eat the insides a little bit. But there is hardly any blood or guts, just some cheap bright red paint and bad-looking fake skin. There's a scene at the end where all the duo's victims come back to life and rip the two of them apart, but you don't get to see a damn thing. Oh, the final scene also has Tra and Gar shooting lasers from their eyes. Just thought I'd mention that...

As easy as it is to rag on just about everything about this movie, I can't get over the mishmash of a plot! This movie goes so ALL OVER the place that by the time the end finally comes, you wonder how in the hell it got there. I first started this review by trying to write out almost everything that happens to show how messed up the plot is, but that turned out to be way, way, way too long. The writer here obviously no idea what he was doing, and it's amazing that everyone else went along with this atrocious mess.

A movie quite befitting of the Project Terrible name, Don't Go Near the Park is totally screwed up from start to finish. It's occasionally funny in how bad it is and I can see how some people might get a kick out of it. Okay, I'll admit it, there were times when I enjoyed the movie's hokiness, but I don't think it's one I'll want to watch over and over again.

Movie Review: Daybreakers (2009)

Much like 30 Days of Night, Daybreakers was another vampire movie that I avoided seeing for a long time because I thought I would hate it. It looked too stylized and perfect for my taste and preference for what a vampire movie should be. I also didn't know anything about the plot, and if I had, I probably would have given it a chance sooner. It may not be for everyone, but I somewhat enjoyed this flick.

In 2019, years after a plague has turned most of the world into vampires, the human population is rapidly dwindling. Edward Dalton, a vampire and scientist at the world's largest "human farm," has been working with a team to develop a blood substitute to make up for the lack of human blood supply. But when a ragtag group of humans offers him the chance to introduce a different way to fix the problem, he dares to go against his own kind and the most powerful vampire in the country to end the populace's suffering.

I really like this story. Remember in Blade when Deacon Frost says "We should be ruling the humans! These people are our food!"? I've always had that same thought. So finally with Daybreakers we have a movie that explores the possibility of vampires being the dominant species on the planet - and the downsides that come along with it. However, these vampires are not necessarily evil. In fact, they're almost just like they were when they were human. They do have the insatiable bloodlust (which they can now buy at restaurants and coffee kiosks) and the enjoyment of immortality, but they've also had to put a lot of work into certain technological modifications to their cars, homes, and buildings in order to function during the day.

The story doesn't veer too far off from the traditional lore of the vampire, which pleases me. They burst into flames when exposed to sunlight or when staked through the heart, and have the cute little fangs and glowy eyes. The only point where the movie goes off in its own direction is in the exploration for a cure for vampirism, which I don't completely get. Sunlight apparently can both kill and cure vampires in Daybreakers - a limited amount of UV actually somehow manages to jumpstart their heart and turn them human again. Um, if you say so, I guess. One thing they included that I thought was hilarious was how much all the vampires smoked. Because, really, why shouldn't they? That was a nice little detail.

Ethan Hawke isn't really in a lot of movies anymore so I couldn't remember if I like him or not before I watched this movie. I guess he did a nice job but I wasn't totally blown away by his performance. Sam Neill is dead sexy as a greedy vampire king. He's smarmy and unlikable, but he wasn't evil enough in the role. He didn't seem like that big of a villain or threat for Ed and the humans. Willem Dafoe was still slightly off-kilter as he always is but he was at his most enjoyable here for me.

There is some fairly hardcore gore in Daybreakers with people being bitten and ripped in half, which was a lot more than I expected. The transformation of the blood-deprived vamps turning into bat-like creatures was nice and the makeup was really great on them. However, there is a bit of the evil CGI and CGI blood that we all dread, especially in the scene where the bat breaks into Ed's house but that was the only time I really noticed it. Overall the film is very stylish and sleek, with a lot of clean lines and muted coloring. They make very good use of shadows in specific scenes that make it look really cool.

Looking at it, I probably shouldn't like the movie as much as I do because it is very reminiscent of the Underworld films, which I'm not a fan of. Daybreakers worked for me, though. I'm not jumping through hoops at its amazingness, but it was genuinely entertaining for the time it took to watch it.