BY MIKEY MIGO
I was a big fan of the 2007 original. I know a lot of people didn’t full take to it, but I did. I loved the story, the writing, the drama, the direction, and the gore of it all. My biggest complaint was the vampires were more zombie-alien style than the haunting and methodic variety. Never the less, it was a good movie and my complaint is only to be taken as a annoying “why not this” type of thing. When this direct to DVD sequel popped up I took notice. I was curious because of it being a sequel to a movie I liked and Rhys Corio was a star. I’m a big fan of his work as “Billy Walsh” on “Entourage” and outside of that show and a one off appearance on “Six Feet Under”, I’ve not seen him elsewhere. The first thing you notice is that Josh Hartnett and Melissa George are nowhere to be seen. Hartnett is understandable because he turned to ash and flew away in the first. I guess she was supposed return, but couldn’t because of scheduling. Who knows if that’s true with it being an obviously way lower budget production. Visually you can’t tell, but the star quality is pretty thin. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it lacked the heart of the first one. This one is a much more nihilistic take on a vampire story. Kiele Sanchez steps in to the Stella role. We find out they rebuilt the city and the government covered up the mass slaying from the first movie. So she tours and tries to convince the world that vampires are real. She ends up meeting a group of misfits who are self-made vampire hunters. One is Harold Perrineau of “Oz” fame, Rhys Corio, and Diora Baird, actress on the rise. They convince Stella to join them in taking down “Lillith”… the head vampire. Drama ensues and people die. The story is as bland as it sounds. It was predictable and hard to fully get into. I found myself spacing off a few points in the movie when things were just boring and/or lame. I know it’s based off a miniseries of comic books, but I’m sure it could has been written in a more grasping way. The end was pretty cool and “fuc’d up”, but as a story the movie failed. The acting was okay. The material was on the cheesy side, but the actors kept it together and the tone was solid. The death scenes were great and bloody in all the right ways. The movie is only 92 minutes, but it still felt about fifteen minutes too long. If you enjoyed the first one, like real vampire movies, or just have an hour and half to kill on a mindless horror movie then this is for you. Non-fans stay away. C+
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