Bloodthirst

This is another fun indie movie from Mahal Empire. From past experience, their movies range in quality substantially. However, Bloodthirst truly stands out as one of their better ones.

It is set in a post-apocalyptic world a la Mad Max. The exact nature of the disaster that led to this scenario is not explained. However, the great camera work of Michael Su (who also directs this feature) truly helps to build the world and make it and the pockets of survivors believable to the audience. Added to this backdrop are groups of wandering vampires tribes who, like Blade, are able to operate in the daytime and hunt down and feed on some of the survivors.

Given the low budget that this movie was filmed with, one might expect that it would be extremely low quality. However, due to some solid acting talent and great camera work, score and editing, this movie gives a feeling of being much bigger in scope and feels very rich.

Now, don't get me wrong. Some of the practical effects were a little weak and this was not my favorite role for Tara Reid who I felt did not really pull off being the vampire queen. I also felt the final showdown was extremely predictable and would have played better if that battle was more drawn out.

On the other hand, there were some solid acting standouts. Unlike many indie movies, where big name actors are often only utilized in one scene, the star power was well used and had major screen time throughout the movie. Robert LaSardo truly plays up his role as the leader of the vampires. He is cold, scheming and calculating when called for but violent and passionate when angered. Sarah French is also solid in her role as a hardened survivor. However, Costas Mandylor absolutely stole the show with his role as the tough, wise and no nonsense vampire hunter, John Shepard, who we follow across the desolate landscape in his quest to rid the world of vampires.

All in all, if you love the vampire or post apocalyptic genre, there is a lot to love about this movie. Also, a final scene definitely leaves this movie open for a sequel which I have fingers crossed will happen at some point.

Ignore the 9 and 10 ratings reviews. This film is an absolute bore 'n snore! From the acting, dialogue to the story overall, it is a MASSIVE failure. I don't know what the other reviewers were on, or if they were part of the cast and crew, however, their attempts to lure you into watching this drivel is so good that you just want to give it a try. NO! STOP! DON'T!

A waste of time and energy! There may have been an energy vampire around to such you dry why trying your very best to like this film.

Once again I cannot help wonder why people spend money making such awful films.

Avoid at all costs! You have been warned!

I'm writing this 'cause it's a pity that people rate this so extremely.

There's no way this is a 10 movie and no way it's a 1.

It's a pity as some of the reviews are quite good, but they lose credit by trying to massage the ratings.. we get it.. just, if you are gunna do it, don't mix it with a review.

The story is fairly good, a few twists but ultimately predictable, but that doesn't take away anything from the film: Many big budget films have insanely predictable stories.

The camera work and music scores were brilliant.

The acting was on par with any low budget/indie movie, with notables (as has been mentioned) Sarah French, Elissa Dowling and Johnny Huang. I don't think there was much Tara Reid had to offer, but willing to forgive as that outfit and makeup must have been nasty to work in.

Costumes/makeup were, sadly, too stereotypical, especially for the vampires... and Rico (Rich R. Rendon).. why did he have to look like a grease monkey.. I ride a Harley so therefore I must be covered in grease... even the main protagonist John Shepard (where have I heard that name before?) (Costas Mandylor) what was he wearing? Seriously, A load of pill bottles? Or shotgun cartridges.. but he uses a crossbow!

All in all, if you're gunna take the movie seriously then it's not for you... but if you don't mind hanging out with a few, not overly cynical, friends, opening a few bottles and chill to a nice story told on a budget, then go for it.

My personal critic would be something low budget vampire movies seem to like doing, but makes no sense (it's been done and hammered): I get it for the gore factor, but, why do the vampires waste such a valuable resource as blood by spilling it down their chin? I just don't get it. Also the first 5 minutes(ish.. didn't time it) really didn't do the movie any favours.

... and no vampires where paid for being in the movie.. that hardly seems fair.. don't they have a union?

Living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a vampire hunter and his protege manage to find an outcrop of survivors in the desert and enlist their services to help them track a vicious vampire clan running through the area feeding on the weak and must try to stop them before it's too late.

There was a lot to like with this indie vampire effort. One of the better features here is a rather intriguing storyline that attempts to employ an intriguing post-apocalyptic setup for vampires. As this opens in the aftermath of these works have taken place and the exploits of the gang running around feasting on the hold-out of survivors at the one location, this manner of bringing vampires into this setup is quite fun. It allows for the film to work within it's low-budget featuring the creatures coming down to enforce their superiority over the victims while they can think of a means of escape. As well, there's also the tracker coming for them hunting them down which has some equally fun means of trying to catch up for a great setup. This all lets the film have a solid and generally fine if somewhat low-key series of confrontations throughout. As the early scenes of them taking over the farm or hunting the stragglers in the wasteland have a nice bit of brutality alongside the cheesy situations, it comes off nicely against the later scenes where they've got the victims hostage in the basement and arrive mainly to taunt them before feeding. The concurrent scenes of the hunters going through the desert taking them out and hunting the creatures in the abandoned town where the vampires have kept their captives and the series of battles here provide some fun action featuring solid indie gore. These features all manage to have a lot to really like about it. The film does have some minor drawbacks to hold this down. One of the main factors against it is the somewhat repetitive first half that never gives the vampires much urgency for what they're doing. The idea of the vampires staying at the house of their prey, holding them like hostages, and coming back down on several occasions is a pretty underwhelming one that doesn't have a lot of interesting aspects to it. As well, this one tends to go through ill-thought-out material for twists in the finale merely to prolong the running time as the series of double-crosses and allegiance shifts that don't make much sense and well thought-out how it would play out in the story are what end up being the issues that bring it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I won't dwell too much into the leaking-of-small-budget stuff (movie-making is expensive thing after all), which could still be easily overlooked, if only the movie would have had any supporting backbone that'd make it worthvile. Pacing was slow, story was vague and slightly convoluted (there are TWO vampire masters?? Is there still working society, if people are scared of police? Didn't the vampires cause the apocalypse, as some lines seem to imply othervise?), with alot of relationships and story beats making sense only if you recognize the tropes. It also had little to no action (which was something I felt was expected from such premise), which leaves you questioning - what's the purpouse of this film? It's not drama, it's not bloody action flick, it's nothing. Just 1h30mins of people with some of the strangest written dialogues. Even the vampires weren't fun! So much wasted potential.