Cryptz

This movie was really bad. The acting was horrible. The special effects were bad. The vampires did not seem threatening at all. Apparently in this movie vampires are simply abnormally strong people with sharp teeth who like to drink blood. If you have a karate fighting muscle man on your side than the average vampire is no contest. The vampire hunter doesn't even use weapons. So silly. This movie is on the same level as a bunch of teenagers trying to make a vampire movie with a hand recording camera.. and I'm not exaggerating. I thought this movie was a sequel to the very popular and entertaining TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Instead I ended up watching one of the worst stripper vampire movies since Bordello of Blood. Putting a bunch of attractive girls in a movie with some fight scenes aren't going to satisfy most people. Avoid this movie unless you and your friends want a good mystery science theatre film to make fun off. The only bonus is the DVD comes with another movie. I don't recall it being advertised so I was surprised to find it. The second movie is RAGDOLL, which is actually worse than Cryptz, so the surprise bonus was a real let down. At least with 2 movies I got half my rentals worth. Overall it's not worth your time.

I think that Zuvembie #1 is awesome! She's scary as all hell! I just thought the movie was all right until those hooded creatures showed up and that's when I thought the movie got good. Props to the actress Julia Marchese for doing such a good job!

Tymez lives with his mother and hopes to perhaps become a rapper with his buddies. His mother wants him to get a job, but when he goes out he gets together with his friends and they spot a busty woman and flirt with her. They then try to find the club she works at, "Cryptz," by calling a spooky friend of theirs named Truck who they think know all about underground clubs and things like that. He's a meditating muscleman.

Truck warns them against trying to find the woman or the club, and when he learns Tymez was touched by her, he instructs them to duct tape him to his bed. Instead, they fall asleep in front of a TV, and Tymez wakes up with his face burning and he runs to the club with his friends in tow. At the club, they're pretty happy watching women dancing, but when the call Truck again they're warned again, and indeed most of the people at the club are vampires!

This was a fairly silly low-budget horror movie, so it's hard to be too harsh on it. However, some of the scenes really drag. The scene where the three guys are trying to decide how to find the woman goes on for a long time, for example, with little camera movement. I guess they felt obligated to shoot all the dialog that was scripted, and then were happy with it, but it could have been cut down.

The ending is fairly lame. The day ends, but there are some loose ends almost like a set-up for a sequel, and weirdest of all is something involving Tymez' tattoo.

Not recommended, but as I said, it's not terrible.

Kind of a black version of From Dusk Till Dawn only without all the excess of the latter. Anyway, this is a direct to video film from Full Moon. It is better then a lot of the films they have been putting out lately (much, much better then Dead and Rotting), but because these films budgets have been so extremely limited right now, there really isn't anything the makers of this film could really do. I will give them credit, they certainly tried. Budget limits pretty much kill an interesting idea.

Usually I try and keep this semi-professional, but in this case I felt more compelled than usual as a Full Moon fan to post a quick quip to defend this film. One commenter on this board said this was the worst "vampire strip club film" they'd ever seen. With all due respect, how can you expect anything from a film with that description? Now then, the film delivers on that level, that it has vampires and takes place in a strip club, but does it work on other, "more sophisticated" levels? Like most Full Moon films, the answer is "sort of", depending on what you look for in a film.

I honestly don't understand why people keep renting Full Moon movies expecting technical masterpieces. Although Danny Draven has shown again that he's very capable when working with the low budget and criminally short shooting schedule, he has yet to direct the "break-out" film that will gain him the accolades and attention among non-genre fans that he deserves. Besides Draven's work, special attention should also be called to Josephine Soegjanty's score, which is amazing, and the best thing from a strictly technical aspect that the film offers. In addition to the film's good direction and great score, unlike standard low-budget fare, with performances that can be best described as "passable", all of the major roles in "Cryptz" are played by actors and actresses that are totally in touch with their characters, whether that means being legitimately funny, a legitimate "bad-ass", or legitimately sexy and mysterious. That's a definite plus, because although the location used for shooting has the perfect sleazy/creepy look to it, the film doesn't feature a lot of special effects or extras because of its budget, and at times, were it not for the lead's charisma to draw your attention from this fact, the film would look as if it were severely lacking.

It's good that the film lacks little in the acting and camera/production department, because the plot, in comparison, is a little lacking. It's a fairly standard vampire plot with a nice little "ghetto twist", but several important plot revelations that are made spontaneously to advance the plot, and never fully explained. Another slight problem with the script is some of the film's dialogue. Even though the exaggerated stereotypical "ghetto talk" used by the leads throughout the film was intentional and is often funny, it's also just as often annoying, especially compared to Full Moon/Big City Pictures' other "urban horror" projects, which for the most part had confident, intelligent black characters that still retained a share of "street talk" in their lines.

Other than those minor quibbles with the plot, there's very little wrong with the film. While at first viewing it wasn't that impressive, the film's fun comes out more after repeated viewings and observing the chemistry the cast had with each other and director Danny Draven on the accompanying "behind the scenes" footage on the DVD release. To the detractors, yes, it's still just another low-budget film, made without the best film stock or any expansive shots or sets, but to those same detractors, I challenge them to find another film made in 8 days on this small of a budget that's so enjoyable.