Tasha's (aka Beren) Journal

Right, so back to reviewing the vampire movies I own. Sorry for the delay, been kind of busy with the writing lately.

Title: Blade (1998)
Rating: 18
Cast:
Wesley Snipes ... Blade
Stephen Dorff ... Deacon Frost
Kris Kristofferson ... Whistler
N'Bushe Wright ... Karen
Summary: After his mother is bitten by a vampire just before his birth, Blade is born half human, half vampire. With the help of Whistler, he hunts vampires and protects humans from their blood lust.

Blade is a superb movie. I remember seeing it in the cinema and loving it and I've watched it many times since. It was one of the first DVDs my husband and I ever bought and had to be imported from the US.

I love the fact that vampire society is as tiered as human society. That they have their gentry and their commoners, only theirs are born vampires and turned vampires. The fact that Blade is a complete badass, but is still flawed is great.

This is definitely the grittiest of the three movies. It tries to be more real, or at least as real as a vampire movie can be. The realities of vampire infection and the cure are almost scientific, where as in the later movies they are less so.

The cast is great. Wesley Snipes is an arrogant arsehole as Blade, but with a core of heroism that makes him likeable. Stephen Dorff is brilliant as Deacon Frost with his plan to take over the world. He's evil and yet he's going after some of the vampires too and you have to sympathise with his reasons. Kris Kristofferson is awesome as Whistler and takes no shit from anyone. Then there is N'Bushe Wright as Karen, a competent woman willing to try and save herself as well as relying on Blade.

A great start to the trilogy.


Title: Blade II
Rating: 18
Cast:
Wesley Snipes ... Blade
Kris Kristofferson ... Whistler
Ron Perlman ... Reinhardt
Leonor Varela ... Nyssa
Norman Reedus ... Scud
Thomas Kretschmann ... Damaskinos
Luke Goss ... Nomak
Summary: When a new kind of vampire starts attacking vampires as well as humans, turning them into same kind of monsters, the vampire community turn to their greatest enemy for help: Blade.

This and Trinity are my two favourite Blade movies. I love them because they are that little bit more fantastic.

Luke Goss is brilliant as Nomak; vindictive, focused and ruthless.

I also love the idea that there is something that vampires might fear, just like the humans fear them. It's beautifully done.

The blood pack; the group of vampires set up to hunt Blade down who now have to work with him are awesome. One of them is Ron Perlman for a start, so they have to gain points just for that. They have an interesting dynamic and give yet another view of vampire society.

The way this film also blurs the lines of all vampires are bad also appeals to me.

This is a fast paced, well written and plotted film that is exciting to watch.

Title: Blade Trinity
Rating: 15
Cast:
Wesley Snipes ... Blade
Kris Kristofferson ... Whistler
Dominic Purcell ... Drake
Jessica Biel ... Abigail Whistler
Ryan Reynolds ... Hannibal King
Parker Posey ... Danica Talos
Summary: The vampire nation is looking for a new leader and they dig up the original himself: Drake. He is an evolutionary step above them in the same way they are to humans. Blade joins with a team of hunters called the Nightstalkers to counter this threat.

Now this is the eye candy film of the three, I admit it. There are bare chests and muscles and very attractive young women all over the place. The rating is also down from 18 to 15, so it shows that the emphasis has shifted, but I still love it.

The Nightstalkers are awesome, especially Abi and Hannibal, Danica is brilliantly psychotic and Drake is just completely rutheless.

This film is action packed and non-stop, but don't turn your brain on too much :). The plot holds together, but this isn't a make you think kind of film; it's pure entertainment. There are wise cracks, fight scenes and oiled muscles and it entertains me every time. That's not to say there isn't science in it, but the science is even more handwavy than the other two, so very little brain power is required.

This is the one out of the three that makes me want to write fanfic because I want to explore the characters more. The other two simply entertained me; with this one I want more.

I have no idea if there will ever be number four, but I am quite happy with the three. Although I would take more semi-naked Ryan Reynolds if it's on offer :D.

Have you seen the Blade films? Which is your favourite and why?

Title: Blood Ties
Rating: 15
Cast:
Patrick Bauchau ... Eli Chelarin
Bo Hopkins ... Chief Hunter
Michelle Johnson ... Celia
Jason London ... Cody Puckett
Harley Venton ... Harry Martin / Harlevon Martinescu
Salvator Xuereb ... Butcherbird "Butch" Vlad
Kim Johnston Ulrich ... Amy Lorne
Summary: After his parents are killed Cody Puckett heads for the big city and Eli Chelarin, who he has been told to find if anything happens. What he doesn't know is that his parents were killed by vampire hunters and he and those he finds in the city are Carpathians. Harry, a reporter and Carpathian who is trying to integrate has to help Cody understand and find those who killed his parents.

This isn't a classic and it isn't utterly amazing, but it is a good early 90s vampire movie. It reminds me a little of Kindred: The Embraced, not least of which because Partick Bauchau is in it, but also because it has vampires hiding in plain sight in a hierarchical, family unit.

( Click to see the rest of the review )

Master list of Reviews of the Vampire Film I Own

Title: The Breed (2001)
Rating: 18
Cast:
Adrian Paul ... Aaron Gray
Bokeem Woodbine ... Stephen Grant
Bai Ling ... Lucy Westenra
Péter Halász ... Cross
Summary: In the near future vampires (the breed) have revealed themselves to humans, although the totalitarian government keeps most of humanity still ignorant of their presence. When his partner is killed by a vampire, cop Stephen Grant is teamed up with one of the breed, to track down the rogue. Stephen must overcome culture shock and all those pitted against him to bring the murderer to justice.

One thing I really like about The Breed is that the cast is racially diverse. Yay for the casting agent.

( Click to see rest of the review )

Have you seen The Breed? Did you like it? Have you seen any other vampire films set in a totalitarian state of the future?

So I've decided to set myself a challenge so I post more. I looked around and thought, what can I do and my eyes alighted on my DVD shelves. I own a few vampire movies (this doesn't include the TV shows - they're on a different shelf) ...

I thought I might share some of the highs and lows of my collection. It's going to take me a while, but I intend to write a review for all of them. If I've reviewed a title properly before, I'll link to that or if they are really, really bad, they might only get one line and be posted along with a decent one, but I will get through them all ... eventually.

As each review goes up I'll link the film's DVD/blu-ray cover to the actual entry so this will end up a master list. When the film is reviewed I will also add a border to its image below so you can tell at a glance which ones have been reviewed and which haven't :). If you're wondering, there are 116 film covers below (if I gain any more in the meantime I'll add them to the bottom).

Do you have any suggestions for vampire movies I don't own yet?

( Click the read more to see all the covers. )