Painkillers

'Painkillers' aka 'The Incredible Shaking Man' has a remarkably novel premise, in that it is an entirely toothless Vampire movie that in actuality is no less pallid than the iconic, blood-sucking Mythos it tries so desperately hard to reinvent! 'Fashionably be-stubbled, Daytime TV Handsome Surgeon' suffers a paralyzing, palsy-inducing emotional trauma after surviving a tragic auto accident, only to discover that this ceaselessly excruciating neurological malady is temporarily assuaged by the consumption of human blood; the steamy fresh, wholly organic, ikky-poo variety mind you, absolutely NONE of that Vegan/hybrid muck, thank you very much!!! On the lugubrious evidence of this anemic, torpor-inducing travesty, one sincerely hopes that the timorous filmmaker's egregious plan to spawn a similarly gutless Zombie movie remains no less stillborn than their execrable concept of an entirely fright-less re-make of 'Fright Night', oh...

It was a goo horror movie, short and to the point!

A surgeon fooling around whilst driving crashes his car, killing his young son. He then suffers from a very rare form of PTSD, the only thing that can stop his violent shaking is drinking fresh human blood! I really do not know what the writer was thinking when they came up with this idea. Yes, it is a different, modern take on the vampire story but a ridiculous one at that. I found the acting weak, as is the film as a whole. It plays more like a TV drama than a horror movie. Thankfully it is reasonably short.

From the previous reviews I was not expecting much from this but having just watched it on the horror channel and whilst it is more of a Drama Thriller it does possess a certain element of horror and is well above my expectations for a tv style movie and based on the other poor reviews.

The film is well shot, directed, paced and acted although Grant Bowler really does steal the show as he is a superlative actor and makes this movie even more enjoyeable than it otherwise would have been. The main protagonist also plays his part well and is quite convincing as the Vampyr.

Yes it is more of a TV style movie but why should that make it rubbish as some of the other reviewers have made it out to be. Me, well I try and give a movie a fair shake based on the budget and this is well above par!

Solid 6/10 from me!

Painkillers: A new take on the Vampire Mythos. Opens with a woman being attacked by another (crazed) woman in an alley. The victim's wrist is cut with a knife and the assailant starts to drink her blood. Surgeon John Clark (Adam Huss) is involved in a car crash in which his son is killed. Physically he recovers but for no apparent reason he suffers from great physical pain. He meets a stranger, Herb Morris (Grant Bowler) who offers a solution to his suffering - blood. Clark dismisses this but his debilitating condition makes him realise that blood is indeed a palliative.

The film convincingly portrays the breakdown of a surgeon, the only way he can stop shaking is to ingest blood. But when he returns to work he is caught drinking waste blood after an operation. A doctor of course would have access to the hospital blood store but eventually discrepancies would be noted. These vampires operate in daylight and are not deterred by garlic or crosses, nor do they possess eternal life, but to function "normally", drinking blood is a necessity. Morris offers to supply Clark but it's at a cost, either he joins in hunting society's pariahs and using them as bloddanks or he pays a high financial price.

Effective horror showing that a vampire doesn't need a cape and fangs to be scary. This is the very banality of evil in action. But an evil which has been visited upon these Vampires, the great pain demands blood. Director Roxy Shih has created an interesting addition to the Vampire Film Canon. 7/10. On Horror Channel.