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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The Retard or the Poser?" ~ Vampires in the Desert, July 21, 2005
Be forewarned those who may be driving in the desert at night on some dark, deserted piece of highway. Stop for hitchhikers at your own risk. Also avoid the urge of trying to be too helpful to fellow motorist stranded along the way. Remember things are not always what they appear to be.
This was quite a well-constructed, coherent storyline from beginning to end. You are never left in the dark with this plot. Everything is explained at the appropriate time, the history of this particular vampire sect, how they happened to show up in Midwest America, how the vampire virius works in the body, its telepathic properties and what must be done to cure yourself from the curse of "The Forsaken." All this infomation was nicely worked into the script in such a way as not to bog down the viewer with too much substance, hence detracting from what the average movie fan is looking for, gore and violence.
A brief comment for any young girls who may get struck watching this with a boyfriend. While you may not enjoy the horror elements in the movie you might enjoy the male members of the cast which includes; Brendan Fehr (Roswell), Kerr Smith (Dawson's Creek, Final Destination) and Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do) as the head vampire.
Brendan Fehr was terrific as the young, wise beyond his years vampire hunter roaming the highways and byways in search of the vampire that infected him with the virius. My favorite scene in the movie is when Nick (Brendan Fehr) and Sean (Kerr Smith) stop at a roadside diner for a bite to eat. A two-way conversation quickly turns into a monologue when Nick begins to compare the aspirations and hopes of his generation with those of the last. It's not only hilarious, but absolutely true. Without giving away too much of the ending, I'll just say a perfect opening was provided for a sequel. While I'm not generally a fan of sequels, I would've liked to see Brendan Fehr reprise his role of vampire hunter at least one more time.
Simply the most enjoyable vampire film since "The Lost Boys."
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intense, Violent, and Hilarious, May 6, 2001
I am a big fan of the Vampire film genre and thsi was the best I've seen in a long time. I was worried it was gonna be a boring undead teeny bopper flick but I was very impressed. I loved the slacker vampire hunter as it was a great change from the usual hard-edge vengeance hunter (Vampires), or the morose brooding quiet type (Vampire Hunter D). He was actaully believable in the role which was something Corey Feldman never pulled off (Lost Boys). The feeding scenes were great, very animalistic, and intense. As a matter of fact the whole movie stayed pretty intense throughout. Loved the Vampire henchmen characters, they really connected and contrasted well with their master. The only thing I didn't like about this one was the unending, gratuitous nudity (ok five scenes isn't exactly unending). I have no problem with nudity in films and sexuality is defniatley a must in a vampire movie but it kinda felt like hey you there look at these... ok lets go back to the movie. All fans of the vampire genre (you know who you are) should see this one.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Two WB stars take on another different breed of vampire, March 7, 2004
At the beginning of "The Forsaken" we are treated to a scene in which a naked young woman in a shower covered in blood cleans off one of her breasts. This really has nothing to do with this 2001 film beyond the symbolism of uniting blood and sex (if you think about it, the film literally makes a clean breast of it). Before we get to the actually plot of this film what we have as the chief selling point are a pair of young studs from the WB network at the top of the credits, namely Kerr Smith from "Dawson's Creek" and Brendan Fehr from "Roswell." Smith is Sean, who edits trailers in Hollywood and is now driving somebody else's Mercedes convertible across the country to attend his sister's wedding. Fehr is Nick, who seems to be just some slacker bumming a ride but is in reality much, much more. We just do not figure out what until they encounter Megan (Izabella Miko), who is acting weird at a bus stop. Not only is she the blonde from the beginning of the film, but it turns out that she has been bitten by a vampire. Nick knows this because a year ago he was bitten by the same vampire, but he has a magic drug cocktail that has stopped him from making the change. Now the guys have to save Megan from the same fate of living death. Anne Rice, P. N. Elrod, Laurell K. Hamilton and Joss Whedon have all dealt in different ways with making the vampire mythos work in more modern terms. J.S. Cardone, writer and director of "The Forsaken," tries to do the same thing but the result is something of a mess. The vampires in this movie are basically something akin to the Manson Gang, which is easy enough to grasp, but it is the new and improve rules on how you avoid turning into a vampire that really requires copious note taking, although that becomes rather pointless once we discover that one of the ways to stem the transformation is to pour buckets of ice on a half naked woman in a bathtub. The goal is ultimately to kill Kit (Jonathan Schaech), the leader of the vampire pack, because that will break the cycle (sort of convenient, huh?). But before that can happen there is plenty of blood-letting and you know that beautiful Mercedes is going to take a pounding. At least "The Forsaken" takes itself seriously, although there are times where that works to the disadvantage of the film. Kerr is passable enough in the role of the basically good guy to whom all sorts of weird things are suddenly happening, but Fehr just does not have the presence to make his role and the rest of the movie works (every time I look I him I keep thinking he should be playing the young Fox Muldar on an "X-Files" flashback). The film is bloody and gory for those who like such things, although none of it is particularly memorable. The problem is that I perked up at the idea of some new twists on the idea of the vampire, but that just called attention to the most problematic elements of the film. The really depressing part is that this is the best film I have seen this week.
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