Dampyr

This movie is yet another tedious cover of all the vpure movies of the past, the most obvious being John Csrpenter's Vampires. This movie follows that plot almost scene for scene.

That would be fine if there was some meat to chew on, so to speak, but this movie is all bare bones. The acting is - as do many of these entries into the vampire world - dead. The action is just plain dumb. For example, the protagonist charges towards the villain (a vampire) 3 or 4 times, only to be hurled back 50 feet. And what does he do when he gets on his feet again? Yup. He charges at the vampire AGAIN. No matter it didn't work the previous 4 times. And you have the usual humans-encountering-vampires fight. Humans fire their machine guns, the vampires laugh. Well, you can figure out what happens next.

And one can easily predict the dialogue, or the following scene. It drones on and on. The trajectory resembles the recently launched rocket that flew 500 feet towards space - and promptly exploded. If it was an ekg, it would be a flatline. My husband watched, while I just listened. I asked four times how it was, and his response was "bad." There is no genuine tension or climax in the movie. How anyone could get this at 10 is beyond me. I can understand being entertained (and even that is questionable), but objectively? A poorly done film with little plot, bad acting, endlessly derivative. This is a 5 at best. A 3 is a fair rating. Keep in mind, I'm not the demographic for this, whom I would imagine to be 18 year olds who like to watch things explode, or guns firing endlessly. For the rest, this will not cut the mustard.

For fans of the genre, it's pretty much a mishmash of other stories. Hints of Blade, Vampire Hunter D, so on with maybe a touch of Constantine. Definitely scripted to be the start of a series, but would be surprised if someone sprung for the desired sequels. Does meet Netflix criteria, however - Cheap to make. Production quality is fine for the Eastern European origins (on par with Blade 1). Worth the watch if nothing else catches your eye, but don't expect an Oscar quality script or performance. I'm sure any plot holes (big enough to drive a truck through) will be filled in its intended sequels or possibly filled in by its comic book origins.

It's evidently based on an Italian comic of the same name (I'd never heard of it.) Fans of the comic will probably get more out of it than casual viewers. Dampyr is essentially a superhero origin story: developing the protagonist and defining his powers, introducing his allies; and giving him a dopey mid-tier villain as an initial test while more formidable antagonists wait in the wings.

The movie makes good use of an apparently small budget. The 1992 Yugoslav war is a perfect setting for a modern vampire movie. The two main supporting performances are quite good. Everything else about the production is hit-or-miss. The dialogue goes from snappy to banal and back in a single conversation; the character development and world-building are sometimes sharply economical and other times either bloated or non-existent; and the main actor's performance is wobbly - he has some snarky charisma but he doesn't have the gravitas to carry big moments.

Overall it's an enjoyable mid-tier popcorn flick. Turn your brain off and have fun with it.

I wanted to like this, I really did. The movies starts off interesting, giving the viewer a nice backdrop of the story.....then it happened....the other 80 minutes of the movie.

First thing noticed is the action scenes where you cannot tell the good guys from the bad guys. There are people shooting and other people falling down and you do not know who is who...or care.

Secondly, the dialogue is on the level of a high school play...junior high.

Third, not many good decisions, actually there was only one good decision(actually great) and everything else is a bed decision to push the story forward.

Last...when you see your enemy that you have ben trying to kill all movie...just kill them. Do not do some STUPID monologue that does little to propel the story and only makes it easier for your enemy to get you. This happened multiple times on both sides, the good and the bad. Just stupid.

I loved this film. It had the feel of an old school vampire film. Hopefully people will judge for themselves so maybe they can make another one. It has some really great actors in it. It is also english speaking. The story line is good. I feel like if they make more we will get more of the story. If your favorite horror sub genre is Vampires like mine than you should check this film out. David Morrissey played a great wicked vampire. Dampyr did not disappoint as far as I'm concerned. This is also has the lead from the new spin off series viking Valhalla in it. Don't miss out on this dark fantasy.