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2001 |
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Rated: R for course language, graphic violence,
and adult/ sexual themes |
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Genre: Horror |
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Directed By: Tommy Lee Wallace |
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Running Time: |
| Review
by: Felix Vasquez Jr. |
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Review Date: |
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary - 1.
Director - Tommy Lee Wallace
Trailers
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection
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| If you like this,
try: John Carpenter's vampires, Blade, Blade 2 |
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VAMPIRES: LOS MUERTOS |
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The straight to video movie "Vampires: Los
Muertos" is the sequel to the original movie "John Carpenter's: Vampires". In
this one, we meet Derek Bliss (Rocker Jon Bon Jovi), a freelance vampire hunter
who hunts vampires in the city. He is called in by his organization to assemble
a group of vampire hunters to raid a nest for an assignment, but when all the
hunters turn up dead one by one, he begins to suspect there is a deeper force
behind everything. Out of options, he must team up with a hunter for hire named
Ray, a priest, a young Mexican boy, and a young woman who was bitten and they
must track down a sexy female vampire (Natasha Wagner )who is skilled and
almost unbeatable.
I loved the original "Vampires" so it was no surprise I was
anxious to see the sequel. This is Executive produced by Carpenter and instead
is Tommy Lee Wallace as director. Jon Bon Jovi wasn't much of a turn off from
this movie for me, because I love his music and he's a great actor, so he was
able to hold the fort as the lead man. He's a surfer boy in this movie so he
often gripes about how he'd rather be surfing than hunting vampires. In the
original we saw hunters hunting because it was for the church, in here it's
assumed more as a workaday job. He has a lot of cool weapons including a
surfboard that doubles as a case for his weapons. He has a great grimace every
hero should have in these types of movies, and he wears it well, often facing
off against vampires. There's a great scene where he's in Mexico and he fights
off three vampires in a church. Bon Jovi has a lot of charisma and the parts
when he is on his own are the best scenes. Natasha Wagner is ridiculously sexy
as the villainous and proves to be an admirable foe. A lot of the movie is
comprised of surprisingly exciting fight scenes and tense moments where the
characters are often stuck in a corner.
Unfortunately, one character alone can not
make a movie any good, it takes a good script and great supporting cast to help
a movie become entertaining and this has none of the above. Jon Bon Jovi may be
a great leading man and his character Derek is a great character be he is
nothing compared to Jack Crow, the original hero from the first one. Often
times, Derek is soft and whiney and never shows any marbles, unlike Jack who was
tough as nails and took no bull from any one. His supporting characters are
terrible and are resorted to stereotypes. He's teamed up with a young Mexican
boy with an awful Mexican accent, often complaining and lagging behind. At one
of the most ridiculous points in the movie, the boy insists on going with Derek
to the nest and brings a note from his mother to let him go with him. Ugh. We
also have a Mexican priest who looks like a Calvin Klein model, Ray the hunter
for hire who bears a horrible Texas accent and a young girl Zoe who is was
bitten by a vampire and hams her way throughout the movie. The villainous is
probably the cheesiest aspect of the movie; she's often scowling and growling
her way through the movie walking crooked and looking very ridiculous. She's
nothing compared to the original vampire bad-ass Valek from the original.
A great leading man is nothing with a bad
dialogue, inept story, and terrible supporting cast. This is nothing compared to
the original, but despite many reservations, this is mindless entertainment.

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