Tag Archives: vampire

Drained (2024)

February 14, 2025 Ken Miller 3 Comments

Starring Ruaridh Aldington, Madalina Bellariu Ion, Craig Conway, Angela Dixon, Andrew Lyle-Pinnock, Natasha Patel, Andrew Lee Potts, Timothy Blore, Kenton Lloyd Morgan, Ayvianna Snow, Sean Earl McPherson and Matteo Pasquini.
Written by Peter Stylianou.
Directed by Peter Stylianou and Sean Cronin.
Produced by Sean Cronin, Peter Stylianou and Daniel Patrick Vaughan.
House54/Magnificent Films/RG Films/Red Guerilla Films

A young, jobless artist becomes obsessively attracted to a seductive woman he encounters at a London club, and he finds himself unable to stop seeing the woman, even after he discovers that she’s a vampire intent on feeding from him daily, draining him slowly…

Thomas' time spent with Rhea can be draining... — Thomas’ time spent with Rhea can be very draining…

The filmmakers do wonders with the budget available to them here, crafting a satisfying modern vampire tale. The protagonist’s relationship with his vampire lover effectively shows how romantic entanglements can be very needy and one-sided, ultimately becoming toxic for the obsessed partner. And in the case of this romance, it is literally a draining experience for the boyfriend, as he offers up his blood to keep his girlfriend satiated.

Madalina Bellariu Ion is Rhea the vampire

Ruaridh Aldington is a revelation here as the initially rather pathetic Thomas, an aimless young guy living at home with his mum, who falls head over heels for the sultry vampire Rhea, played nicely in a coldly no-nonsense manner by Romanian actress Madalina Bellariu Ion. The film’s success really depends upon Aldington making his character work, because Thomas is a pretty unprepossessing, ambition-free dude when we first meet him at the start of the film, as he masturbates in his bedroom, takes his mother’s hospitality for granted, and refuses to make any effort to get to know his mother’s new boyfriend. But, thanks to Aldington’s subtly persuasive acting here, we do start to care for Thomas as he navigates as best he can through his problematic relationship with Rhea.

Good actors can convey everything just with their eyes. Ruaridh Aldington is one of those actors

DRAINED has its own specific vampire rules. These include Rhea’s ability to fly and move super-quick when she wants to, she can walk about in the daytime (but she does like the sky to be cloudy, hence why she moved to London), she prefers to not fully drain and kill her victims if she can help it, but she must battle increased predatory urges during the full moon. Rhea needs to be invited into a person’s home, she likes to feed from arms rather than necks, and she is attracted to the blood of certain people – and it turns out that Thomas has just that type of blood, drawing Rhea to him.

This last point helps prevent the central relationship from being totally unequal: Rhea keeps coming back to Thomas because his blood is a little different, so they do share a mutual addiction (Thomas gets some kind of supernatural buzz from being fed upon), but it is definitely Rhea who has the upper hand in the relationship. As Thomas’ health begins to deteriorate, and he tries to break free, matters become more serious, and people die.

Don't get on the wrong side of Rhea... — Don’t get on the wrong side of Rhea…

There are some bloody scenes, but the film isn’t particularly gory. Rather than depending on show-stopping bouts of carnage, DRAINED keeps you watching because Aldington manages to make you care about his character’s plight. The script dodges the pitfall of becoming a typical vampire romance by being more honest about Rhea’s part in the ‘romance’: she never bullshits about being truly in love, and she openly admits to Thomas that it’s his blood that she needs on a very regular basis.

Vampire victims in this film always have puncture marks on their arms

With Thomas becoming a prime murder suspect, then finding himself on meds in a mental institution for a while, you’d be forgiven for assuming DRAINED must be quite dour and depressing, but it isn’t, thanks to the way it is filmed and acted, and because there’s a vein of humour threaded through the movie that lightens the atmosphere, a lot of it stemming from Thomas’ interactions with his mother’s new partner John, a local pest control expert, played by Craig Conway. The film also finds time to show that Rhea does have feelings after all, as she stays connected with her previous lover Andreas (Pasquini), who is severely ill. The inclusion of Andreas, whom Rhea refers to as her Old Man, also helps to drive home to Thomas (and the viewers) that this is what happens to anyone who stays too long with Rhea: they’ll be emotionally and physically sucked dry by her.

Craig Conway is John the exterminator, out to rid Thomas' mother's home of pests (and hopefully Thomas too) — Craig Conway is John the exterminator, out to rid Thomas’ mother’s home of pests (and hopefully Thomas too)

The cinematography by Daniel Patrick Vaughan is top-notch, the music score really enhances the film, and good story choices are made throughout by writer Peter Stylianou. Stylianou also co-directs the movie with Sean Cronin, who gets to play a SWAT captain during the finale!

Go and give this a watch, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

The Night Crew (2015)

May 22, 2024 Ken Miller 3 Comments

There's going to be a lot of fighting in this film! — There’s going to be a lot of fighting in this film!

Starring Luke Goss, Bokeem Woodbine, Danny Trejo, Paul Sloan, Chasty Ballesteros, Luciana Faulhaber, Jason Mewes, Jacqueline Lord and Dan Swayze. Written by Paul Sloan and Christian Sesma. Directed by Christian Sesma. Produced by Ryan Noto, Christian Sesma, Elias Axume, Jack Campbell and Tony Piantedosi.

Paul Sloan, Bokeem Woodbine, Luke Goss and Luciana Faulhaber play bounty hunters Ronnie, Crenshaw, Wade and Rose

A small team of bounty hunters, led by Wade (Goss), succeed in apprehending their target, a woman called Mae (Ballesteros), but matters get out of hand when they find themselves under siege in an isolated, deserted motel, fighting against trigger-happy cartel killers. It also slowly becomes apparent that there’s more to Mae than meets the eye…

Okay, as this is the Monster Zone blog site, I will be upfront and reveal Mae’s secret: she’s actually a vampire! The vampire aspect of the story, though, is used more to add some mystery to the mainly action-oriented movie. Some moments hint that Mae is not just a ‘normal’ foxy asian (pole dancing) gal, but this supernatural facet of the tale remains secondary to the central tough-bounty-hunters-shooting-it-out-with-cartel-thugs siege plot line. But, hey, this is okay by me because the combat scenes are pretty intense and well-handled, with bodies getting blasted, knife fights, and rocket launchers used with relish by the combatants.

He's a cartel footsoldier! — He’s a cartel footsoldier!

Above: there's a great deal of shooting in this movie! — Above: there’s a great deal of shooting in this movie!

Rose is captured by the cartel bad guys for a while

THE NIGHT CREW is actually a modestly-budgeted production, but it benefits from director Christian Sesma’s quest to try and put every dollar he has on the screen. Sesma has said that his mindset is always to make his films as if he had a hundred million dollars (even though, with some of his projects, he often only has several hundred thousand dollars to play with!) Sesma has admitted that this attitude has been called overly ambitious a lot of times by critics, but at least he has managed to give many of his low cost movies (such as his heist film PAY DIRT) a sense of scale by shooting some of his movies near his home in the Coachella Valley, making the most of local locations like Thermal, Palm Springs and the Salton Sea, using the desert vistas, stunning blue skies and expansive palm groves to turbo-charge the visual appeal of his thrillers, revenge stories and actioners. For THE NIGHT CREW Sesma bases the movie in and around a real, derelict desert motel complex (which, in reality, was situated twenty minutes from the director’s house). With the abandoned motel location dressed up with trash bags and some of its walls spray-painted a bit, the place was made to look more dilapidated for the movie.

'The hunters become the hunted' — ‘The hunters become the hunted’

Trejo's character likes to have blood transfusions — Trejo’s character likes to have blood transfusions

Sesma also gets the best out of Luke Goss, who plays the lead bounty hunter. I think Goss, when used well (such as by Guillermo Del Toro in HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY), delivers compelling performances, and here he takes his Wade role seriously.

Luke Goss as the stoic merc leader Wade — Luke Goss as the stoic bounty hunter Wade

Bokeem Woodbine, Paul Sloan and Luciana Faulhaber, meanwhile, are fine as the rest of Wade’s team, Danny Trejo’s baddie Aguilar is very much the kind of big, grizzled guest star thug that Trejo can play in his sleep, and Jason Mewes, as usual, finds it hard to shake off comparisons to his Jay and Silent Bob character.

Jason Mewes as a security guard — Jason Mewes as security guard Chachi

In France THE NIGHT CREW is known as BLACKWATER

After all the shootings, grapplings, stabbings, kickings, punchings and deaths, the mortally-wounded Rose and Wade (spoiler) are turned into vampires to keep them ‘alive’. Then they, along with Mae, go over to Aguilar’s place, where the cartel boss sprouts some vampire fangs of his own.

Mae turns the dying Rose into a vampire…

...and then the newly-undead Rose turns Wade into a vampire — …and then the newly-undead Rose turns the dying Wade into a vampire

These blood-sucking vampire elements only become a main part of the story at the very end of the film, and it is obvious that Sesma was hoping to springboard these characters into a more supernatural-themed sequel. I, for one, would’ve loved to have seen Luke Goss play a kick-ass vampire bounty hunter in a follow-up flick.

Vampire Mae rips out the throat of a nasty cartel villain

After Sesma sold his movie, however, he was then in the hands of the distributors, and, according to the director, a weird distributor put the movie out at a weird time – and THE NIGHT CREW just kind of fell by the wayside, meaning there was no appetite for a sequel. Which, for me, is a pity, as I think, with a bigger budget and an action-horror plot focusing on vamp bounty hunters, THE NIGHT CREW 2 would’ve been a bloody fangtastic flick!

Luciana Faulhaber and Luke Goss didn't get the chance to return as undead vampire mercenaries in a sequel. Oh well. — Luciana Faulhaber and Luke Goss didn’t get the chance to return as undead bounty hunting vampires in a sequel. Oh well.

Let’s end with a look at the Brazilan DVD cover artwork for the film…

In Brazil the movie title means THE NIGHT TEAM

Dracula (1979)

July 23, 2021 Ken Miller 3 Comments

Count Dracula (Frank Langella) arrives in Whitby on the doomed ship Demeter that runs aground during a stormy night. He is discovered by Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis), who is visiting her friend Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan). The suave Count visits Mina and her friends at the Seward’s mansion that is also the local asylum.

Dracula starts preying on the women, turning Mina into a ghastly vampire and offering Lucy eternal, undead life as his bride. Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve), Lucy’s fiancé, joins forces with Mina’s father, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Laurence Olivier), to combat the charming-but-deadly Count.

Just like Universal’s 1931 production of DRACULA, that starred Bela Lugosi, the screenplay for this version of the Bram Stoker story was based on the 1924 stage adaptation by Hamilton Deane and John L Balderston. Langella starred in the Broadway play and had been nominated for a Tony Award for his performance.
(This version of the tale also changed characters and names around too).

I think this is a very satisfying, enjoyable, Edwardian period-set vampire movie.

I know some horror fans avoid this version because it’s a ‘romantic’ take on the story, but it is a great-looking production that boasts a fine score by John Williams, a memorable central performance by Frank Langella and a good supporting cast, including Donald Pleasence and Tony Haygarth, who is great as Renfield.

With a screenplay by W. D (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) Richter, the film has a bunch of well-done horror moments directed by John Badham, such as the underground encounter with a very ghoulish-looking undead Mina, Dracula twisting Renfield’s head 180° to break his neck and the Count crawling vertically down walls in slow motion.

Wonderful stuff.

Oh, and I like the love sequence between Dracula and Lucy (which many people knock), that uses the sumptuous John Williams score really effectively… and features laser effects!

Love scene — Okay, the love scene does go a bit ‘James Bond title sequence’, but that’s probably because Maurice Binder was Visual Consultant on this movie…

A beautiful matte shot by Albert Whitlock

View from a spider's web — View from a spider’s web

About the colour timing…
In 1991 John Badham (who had originally wanted to shoot the film in black and white) tweaked the colour timing for home video with a desaturated look. This remains the most widely available version (it’s the version available on Amazon Prime, for instance).

For their 2-Disc Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, Scream Factory included the desaturated version plus the original version that screened in theatres (which I saw and enjoyed so much).

Mina gif — Thought I’d show Mina one more time!

Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.