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Directed by: Anthony Hickox Starring: David Carradine, Jim Metzler, Bruce Campbell The zany title double-entendre is a pretty good indication of the sort of humour you can expect from Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat. David Carradine provides 40-watt star power as Mardulak, a vampire who lords over a ghost town in the desert inhabited by vampires. There is a lot of sun in the desert and vampires aren't particularly fond of the sun--a joke with all the yuk potential of a mall security video feed that is nonetheless beaten clean like a filthy throw rug. Mardulak has also ended the bloodsucking tradition, and placed all the vampires in his care on a synthetic blood substitute to keep them flapping. There are problems with production of the fluid, however, and the human creator David (Jim Metzler) is summoned to the town to patch things up. Unfortunately, he brings his family along, which gets the vampires clamouring for the real deal. Complicating things further is a brewing civil war between Mardulak's human sympathizers and a bitter ex-bloodletter that believes the vampires should continue in their traditional ways; and a rivalry between David and Shane, the sleazy rich ex-lover of David's wife and, you guess it, another goddamn vampire. The plot is really good for an indy horror\comedy. It sort of follows along the same themes of acceptance as the X-Men movies except with even crappier jokes and one-billionth of the budget. And if the phrase "indy horror\comedy" didn't tip you off, Bruce Campbell also makes an appearance as a descendent of Professer Van Helsing. He bungles, spits a few one-liners and gets his neck sucked by one of the vampire hotties (Deborah Foreman). Campbell and Brittany have charm, however, and serve as good serum for the bland love triangle between David, Shane and wife. All three are awful loving actors, even within the ranks of their Juliard-worthy castmates. The one sterling exception is a hilarious scene where Shane, in bat form, attempts to rape her. Carradine is about as lucid as a block of cement in his role, particularly in the showdown finale where he reveals his true name in ludicrously dramatic fashion, setting the precident for his platitudinous role in the Kill Bill movies. It's very indy, but Anthony Hickox scores serious points for originality. I can't really think of a plot like it, and although comedy western horrors have been done before, they really haven't been done like this. Sundown just has a goofy, innocent charm. It's certainly worth a cheap rental if you can find the motherfucker anywhere. RATING: 3 PROS: Unique, decent plot CONS: Super silly, groan-worthy jokes and effects, crappy acting ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098412/
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Sep 2, 2004 02:39
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