Two teenagers find a book called "The Book of the Dead," and soon they discover that a vampire cult, which needs the book to raise the dead so they can take over the world, is after them.
An impressive beginning with traffic speeding by at night and showing the moon as well as the beach and city but then it starts to slope while we watch it showing cheesy discussions with the teens going to the beach but good shots on people surfing as this looked fairly crafty to watch.
There's a cool moment with a band performing at an 80's dance bar in which there's neat looking neon lights since places like that looked cool to see but then after people were dancing we hear a clapter in which this sounded phony and the crowd doesn't seem to react natural due to this. However at the bar we spot the teens hanging out which looked fun wanting to join in even if the situations were conry and unnatural while there's the guy Harold talking to Judy about horror films which seems fitting for a vampire flick but yet we don't spot any vampires yet just some mysterious attacks.
Oh wait!!! Yes we spot the head vampire Falto having a gothic type of discussion as well as having a lusty teenage girl to drink blood from as this looked so lame with the costuming on this as well as the setting outs on the discussions here. Very amateurishly done and not effective at all. Pretty embarrissing for the filmmakers to do this scene.
We spot a romantic discussion between the main supporting characters Harold and Wynette strolling near sundown at a beach as the speaking sounds very overdubbed like it was a foreign film which looked cheesy and obvious as this didn't look well done at all.
However there's some neat close up shots on them making out in bed with her on top of him feeling him while wearing a silky nightgown as there's interesting trick camera shots on this. Also some interesting discussions with them later on which seemed to look a bit more entertaining.
We have them near an alleyway as they are troubled by two punks in which this setting was supposed to look unpleasant but yet things seemed to look way too acted out here and very stiff too. Also we see a shadow figure getting in the way with these two punks later on which things were supposed to look intense when these thugs tried to stab this figure as this looked so roughly out of shape and more amateurish.
There's a scene with a beach storyteller talking about a horror story at a bonfire and things do look mildly creepy when we spot two in-human vampire like forms about to approach and attack them which starts to get the ball rolling but then it falls flat a great deal when we see them screaming as the energy and picture looked very low.
Yet there's nice foggy shots on both Harold and Wynette in an alleyway having a suspenseful discussion as things looked good and still with this but there's supposed to be a jumping moment when they are grabbed as this doesn't work at all.
We have the teens planning to battle the vampire's in which they looked like they were having too much fun preparing for this as this doesn't work in well at all. Almost like watching a comedy during this moment but you could tell that this wasn't meant to be funny.
There's a cheesy setting with vampires doing a ceremony as certain moments looked interesting but then the teens come in and about to do battling as everything looked like a theatrical performance but yet that seemed to look dramatic while spotting it. However didn't work in too well for what we spot here as well as fake looking make up on vampires as well as the costumes. Things didn't seem to come together at all and too corny to watch all of this.
Bottom line is that although the film had a fair low made for video budget there wasn't really a story behind this as well as barely revealing the vampire's and when we do it looks amateursihly done. The film was made for no good reason at all since in a movie there's needs to be which shows that the writing is uninspired since we know the what where when and why. They broke most of those rules. A film easily forgettable and I can see why this one was obscure.
The acting is pretty bad and amateurshly done like the movie itself but I will do my best to dig up some of them to review here even if all of it was pretty forgettable here. They remain to be virtual unknowns and can see why. Now let's see.... Okay sort of lead actress Jennifer Badham (Judy) played a beautiful bubbly type in the film but she was a bit over the top with her excited discussions on situations as she needed some lessons while doing this. Seems to get into her friendliness with what she had to do here. Shows some interesting excitements on stuff but was too wooden at the same time.
Todd Kaufman (Harold) seemed to be one of the better one's with the nice guy next door looks and appeal. He shows off a nice seriousness to what he does but sometimes was a bit stale within his performance. Yet seems to show off well with acting romantic and really getting into his discussions along with showing a fairly sympatheitc attitude too.
Stephen Matthews (Bob) offers an okay seriousness with whatever he does as well as having the right looks for a sort of nerdy scientific type which shows off on the camera. Seemed to act convincingly uplifting when he tries out one of his projects as well as doing well stressing a sitation for some moments when preparing to hunt vampire's. He wasn't that great and a bit wooden like the rest but not as bad.
Jennifer Jostyn (Wynette) shows off a nice innocence to her part in the film which seems not too badly done as well as her innocent soft speaking but she is very stiff while doing all of this especially when she freaks out or acts scared just going too over the top with this and not acting natural at all. Another one who needed better coaching for sure.
William Hoo (Demos) draws across okay by acting outgoing as well as showing a sarcastic behavior and being lightheaded which seemed to look fairly okay but really needed to pick up some energy while doing this. He does show some good enthusiasm when talking to others about a plan which seemed to show off some decent energy here.
Mariusz Olbrychowski (Falto) was laughable as the head vampire and not in a good way. He tries so hard to act gothic like or powerful but this really falls flat a great deal. He couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. Plus didn't have the proper looks for his role which was another downer while seeing him in action. Nuff said.
There's a butt shot on Jennifer Jostyn while standing out on a balcony.
There's alot of cheesy synthesizer music that sounds pretty lame as it tried so hard to sound like an orchestra but fails in order to do so with the chiming sounds at first for the suspenseful beginnings as you hope it will sound nicely done and then when it sounds loud and powerful ends up in a disappointment. There;s also old fashioned type of organ music by the synthesizer playing which also sounds off for the vampires in the tomb attacking. I was thinking that this was a real joke. The music in the beginning sounded not too badly done but that was it.
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