Director: Justin Price
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
After pulling off a successful bank heist, a group of thugs is forced to take another heist job to complete their mission, but when this goes haywire and are forced to seek shelter in a remote house until the morning find themselves stalked by a brutal vampire and his minions causing them to get away.
Review:
There was quite a lot to like with this effort. Among its better features is that there’s quite a strong storyline that manages to incorporate some fun setups and motivations for the group. Managing to get the reasoning behind their series of heists and how their black-ops skills carries across throughout here with the decision to work together on the ill-fated mission which is what strands them in the house, this early setup gives the film a lot to like. Seeing their interactions and trust issues to get free goes a long way towards getting this set up for the later half as the twists are quite fun as the changeover from a heist film to untrustworthy thugs and finally leading into the discovery of the vampire horde in the house.
This comes along rather nicely and gives the film some exciting scenes. The atmosphere in the house here is a big factor for that, creating a strong sense of distrust and paranoia almost as much as their attitudes towards each other based on the current situation. The initial attacks on the group have a lot to like as the early hints of someone or something that they're unaware of until it slowly dawns on them that they’re dealing with a creature in the attack by the turned member or the chilling sequence with the investigating police officer seen through the body-cam footage. This goes into the latter half where the creatures become far more intense towards the dwindling group as they are forced to fend off the imposing vampire king and his minions.
The end result of all this provides the films’ last positive in the enjoyable special effects-work throughout here. The main vampire is an undoubted highlight, going off the bulky, imposing body design with vicious claws and a large, bat-like demon face suggesting tons of power that come together for a great villain. The gore is just as good, offering up numerous bites and oozing wounds, entrails getting ripped out, inner organs being removed while still alive and much more, making for a lot of great work here. As well, when combined with the exciting opening featuring the group coming out of the bank robbery involving the groups’ gunplay against the authorities to immediately open the film, this one has a lot to like about it.
It does have a few issues. One of the biggest issues comes from the fact that because it springs the vampire twist so late in the film that it overlooks several elements crucial to understanding them and what they’re about. There are hints that there’s a folklore-inspired legend about conception yet it never says anything about why they’re hiding out in the house, who the main vampire’s trying to accomplish or even what the other group is there for as they tend to get ignored for large stretches of the film. Another issue here is a rather troublesome beginning to get there to the house which features tons of stereotypical tough-guy talk and not a lot in the way of action figuring out the double-crosses from the heist, leading to the flaws that bring this down.
Overview: ***.5/5
Far better than expected for an indie vampire effort, this one manages to get a lot of enjoyable elements featured throughout here although it does contain a couple of flaws that bring it down slightly. Give it a look if you’re a fan of these kinds of efforts or a fan of the creative crew, while most others who are turned off by the style won’t be intrigued with this one.
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