Dark Town

'Dark Town' rides that dangerous line between worlds. Almost a fun gore flick and almost a cheap piece of crap. How much you enjoy it depends on how demanding a viewer you are.

A group of gangsters get caught up in a vampire out break when they attempt to rob a suburban home. It seems the father of the house has (for reasons barely explained) contracted vampirism and has decided to infect his family. Much blood letting ensues.

First the good: as already stated there is oodles of blood spilt. All kinds of vampire biting, feasting (almost like a zombie movie really) and other assorted human dismemberment are on display. Hearts are torn out, heads are lopped off, people are stabbed, shot, one woman even takes a broken bottle are carves up her bare chest. Which brings up the films other saving grace; an abundance of bared flesh. I am actually surprised the film got away with an R-rating. In summation, the film is watchable thanks to much fan service.

Now the bad: it is extremely low budget and not very well made. The locations and lighting either look bad or don't match. The script starts nowhere and ends nowhere, the acting is more like un-acting, and the director shows only limited flare for unique techniques. In short, it's technically defunct.

Gore hounds will be able to enjoy themselves, but expecting quality or uniqueness will only leave you disappointed.

5/10

A callous slumlord brings a vampiric infection home to his dysfunctional suburban family on the same night that some of his tenants show up to teach him a lesson. Much bloodshed ensues. When someone asks me to a recommend a genuinely entertaining low budget, straight-to-video gore fest, this is one of the few that gets the nod. Director Desi Scarpone and writer David Birke manage to deliver some genuine humor and chills in this film. It is energetic, nervy, and often gratuitous – in both gore and nudity. The father is a fun character who revels in his corruption and evil. He's one of the few memorable characters I've seen in a recent DV horror film. Is this film for all tastes? No. Is it a shining example of film-making? No. Is it always coherent? No. But let's face it, if you're reading this review, you must already be a fan of bad horror films. You could certainly do worse than this.

Dark Town (2004) was a big surprise for me. I was at the local mega chain video store looking for some bad movies. When I put this one into the D.V.D. player I was in for a surprise. The movie impressed me. Not only was it different, but the film makers used the most out of their small budget and made it work. But the movie could have been better. Even with it's minor flaws, the movie was a lot more entertaining than the crap that's in the movie theater.

A group of people from different backgrounds encounter a strange undead being. This Eastern European creature has the ability to create vampiric zombie beings. These creature feed on blood and gore of their unlucky victims. A slum lord is possessed by the creature who decides to visit his dysfunctional family. Several black youths who have a bone to pick with the Slum lord go cruising into his neighborhood and come face to face with something that they could have never imagined meeting. Will these kids fight the evil entity? Can his family stave off their thirsty father? Who or what is behind this undead creature? How will they fight it? Who will survive? To find out the answer these questions you'll just have to watch DARK TOWN. A different kind of horror film that aims to please.

Not a bad low budget horror film. I was impressed and you might be as well.

Well, the short version is the vampiric version of Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". The spreading infection. The group of dysfunctional family members. The house under siege (granted from within instead of from without). Add a solid dollop of Edward Albee's "American Dream" crossed with Lynch's "Eraserhead" and you MIGHT get the idea. It is gorilla film-making. Have no doubt about that. Overall, I still can't decide if I liked it or not. There is no adherence to mythology (in any universe I've seen vampire films from) so you kind of have to suspend disbelief over a deep pit of boiling lye. But, if you can, you might find it interesting. And, even if you can't, it has a certain "Train Wreck" like charm.

I have seen plenty of vampire movies in my day. And this one goes from bad to worst. The acting is horrible with all of the performances reminiscent of a bunch of five year olds during a Christmas pageant. The plot line makes no sense offering no explanation for why any of this is happening and showing us that there is no consequence for evil taking over a neighborhood. I kept waiting for there to be some redeeming quality to this movie. Something to make it seem like I didn't waste an hour and thirty minutes of my time. Alas, even lesbian sex could not pull this one out of the gutter.

Maybe this is meant to be a parody. In which case...it still sucked (no pun intended). So do yourself a favor, if you see Dark Town at the video store, don't rent it. If it comes on cable, don't watch it. We have to send a message to these people that bad movies will not be tolerated.