The Caretaker

Some say "die trying", though that would be difficult if you're undead. Seriously though, this movie cannot be faulted for any lack on effort. It does try and for some (especially those with a soft spot for low budget movies), it is even able to achieve that goal. Not that anyone could mistake this for a classic mind you.

It still tries to imitate a couple of things that were very successful (like Blade to name but one movie this "borrowed" themes from). It has some blood and the acting is not as bad as one would/could expect. The story though is pretty simple and more than predictable. Still Kudos for trying to make a drama out of it and especially for the effort

An interesting story but badly scripted. Extremely unlikable characters. Confusing dialogue and actions.

The idea if a vampire virus isnt massively original (Stakeland etc) but the idea of caretakers looking out for each other was ok. Just not very well written. The Dr Vampire kept spouting pointless dialogue trying to sound deep and profound but ended up feeling forced and amusing. The girlfriend and boyfriend arguing constantly was beyond irritating. I just didnt care and it added nothing to the story. Daft.

No gore or FX to speak of. Cheap cgi face smoking in sun and rubber limbs.

Then last but certainly not least there is the music. Oh my god the music!! Ha ha. The music was so loud and inappropriately placed. Poorly mixed and amateur. Struggled to hear the actors over it and repeated itself over scenes where it was unnecessary. So distracting.

Avoid. Really no redeeming or watchable parts. I just wanted it to be over.

Like many fans of the horror genre i have been disappointed on quite a few occasions by films that sound good but don't deliver when it comes to watching them (there is so much crap out there) i bought this DVD from a pound store then decided to read some of the reviews here first just in case i was wasting my time, some of the reviews sounded optimistic so i gave it a chance, and from the start i knew this was going to be better than most of the rubbish out there, the camera work was excellent with some beautiful scenery captured throughout, the story was interesting and the vampires just scary enough (although i would have preffered a couple more scenes with the characters fending off vampires) with good makeup effects, and the acting was pretty good for a low budget flick, all in all it was a decent horror film, hope to see more good horror stuff from this Director, he did a great job!

First off I have to say The Caretaker does well in that it had very much a different take on the over populated Vamp horror flicks we have. It certainly was not a 'by the numbers' flick and was certainly not predictable. The characters included were indeed not stereotypical and indeed there were some good elements seeded in the script. So fair play to them. With a bigger budget and a lot more polish who knows. However although there was a peppering of the odd bit of decent acting among our unlikely crew this was a awash in a protagonist so strong, sharp and dramatic in it's execution, so everywhere at every time that moments of little gems of the odd nice line from it's supporting cast faded into the background. And that protagonist was the Music. Maybe it was where I seen it but on my turn it down such overwrought angst in musical notes constantly. It was bordering on painful and really put this viewer through the wringer. So had potential - with better lighting, cinematography, colour palette, few less utterly weird character backgrounds (someone has issues somewhere) and better SFX this may have been decent. Essentially it is a B-movie with some moments I will remember however. Only watch if you're a die-hard Vamp fan and you may enjoy.

While there is no denying that Vampires play a central role in this movie, I would challenge its pigeonholing as a genre film. Underneath the gore and fangs and horror is a simple story about humanity and survival. Each of the characters is unlikeable yet fragile, likable yet horrifying, showing us the complexity of human nature and human relationships. The actors and filmmakers did a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life and imbuing them with a sense of reality, as opposed to the sometimes stereotypical caricatures that often find their way into these type of films. On top of that the filmic style and colour palette used by the filmmakers gives the film a beautiful, rich visual feel.

One of my favourite Australian films to date, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves!