"What, you don't like rice? Tell me Michael, how could a billion Chinese people be wrong?"
This is one of my all time favorite vampire movies. I loved every second of this movie. Now what you might not know is that ever since I saw this movie I've been a fan of the Coreys, I know right? Oh well, they may not have the best roles, but they're pretty good. This movie is one of the most epic vampire movies in all of our history.
The visuals of this movie are very good, the way they captured the look of the vampires is one of my favorite things about it. It's enough so that when they vamp out you definitely notice, but they still look humanish, and you can tell the difference between vamped form and human form. It's all very good. I also love some of the ways they cast the moonlight in the angles, it gives it a nice and eerie sort of feel that is always good in vampire movies. The director really knew what he was doing with this one.
The director of this movie was Joel Schumacher, and he has given us a great many memorable movies, all visionary works of art. This was one of his earlier movies, and I think it's one that probably put him on the map as a good director. His angles and stuff and how he thought the vampires should look were all very interesting, as I've stated before. I really enjoyed this one.
The storyline of this movie is one that is different from most vampire movies, but different in the best possible way. It's an original storyline, a family moves to the quaint town of Santa Cruz, California, but what they find there besides their grandfather, is a death toll numbering in the hundreds. To many they find, Santa Cruz is referred to as "The Murder Capital Of The World." They soon find out though that it gets this name because of a group of vampires, under the guise of a biker gang, that feed on the citizens of the town. It's a very gripping story, and one that is fast-paced and thrilling, it just grips you and holds tight.
The main character of this story is Michael Emerson, a young man who moves to Santa Cruz, California with his Mother and kid brother. Soon he meets a woman named Star, but he finds out that this woman is taken by the leader of a biker gang, named David. However, this biker gang seduces Michael and he joins, but what he doesn't realize is that there is more to this biker gang than meets the eye, they're vampires. Soon they're in there little cave hideout and playing mind games with Michael making him see things that aren't there, and then making him drink some wine. This wine though, isn't wine at all. It's blood, the vampire blood, and soon Michael begins to change, and enough so that his family notices. Michael Emmerson is played by Jason Patric, who has had a fair few roles, and this is a character that seems to need a lot of development and emotional changes, and Jason Patric pulls this off incredibly. It's very convincing.
David, the leader of the vampire biker gang, is played by Keifer Sutherland. David is a vampire, and like all vampires he drinks blood. However he answers to the biggest vampire himself, and whatever that one tells him needs to be done, he makes sure gets done, but this seriousness is always unnoticed by most, as David is a vampire that likes to have fun with what he does, he's constantly teasing and making fun, causing havoc, and just having a blast with his immortality. That's when he meets Michael, a human who reminds him of himself, and he immediately starts working his vampire magic to get Michael on their side, then slowly but surely he begins to change Michael into a vampire. Keifer Sutherland does an incredible job with this role, and he's always been one of my favorite actors. He's very creepy, but he does it in an extremely convincing way, and it's fun to see him toy around with his victims or just random people.
Michael Emmerson's little brother, Sam, is played by Corey Haim, and his is another character that needs some development because as Sam moves to Santa Cruz and finds out that it is known as "The Murder Capital Of The World," he immediately tries to do things to protect himself, and as he does this he has to leave behind his entire perspective of the world. He has always had things pretty easy, but now something terrible is happening to his brother, and he must try his best to stop this thing before it gets too serious. He meets two kids in a comic book store who know exactly what's going on and they now help him out. However as all this is going on with his brother, Sam's mother is dating a new man, and this man seems very mysterious. Crey Haim, manages all of this character and he does it really well.
Diane Wiest plays Lucy Emmerson, Sam and Michael Emmerson's mother. She has to move her family to Santa Cruz to spend some time with her father as she goes through a divorce. She always has a positive outlook on things though, and doesn't seem to worry about the fact that they are moving to a town that is notorious for murder. However, soon she notices changes in both of her sons. Michael is becoming more arrogant, and sleeping through the entire day, and Sam is reading more graphic comics and always seems to be on edge. As all of this is going on she meets a man that she falls in love with, Max, the owner of an electronics store. Max is very mysterious about some things, but he is still a nice man. Diane Wiest, whom many know from the show Law & Order does a great job portraying this cheery mom, and she definitely adds to the movie greatly.
Max is played by Edward Herrmann, who has been in a great many movies and this role was a great one of his. He plays the owner of an electronics store that he runs to the best of his ability. He always gives out good prices, and helps out his customers as best as he can. An all around good guy. Soon a woman by the name of Lucy Emmerson walks into his store searching for work. He meets her and is instantly in love. They decide to get together for dinner one night so he can meet her family. He meets Sam one day, but Sam doesn't see whatever it is his mother sees, he finds Max to be a very mysterious man. When he comes over for dinner, he is peltered by pranks and such by Sam in his paranoia, but he still doesn't mind and just brushes it off. Edward Herrmann does an incredible job at this. The nice yet mysterious man is a role that I would think would be hard, but he does it very nicely, and it's funny to see some of his reactions to Sam's pranks at dinner.
Edgar Frog is played by Corey Feldman, and his was a hilarious role to see. Edgar Frog is a young and aspiring vampire hunter, he works at a comic book store with his brother Alan Frog, and one day he meets Sam Emmerson, and finds that he likes him, but soon Edgar starts to warn Sam about Santa Cruz, and the vampires that hunt at night. He hands Sam comic books that will explain everything about vampires that he'd need to know, but the whole time you know that him and his brother are not joking around by any means, but they are dead serious. Soon when Sam has suspicions about his brother Edgar and his brother immediately begin to try and help him out. Corey Feldman does an excellent job in this movie. He was hilarious to see talk so dead serious about the existance of vampires, but the way he puts it is incredibly believable. He did great for such a strange character to have to play.
Jamison Newlander plays Alan Frog, and for him this was an opening role and since he hasn't had many, but he was very good in this movie. Alan was one of those characters who is there and he doesn't have much to say, he pretty much stands there and nods as Edgar explains to Sam what the deal is, and as they decide to help Sam out with his brother, and making sure that everyone Sam meets is safe, him and his brother develop a sort of weird friendship with Sam. Jamison Nelander does an excellent job with this role, and I liked his role because as Edgar would speak of the vampires in such a serious manner, he would nod and yet be completely serious with it as well, it's a sort of comical effect. He does excellent, and is very good also at playing such a strange character.
All in all I'd say this is a movie that you should just go and outright buy. Save yourself the rental fee, it's an incredible and memorable film.
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