Tag: Vampires

100 Word Review – Manborg (2011)

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Possibly the greatest and most ridiculous film ever made, Manborg is a must-see for any fans of 1980s action Sci Fi.

Set in the future, Nazi vampires rise from Hell and take over the earth. One man is bought back from the dead by a mad scientist, who gives him some robotic modifications. He is no longer a man. He is Manborg.

Created by Canadian cult movie masters Astron-6 (Father’s Day, The Editor) and in the same vein as Kung Fury. Made on $1000 budget, it seeps with the passion of it’s creators. This film is barmy from beginning to end.

100 Word Review – Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

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Despite the fact that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt both play vampires in this film, it is actually really good.

Daniel (Christian Slater) interviews Louis (Pitt), who tells him a tale of loneliness, betrayal and blood. His story starts in the 1700s, when he first became a vampire.

Adapted by Anne Rice (Queen of the Damned, Exit to Eden) from her own novel and directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Byzantium), it’s a brilliant example of modern vampires who are true outsiders looking in, in the vain of Bram Stoker, rather than glittery misunderstood heart-throbs who monopolise our screens.

100 Word Review – The Lost Boys (1987)

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Long before they glittered, they hung around seaside amusements and tormented teenagers. 

Michael (Jason Patrick) moves with his mother (Dianne Wiest) and brother (Corey Haim) to a small coastal town in California which is plagued by biker gangs and mysterious deaths.

Kiefer Sutherland is mesmerising as David, leader of the gang, Edward Herrmann’s on top form, as usual, and what 80s film would be complete without Corey Feldman? Directed by Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, Phone Booth), what’s not to love?

This film is huge amounts of fun, with a bit of gore, romance and horror thrown in for good measure.

100 Word Review – Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

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This film is sublime.

Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) are in love. They always have been. Adam is a brooding Romantic (note the capital R), while Eve enjoys the chaos of the world around her. But being a vampire in the C21st has it’s problems.

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch (Ghost Dog, Broken Flowers), it is filled with a gentle melancholy encompassed by a humorous, thoughtful edge. Co stars Mia Wasikowska and John Hurt are sublime in their roles, playing off the central pair with true artistry. This film is dark and beautiful and only subtly vampiric.

100 Word Review – Let The Right One In (2008)

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Don’t bother with the Americanised version, there is no way it could out-shine this masterpiece of chilling Swedish filmmaking.

Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a young boy living with his mother in an apartment block in early 1980s Stockholm. Bullied at school, he is hopelessly lonely until he meets Eli (Lina Leandersson).

Adapted from a masterful novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and directed by Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) this is a fantasy horror made the way they should be; bleak, at times sweet, and always beautiful. None of those sparkling vampires, the sort in Lindqvist’s world are truly terrifying.

100 Word Review – From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

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I do not like Quentin Tarantino. That said, I think Robert Rodriguez is amazing, and I think his hand in this film really shows.

When the Fuller family (Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis) find their RV high-jacked by notorious criminals (George Clooney, Tarantino) they think that smuggling them across the boarder into Mexico is going to be their biggest problem.

Salma Hayek and Danny Trejo turn up as some very unsavoury characters south of the boarder, and the question becomes will our heroes survive the night?

Part crime flick, part undead, gory nightmare, this is not for the faint of heart.

100 Word Review – Fright Night (2011)

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I haven’t seen the 1985 original, but if it is anything like this, it’s now the top of my to-do list.

Anton Yelchin (Star Trek (2009)) stars as a teenager who realises that his small town is being secretly ravaged by a vampire (Colin Farrell) and goes looking for a vampire hunter to help him.

David Tennant (Doctor Who), Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine), Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) make up the amazing supporting cast of this bizarre and unexpected film.

Although technically a horror, its pocket aces are its sense of comic timing and penchant for the ridiculous.

100 Word Review – What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

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Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Viago (Taika Waititi) and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) are flatmates. They are also best friends. They argue over chores, they help each other decide what to wear, they even host dinner parties at which they torture mortals together and drink their blood.

Velcome to the vonderful vorld of New Zealand’s vampires.

From the minds behind Flight of the Conchords and Eagle Vs Shark comes a supernatural mockumentary like no other. Whether or not your like “vampire movies” is irrelevant. All you need is a sense of humour.

You will laugh, you will cringe and there will be blood.