Midnight Mass

Rock-bottom rotten. A promising premise (reminiscent of stories in "Under the Fang") and a somewhat creative opening few minutes -- tracking a vampire apocalypse from the point-of-view of TV news clips -- are red herrings in this presumably straight-to-video release.

Wherever the dividing line is between "low-budget" and "indie", this movie is well on the losing side. The acting is entirely amateur and ranges from the sub-par (for example, the goth youth collaborators) to the merely dull (alcoholic hero Father Joe) to the whopping ludicrous (Marvin Schwartz as a Catholic priest-turned-vampire). The direction as such is incomprehensible. A dreadful, rambling script is partially credited to horror author F. Paul Wilson, who also briefly appears.

Don't be misled by the colorful video box! This trash is impossible to watch in its entirety, and not worth the wear on your DVD player.