Sunrise

Let me start off by saying that the only thing this movie has going for it is the acting. That's it. Nothing else about it will be acclaimed, thought of fondly, or even remembered a few months from now. It's one of those movies that you're not sure why it even exists. It says it's a horror movie, but was it really? I am fully convinced that this movie started off as a slow burn drama, some executive read the script and said, "You know what this movie needs? Vampires!". That's the only plausible explanation I can think of for such a thoroughly unremarkable film.

I felt absolutely no fear or even the slightest inkling of it during its entire runtime, and some segments felt like an afterthought, as if the film was finished when someone else came in with their asinine ideas and decided to make this movie something other than what it originally was. As a slow burn, small town drama, this might have worked. The acting was PHENOMENAL, so much so that, had it not been as good, I would have turned the movie off 20 minutes in. But every single actor played their role perfectly, and kept me invested in what little story there was to be invested in.

Whoever decided to turn this movie from a drama to a supernatural horror film really ruined what little this movie had going for it. They decided to include a vampire, but this vampire can walk in the sun, has no super strength or speed, is brooding in an unlikable sort of way, and just doesn't do anything that could be considered vampire-like aside from drinking chicken blood. It's really a shame that this film couldn't decide what it wanted to be from the onset, and picking the more fleshed out genre could have made something out this mess. What we do get, however, is ideas that appear shoe-horned and out of place, to the detriment of the entire picture.

I gave this movie 3 stars for the acting alone, because the talent of the actors in this film is undeniable. But with such a shoddy script, no real horror elements, and some really sophomoric looking special effects, the film has absolutely nothing else going for it. It's truly a shame to see such talent squandered by the bad decisions of a few talking heads. Next time, try to pick a genre that makes sense, without trying to fit a square peg in the round hole of ideas for a movie.

Avoid this film. If you must watch it, do so for the acting. But be warned that nothing else about it will leave even a lasting impression.

The story is a bit of a riff on the classic vampire tail with some Stephen King elements thrown in. Racist small town terrorizes newcomer Asian family. A stranger crosses paths with this family. He may be friend or foe. His status is not exactly made clear through the film. What is clear is that the direction is awful. What is clear is that script is thin and threadbare but there is enough to make a decent movie with if you have a good director and acting talent. The direction is terrible. At times the film seems to try to have David Lynch moments. What you are left with is a series of shots of dear throughout the film that only add more confusion.

The lead actor is also beyond wooden. He walks around the entire film with a dead stare, which you could argue is part of his character. Except he also acts that way during a scene with someone close to him in which great emotion is expected. Guy Pearce (the reason I saw the film) is his usual great. But he does a lot while given very little and in the end can't carry the entire film or make up for it's shortcomings.

In the end, I'm not going to say not to watch the film, especially if you like Guy Pearce, but do not expect it to be a good one.

This subversive garbage from Northern Ireland, UK is not a vampire horror movie and has little to do with the US Pacific Northwest. It's tedious race-baiting that has very little to do with reality.

The sort of backward small American town depicted here does not exist. At least not that I've ever seen and I've lived all over the US including throughout the Pacific Northwest which has a huge disperse Asian population. This film is also insulting toward small town Northern Irish.

The character played by Alex Pettyfer is empty with no depth, although I'm guessing that's how it was directed and I'm beginning to wonder if Guy Pearce isn't overrated. He's played this type of role before in Brimstone, a better film then this one but not by much.

This is a badly produced film that is terribly written and poorly directed.

I was expecting to see a vampire horror film not a social science project with a political agenda.

For such a slow paced atmospheric movie, it was very short. The story is simple, yet brutal. A psychopathic redneck and his crazy mother rule a small American town with an iron fist, killing, blackmailing and generally doing bad stuff. The redneck has a particular issue with non-whites, so he goes out of his way to scare them off, run them off or just off them. Guy Pierce was great for the role. And here comes a mysterious stranger - who is not a stranger - back to seek revenge, that being Alex Pettyfer.

There is nothing more than that. The rest is just brooding people, angry people, stupid redneck people and weird creepy soundtrack. Like a very short, slow paced, low budget The Crow.

I don't know why this film is rated so low. Just because people expected action and got "this too shall pass"? Or because people were systematically abused and they didn't seem to be able to do anything about it, which made most watcher feel sick to their stomachs?

Bottom line: Not a masterpiece, but a film worth watching. The IMDb rating is just wrong.

Where to begin. Okay, let's start with the fact that the actors are not to blame for this debacle. The acting was fine. Although they must have had doubts at times with where the story was heading.

The real failure here must lie with the Director, or perhaps the producers who turned the work of the talented cast into a woke pile of refuse.

If it deserves an award, it would have to be for "most commercial b-roll footage". And it wasn't even symbolically relevant. I was expecting lead credits to be Getty images. Just to add filler imagery to make this film look artistic. Perhaps this was secretly an experiment to see what an AI directed film would look like. Because that is how I felt watching it. This film has absolutely no soul.

The only thing I found slightly compelling was the sympathetic depiction of "both sides" of an issue that really should be settled by now.

So much of the film didn't make sense, that I'm convinced someone either gave up on it or we just witnessed an experiment in AI generated production/editing/directing.

In the end, I walked away feeling empty, angry, and disappointed. For all the wrong reasons.