Bloodsuckers

In 2210, mankind has explored the space and found a vampiric menace, declaring war against different breeds of vampires some of them inclusive human flesh cannibals. The V-SAN (aka Vampire Sanitation) spaceship leaded by Captain Churchill (Joe Lando) receives a distress call from an Earth base and his team formed by the vampire Quintana (Natassia Malthe), the rookie officer Damian (Dominic Zamprogna) and the rebels Rosa (Leanne Adachi) and Roman (Aaron Pearl) seek survivors and vampires and they rescue the scientist Fiona (A.J. Cook), but Capt. Churchill is captured by the vampires. After their next assignment, the provisional captain Damian and his group disclose that a traitor has disengaged the defense system of the bases and they chase their prime suspect.

I like B-movies, but "Bloodsuckers" has very contradictory characters and situations. The story has some potential but the internal fights and argues and contradictions of the V-SAN team have irritated me. The so-called vampires are actually cannibals and have nothing to do with the traditional vampires that suck blood and fear garlic, crosses, holy water and sunlight. The worm vampire is hilarious and one of the funniest moments of this flick. Natassia Malthe recalls Catherine Zeta-Jones and is also extremely gorgeous. This movie seems to be a forgettable television pilot of a series. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Guerra dos Vampiros" ("The War of the Vampires")

Man has been to the farthest reaches of the earth and now he is traveling to new worlds. But with new worlds come ancient evils... the vampires of space. And not just a handful but entire tribes. In this film (which I saw as "Bloodsuckers" but I guess also goes as "Vampires Wars") we see what happens when the imperialist earthlings meet the imperialist vampires.

I will make this review very short because it's undeserving of a good review. The best I can say for this film is it has a good cast of b-list and upcoming stars. Natassia Malthe was Quintana, and was far more attractive here than in "Bloodrayne 2". Michael Ironside is Muco, and is always a fan favorite (as I say, he's the poor man's Jack Nicholson). And we even get Carrie-Ann Fleming as "Damian's wife", who horror fans will now recognize as the eponymous Jenifer from Dario Argento's "Jenifer". So this movie, as bad as it is, isn't without some names attached... but the same can be said of Uwe Boll's work.

The concept of the military tracking and killing vampires in space isn't necessarily a bad idea, but it easily falls into the realm of "cheese" and this film falls hard. The acting, especially from the vampires, is over the top and I just didn't find the explanations of their existence very convincing. Worst of all, the vampire tribes have the names "Voorhess" and "Leatherfaces". I understand this was supposed to be a clever reference for the horror fans, but it wasn't clever at all. It just sounded dumb and out of place (unlike the much more subtle references in James Gunn's "Slither", such as naming stores after lesser-known horror directors).

That's all I want to say. If you can stand lots of cheese (on this day I couldn't and I'm from Wisconsin) and want to see average actors with poor costumes fight vampires in space (although "space" looks a lot like any other forest on earth) check this one out, if you can find it. I don't personally recommend this when you can watch other cheesy vampires films (Jon Carpenter's "Vampires") or other cheesy space movies. Or maybe even some good ones. But, hey, do your thing.

First off; this movie is a bit out there even in direct-to-video terms, but in this case, that isn't such a bad thing! The story revolves around a group of space vampire-hunters that go from planet to planet trying to exterminate the bloodsucker menace. Along the way; the crew must solve the mystery of why the defense systems of the human colonies on various planets are being shut down, allowing the vampires to massacre it's residents. As well as stop the Vampires from starting all out war with humans. Though the idea of the movie is a bit cheesy and there is literally no plot twists; Bloodsuckers has an unexpected charm that lures you in and keeps you watching. The only real problems I had with the movie was the worm-sock puppet and the constant bickering. However, Bloodsuckers made up for that by actually showing reasons why the crew start to trust each other, instead of the main character does something cool and they forget all their past discrepancies (A feet that most movies always do). Also, I enjoyed the idea of many different species of vampires, instead of just one (Yes, even the vampire worm IDEA was creative; not the actual worm itself.) In conclusion, Bloodsuckers is a strange, entertaining film. In my personal opinion, I would like to see Sci-fi channel make a series from this movie. (Hey, it can't be worst than tremors!)

#1 Vampires vs. Humans

#2 Military-reject roughneck squad as first responders to dangerous, unknown Vampire incursions.

#3 Sexy female Vampire on the side of the "good guys".

#4 Plenty of gore and action.

There are four (4) major plot devices that may help you decide if you want to watch this movie. If you want all four, then the next plot device may not deter you...

#5 In outer space.

That last one almost got me too, but I'm glad I watched. In a pile of terrible direct-to-video horror that is the Sci-Fi channel Halloween marathon... this movie is a breath of fresh air. It will stand-up against any of the other Sci-Fi channel offerings, and even against the other Vampire movie Natassia starred in (who keeps giving Uwe Boll money?).

First off, the movie I watched was "Vampire Wars: Battle for the Universe", which apparently is an alternate title for "Bloodsuckers" (and a much better one IMO). Second, anyone who chooses to watch this movie and expects anything better than B-movie special effects and acting is a fool. Third, you must turn off your brain to truly enjoy these kinds of movies.

Now that I have that out of the way, I really enjoyed this movie. Spaceships, alien vampires, and half-human/half-vampire psychics are what great B-movies are made of. The gore is relatively high, but even though that got it its 'R' rating, there was no language or nudity. I have to admit, after watching Quintana in all of her minimal leather outfits, the "tantric vampire sex" scene was disappointing. I can't help but feel that the director was playing with us. Regardless, the story holds together, the special effects were above average, and there were even some good actors (specifically the guy who played the captain and the environmentalist girl).

This movie is perfect for the "let's all watch a bad movie" night.