User reviews

I gave this movie a 1 out of 10 rating.

Storyline: Mildly interesting, though predictable and not too original.

Acting: Awful? Horrible? Pathetic? Take your pick.

Cinematography: Decent for a shot-on-video movie, but low quality audio and bad lighting really drag it down.

Special effects are non-existent, but not entirely cheesy due to clever use of camera positioning, etc.

Pacing: It's way too long (135 minutes)

Pros: Good insight into the psyche of someone who is forced to kill in order to survive. Comic relief provided by "The Reaper" who dresses in a Grim Reaper caul, but with psychadelic socks that change every scene.

Cons: Bad acting, poor cinematography.

As movies go, the only people who will find it interesting are the very VERY small group of people who are 1) really into vampires and 2) delve into the psychological aspects of reluctant killing. If this doesn't describe you, stay far far away from this film.

I'd ordered this movie for a friend, who wanted it for a customer who had a friend who appeared in this...if you can follow that. As it turned out, I had worked with someone with a very small role in this too. I'd read some good things about this online when I tried looking for a copy.

However, I didn't much care for it. I think you would really, really have to love vampires to watch this movie. I got an hour and twenty minutes into it and gave up and hit my fast-forward button to scan through the rest. Nothing I saw made me hit play again. At 135 minutes...two hours and fifteen minutes...this is just far, far too long.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, even on fast forward it was boring. Having got that off my chest it is only fair to admit that these guys were ambitious. They had an (not uninteresting) idea about a story of vampires in 'real life' and ran with it. Unfortunately they ran with it far too long and this ends up being a non-stop onslaught of gory kills with lots of accompanying screaming and because this is mixed up with a mafia storyline very dumb and very tedious yelling of the same words all the time in place of dialogue. Also, just a personal thing, but there is no sex at all, just blood and guts and crass posturing from all concerned. Amazingly all this is taken very seriously and we are constantly reminded how difficult it would be to be one of these boring vampires. There are attempts at humour but I have been rude enough so I'll say no more, other than that this would have been better if it were two hours shorter!

Forgive me all that read this review. It won't be long, I assure you. BRAIN DAMAGE films.what can be said about them. Besides bringing out interesting, possibly trend-setting films, I think that the movie makers really need to invest in some better filming equipment. I knew when I saw the opening shot that it was going to be an uninteresting movie, and I was right. Was there blood in it? Yes. Was there vampires? If you want to call them that. Constant screaming from the victims, the cheesy blood that covered the bodies, frustration over a loss of $3.50 is all I felt. The cover to all of their movies is great, but then again, it's suckers like me that rent it and realize after the movie starts that we've been swindled. Oh, and please don't get me started on these Soprano-like vampires.

Mob-Vampires from Brooklyn. Actually, the premise is pretty believable, once you grant that vampires exist. I mean, I can see the whole punk culture TRYING to become vampires. And once they are, the gangster life just seems like a natural fit. So I liked that a lot.

The acting is fresh and believable. The language is harsh, but I imagine that that's the way New York gangsters-mob guys really talk. This movie has an M rating for a reason. Keep the kiddies away, unless you like getting nastygrams from their teachers.

There is only one actor in the whole of this movie that's been in anything besides this. And with the whole writer/director/editor/ thing makes me think this is some kind of New York Drama Class project. If so, it's an awesome first effort, and I look forward to more from Mr. Fratto.

I give it 4 out of 5 severed limbs.

Low budget, independent horror/comedy following several vampires in 21st Century New York. Bit of a tough one for me to review. On one hand I am tempted to say this is an overlong piece of crap, but on the other hand it certainly has some merits to make it watchable (provided the viewer appreciates low budget flicks). The good - I felt compelled to stick with it as I wanted to know what was going to happen to the various characters, all of whom are vampires, or people attacked by them. Interestingly these vampires can walk around in daylight, the Sun has no fatal effect on them. I liked the soundtrack, a crucial element to any movie. There is a fair amount of bloodshed and violence. Camerawork is pretty good, at times using imaginative angles, and there are some creepy dreamlike, nightmarish sequences. The bad - acting is at times poor, but then this is to be expected with movies of this type of budget. There is a dose of comedy but sadly at times it is just dumb, especially a couple meant to be Vlad the Impaler and Countess Bathory, real historical characters associated with "vampirism. But the worst thing for me was the film's mega running time - my DVD clocked up 140 minutes! Way too long for a film like this, in the unlikely attempt that I should feel the urge to revisit STHAS then I would probably do so in two sittings.

I would rather watch Barney than this piece of tripe. Poorly acted. Even worse writing. Random changes to story lines and dangling plots. Most of the characters were just ideas that were never fleshed out to be believable. Its like someone was playing a vampire game and tried to set it to a film. And did it badly. Random introduction of pointless characters makes things hard to follow. The attempts at humor are poor. The one or two ideas that the staff has are so poorly done that they loose your interest. Here's a tip for the film maker. Next time spend more than $1.39 to make the film, and get someone to do voice training with the cast. If you live in New Jersey the accent may be cute or funny. But If you aren't from the area its just annoying. And have the cast READ the script. it helps if they know what they are supposed to be doing in the film. Not improvising thru entire scenes.

Saw this in the video shop and thought it might be good for a laugh. I knew it would be cheesy but I was unprepared for just how bad this was. The acting, if you can call it that, was terrible. The production values, camera work, 'effects' but above all, the story. At first glance the story had promise. A strange take on the vampire genre but it had potential. That was the only thing this had going for it.

Avoid at all costs. Sometimes when movies are really bad, they become good in a comedy kind of way. This didn't. It went beyond bad into a complete waste of time.

Really, avoid it.

I was kind of surprised about some of the negative reaction to this wonderful movie. If quentin tarrantio and anne rice got together and made a vampire movie it would be similar to this film. The makers of the film have made vampires something to fear again in their descriptions of these sociopathic bloodsuckers who live on to feed on the blood of their victims.Another I love about the movie is some of the characters like the reaper, a chilling vampire hit-man who's frightened of his neat freak psycho wife. Reaper's wife

profanity-laced tirades against her husband are hilarious!The heroine of this movie, a vampire hitwoman who has vendetta against brutal vampire marcel and his girlfriend Amy who turned her into a vampire are chilling in it's intensity.I love the dialogue of vampire gangsters Jimmy fangs and his crew who sound like they come straight from a episode of the sopranos.the scenes with Marcel and Amy and their hostage, a born again Christian who seeks to save Amy's soul are great as well.There are no wimpy soul-searching vamps in this movie.All of the vampires in this movie are bloodthirsty who revel in their killing of the victims.Another plus of the movie is sometimes gorgeous camera-work in the movie and the scenes of bloodletting and gruesome violence are shocking but appropriate for this film. This is one of the all-time best vampire movie I ever seen with over-top violence, memorable characters, witty humor and great photography all add up to classic tale of vampiric horror with a dark comic edge.

I was really impressed by Marc Fratto's second film Zombies Anonymous (AKA: Last Rites of the Dead). So, I was eager to see Strange Things Happen at Sundown. Overall I was disappointed. Not because of the camera-work, or the acting, or the lighting, or the special effects, I knew they would be sub-par. What really disappointed me was the writing. Zombies Anonymous was well written and well edited (assuming you see the full version), Strange Things was overlong, and overly ambitious. There are plenty of great ideas, and funny moments, but overall they don't add up to much of a movie, which is too bad.

I can't recommend this video, but at the same time I can't trash it. If you're interested I say pick it up, check it out. If your on the fence about watching it, don't bother, rent Zombie Anonymous instead.

This film couldn't decide if it wanted to be a comedy or a serious low budget horror flick, some scenes bordered on slapstick while others tried desperately to be artistic, deep and meaningful. Unfortunately it missed on all points. Also its running time is so long it didn't even fall into the 'it's so bad its good' category, its just boring. The feeding scenes were way too long and some of the dialogue was just mind numbing. The acting though wasn't too bad (in some places) but the Italian/New York accents were bordering on the abysmal. I can only hope the makers go on to better things as Im sure they cant get any worse.

Only watch this if your suffering from insomnia and need help sleeping.

It would be a crime against my conscience not to. It is one of the funniest, goriest, and most unique vampire movies I've seen, and I would gladly place it right next to "Near Dark" as an essential indie horror flick about vampires. Of course, it is a long movie and I admit it does seem to go on forever, but this is actually one of those movies where I was thinking, "It seems to take forever, but if it did go on forever, I could still sit and watch and watch and watch." It really is a movie where you just have to let it run its course as it introduces such a wide range of emotions, characters, and ideas and winds them into a clever and cohesive whole. As much as I loved it, I don't mind how it took it's time doing that; you have to just lose yourself into its weird, little world. All of the characters had a place in this, and most of the actors were just as good as any you're likely to see at a multiplex. Why is it a small handful of less than stellar (yet still cheezily engaging) actors are blamed for a bad movie just because it's shot on video? I would dare to call this a GREAT movie, and for every less-than-convincing actor there are literally several who truly friggin' deliver here! Don't even let the Tarantino comparisons color your idea of what the movie comes off as. I, for one, more than half-expected this to suck, since the only other movie I've yet seen from Brain Damage films that I liked was the admittedly schlocky "Terror Toons", and many others caused me pain to watch them. Just throw out your preconceptions and SEE THIS MOVIE! It is one of the best horror flicks of 2003, hands down!

hey just watched this movie, It starts off a bit boring but eventually the plot picks up, its actually a bit hard to understand at the beginning but by the first 45 minutes you have a rough idea of whats going on. Probably one of the main problems is that it doesn't fully explain about certain things until the end of the film. At first I thought this was a home made film, but then i realised it was for real. It was a bit pathetic and did get a bit boring at certain points but if you just hang in there and watch it to the end it is an OK low budget film. I mean I wouldn't say this was better than the other low budget films I've seen like the ice cream man and the gingerdead man but it was OK. I suppose its worth watching.

I would imagine a lot of you are like me, and are pretty sickened and disgusted by the latest wave of Vampires, with Twilight, and whatnot. So, for anyone too old, or just too smart for the latest Vamp-craze, and for anyone who was already bored with everything from the original Dracula to Blade, well, there is light, make that darkness at the end of the tunnel.

Strange Things Happen At Sundown is by far the best case I've ever seen of a director thinking outside the box, as far as Vampire cinema goes. A true love for the sub-genre is evident. At first I wasn't sure about this one considering I'm not a huge fan of Mafia movies, but the Vampire goodfellas (goodfangs) actually kinda work.

The movie doesn't focus on any one situation for too long, which makes it impossible to get bored. Instead, Strange Things takes us from the mafia guys to a couple of young Vampires who ripped them off (Marcel and Amy) And we are also let in on the disturbing world of the reaper, who has been hired to find and kill them.

Marcel has only been a Vampire for a few years, and "the kill" is what he lives for. Torturing, killing, drinking blood, and even eating flesh. Amy, on the other hand, isn't much of a Vampire. She can't even figure out how to make her fangs come out. Amy's lack of callousness, and signs of sympathy for those her any Marcel slaughter puts a real strain of there relationship.

Marcel is now devoid of all humanity, and Amy, scared and insecure, is starting to have doubts about this whole Vampire thing. These 2 just better hope the reaper doesn't catch up to them, because this is one Vampire who is not above killing one of his own, although, his problems with the wife might complicate things. And as for the goodfangs, well, they got bigger fish to fry, like, for example, the human race.

The Vampires in this movie not only need human blood to survive, but they just flat-out need to torture and kill to maintain peace of mind. A quality which adds to the mean-spirited tone, and makes Vampires seem like something that could actually exist. Besides being gory, and completely awesome, Strange Things Happen At Sundown is also quite interesting. Exploring what goes on in the minds of these creatures. The differences between the mentality of someone like Amy, who is still relatively new, and someone like the Reaper, who has been around for thousands of years. It's kinda like HBO's Trueblood, which I consider the only thing good to come out of the latest Vamp-craze. It's movies like this that really give me hope. Not for Vampire flicks, so much as modern B-cinema. Forget all the B-movie stereotypes like comically lousy acting and humiliatingly low budgets. That stuff is wonderful, of course, but this is one you can totally take seriously. And even the extremely well-timed comic relief is just subtle enough not to overshadow the Horror aspect in the very least. Strange Things Happen At Sundown is pure quality Horror. Beautiful, dark Horror. Real Horror for the real Horror fan. And on top of all that, it's also well over two hours. A modern B-Horror epic if there ever was such a thing. So, if the huge budgets and the predictable story lines of safe/normal mainstream Horror makes you yawn, check out Leif Jonker's Darkness or Andy Warhol's Dracula, that is, if you dig gore and weirdness. But for a real example of rare quality B-Horror, and no doubt, a future cult classic, Strange Things Happen At Sundown is a must see. 10/10

I really miss the late 70s and early 80s when you could catch some amazing cult films at Midnight showings...Strange things Happen At Sundown would have been perfect to watch at one of those...This is one of the more intelligent, funny, gory cult films to come out in some time...Definitely a unique take on vampires...Mobster vampires is just a great idea and it was executed so well...The film is smothered with writhing, bloody women and an amazing score...Unlike any of the low-budget horror films I've seen in some time and MUCH better than the big budget horror films out there!

I saw this movie with my friends just recently and honestly I thought it wasn't that bad. There were only two really scary shots that I thought were pretty scary but overall it seemed like a normal movie. I don't know if I'd see it again though because it has a lot of blood and body parts in it and of course tons of vampires but if you want to see it one time just to see what it's like or just because how scary it is go ahead. I would watch the whole movie and I see if you like it because like I said some of the scenes are just normal scenes. If you are interested in watching than go for it!!!

Ive been subjected to a lot of Shot-on-video garbage in the last few years, but finally, an SOV movie that does things right. It only occasionally suffers from kind of production problems that most shot-on-video movies are littered with, although it excels with stylish camerawork, great lighting, and superior editing and special effects. Technically speaking, Strange Things definately raises the bar on micro-budget movies.

The filmmakers also understand how to make an entertaining movie. Strange Things is funny, surreal and dark. In addition, it also tells a great story, with solid performances by the talented cast. The vampire mobsters are hysterical. I also love the characters of the Reaper and his wife. Lots of Tarantino style dialogue and wacky characters. Strange Things also knows its place as exploitation, with tons of gore scenes, lots of half dressed girls writhing and moaning, torture scenes galore, graphic cannibalism, and an amazing scene where a fat kid gets a spear in his behind and mounted up, Vlad the Impaler-style. (make sure you watch the unrated version and not the hacked up version I originally rented from one of the big video chains).

THIS IS A CULT CLASSIC IF EVER I SAW ONE. It has a Sopranos-like mobster vampire gang who are sadistic and violent in hilarious fashion. Their names alone will have you in stitches. It is incredibly funny stuff. It is also bloody, sado-masochistic, sexual, and horrifying. It is a non-stop blood-curdling screamer. The screenplay is clever and funny as hell. It even has a "slayer" of sorts and a "born-again" vampire. You will never forget it. Looks like it was filmed on Long Island. Excellent acting and screaming, especially the wife of the Reaper. Great satire. Cast of thousands of sexy female screamers. The humor doesn't stop even with the ending credits. Read the names and character descriptions. Hilarious. Don't miss it.

I'm amazed at the criticism this movie is receiving from supposed horror fans, especially those who are offended by the strong language and nudity - two staples of the horror genre!

I've seen a lot of bad independent horror movies in my time and I've got to say "Strange Things Happen at Sundown" is not one of them. The quality of the direction, lighting, acting, effects and soundtrack belie the low budget.

The thing that really surprised me, however was the originality in the plot. It's incredibly hard to come up with an original script in a genre as 'done to death' as the vampire flick, but the producers of this film have done just that. Kudos should be given for that alone.

The movie,as others have said, started off as if it were going to be another cheap vampire flick. But, it got better when the bad guys showed their fangs. From there on out, it turned into a pretty good movie. It was gory and had a lot of thrashing, groaning or screaming victims--definitely not for kids or the halfway-squeamish viewer. But, I thought it was well-told from a vampire's perspective, and I liked the vampire-turned-vigilante angle. Although much of the scenes had been done before, this movie ties a lot of these different elements together in a fascinating way. It ran for 138 minutes, because it had a lot to tell. And, I liked some of the twists at the end. Altogether, Strange Things turned out to be an entertaining, sometimes funny, vampire-flick that I would recommend to viewers who like this genre.