The Thompsons

Francis (Cory Knauf), the central character in The Butcher Brothers' The Thompsons (the sequel to their 2006 movie The Hamiltons), is something of a tortured soul, a vampire troubled by his bloody lifestyle, searching for a meaning to his existence. Having fled the US with his bloodsucking family, he now wanders the UK looking for others like him so that he can learn about his heritage and perhaps even find love among his own kind.

The photogenic cast; the oh-so-serious emo sensibilities; the romance between vampire clans; the film-makers desperately striving for a sense of cool: The Thompsons might easily be confused for an installment of the Twilight series if it wasn't for all the graphic sex and violence on display. I doubt very much that Bella Swan would ever get it on with an absinthe addled Parisian whore, or whether Edward would savagely tear the throat out of his victims, drenching himself in blood in the process, but the vampires in this film have no such qualms, narrowly preventing it from being another worthless piece of PG-13 horror-lite and just about earning it a recommendation from yours truly.

If a sequel tries to tell you a new story instead of rehashing/repeating what part 1 did, that is a good thing. Unfortunately this sequel is not only predictable (almost from start to finish), but also just above mediocre in general. That means it's not really bad, but it won't get your blood pumping either (no pun intended).

Since the main characters are established in the quirkier and better Thompsons, you'd expect this to go different places. And in a way it does, but that only is true in geographic terms. There's not a real story behind it all, it's a simple "match", that you will either like or you might find it too simple. Whatever the case, if you can bare with the characters (because you saw the previous film or just simply because you like the actors), than this is indeed watchable. Otherwise ... don't bother.

This is not a real review, it should be taken more as a collection of impressions on the film.

Considering first of all that there are enough vampire films now and this is just the umpteenth but at least do it well, the film is very very mediocre and doesn't seem to commit, it seems like they simply wanted to make a vampire film because vampires usually sell but without adding anything else. The plot is very banal even if the plot twist isn't that bad and really surprised me, I dare say that this is the only positive thing about the film. However, we must also talk about the ending which is very far-fetched because it seems they wanted to hurry up and close the film and therefore made an ending that was a little too incongruent with the story just to give a happy ending to the events.

I'm reviewing this strictly as the sequel to The Hamiltons, which I did see first.

Ok, my hopes were dashed pretty quickly after witnessing 8 minutes of digital effects, digital blood, and digital fangs. Then the title card came up.

The story of The Thompsons revolves around the same character as in the first movie, and that would be Francis. Only now, he is this assertive, brooding, badass? Talk about a 180. I was assuming this movie would pick up where the last one left off, as the ending to The Hamiltons screamed "there's more coming!" Nope, this one starts off in England, and primarily takes place there, but the family has splintered (er, just hiding out) to different regions of the world.

What follows is a whole bunch of timeline shifting. 2012. How popular was Quentin Tarantino in 2012? I would say he's the master of interweaving timelines. Here, in The Thompsons, it comes off as really unnecessary.

The crux of this movie is intriguing. Francis is sent to England only with a name and a town, to try and track down an ancient vampire clan, and maybe find some place that they can call home. Oh, they're real hospitable. And this is where it gets predictable. Wait, Francis was in a box... Damn you timeline! What is interesting, is that these particular, more powerful, vampires descended directly from the Thompson/Hamilton bloodline. Now, why it was crucial to breed with the Thompson's (weaker) daughter, did not make any sense to me (well, she is real foxy...). There is a good twist at the end, when David shows up in England with their dying youngest.

Do you need to see The Hamiltons first to enjoy this movie? Besides the fact that The Hamiltons is a superior movie, especially with character depth, the answer is absolutely not. Their entire story is rehashed, through a series of flashbacks and voiceovers in The Thompsons. One thing I really enjoy in sequels, are all the "references" that you can only pick up on only by seeing the original. No such luck here.

People who liked The Hamiltons (2006) can easily pick this up because all the characters are back in action. And even if you haven't seen The Hamiltons you can see this without a doubt.

When things go awry at a diner and people are being killed the Hamiltons do have to hide themselves. Being on the run for the cops they leave the states for the UK and do come across another vampire clan. The Hamiltons now being called The Thompsons need their help but do they get it.

It do delivers on a few points but it never do becomes rather gory. Still it is watchable even as there isn't that much of red stuff. But it is the editing that aves this flick. In the beginning you will get confused by a few things but quickly you will here the story of Francis Hamilton told by himself. It do takes a while before the fighting starts between the two clans and the last part of the flick will deliver for fans over vampire flicks.

If you aren't into vampires then this isn't for you because nothing looks believable of course. Some parts I didn't like but like I just said, the last part is a must see for the ones with fangs. It won't become a classic but it's a nice start to begin your horror evening.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5