Customer Reviews

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

FINALLY AVAILABLE ON DVD!

You know how it is, you're a Bruce Campbell fan too. You'll watch anything he's ever done just because he's in it and then say, "Well, the movie wasn't all that great, but at least Bruce was good." Yeah, Bruce is always good. He's one of those rare universal constants you're always hearing about--like death and taxes, only more fun. He's so good most of the time that you'll add a star or two to your review just because he was there! But now its happened! I can finally say that not only was Bruce good, but I REALLY LIKED THE MOVIE TOO! Okay, so I'm being silly, but I was so charmed by Anthony Hickox's horror/comedy flick SUNDOWN that I still haven't got my head on straight.

Our story centers around the Harrison family. David (played by Jim Meltzer) is an engineer who has developed a machine that can synthesize blood, Morgan Brittany is his beautiful wife Sarah who has a naughty little secret that just might come out soon, and Gwen and Julie are their two overly precious children. Gwen is a bit weird, likes horror movies, and has dreams which might possibly foretell the future.

When we first encounter the Harrisons they are on their way to a town appropriately called Purgatory for a combination family vacation/business trip. It seems that the synthesizer being installed in Puragtory has developed some serious glitches and David's long time fiend and colleague, Shane, has called David in to help straighten things out.

Enter Bruce Campbell. About 20 minutes into the picture. This isn't a big part, but that doesn't keep Bruce from stealing the movie. He plays a sort of sweet, nerdy, academic type whose car breaks down while he too is looking for Purgatory. When he finally gets there the first person he encounters is Sandy White (played by Deborah Foreman), she's a waitress at the local diner and its obviously love at first sight as far as she's concerned.

There are other characters hanging around the town of Purgatory. For example there's David's old buddy Shane (played by Maxwell Caulfield) who seems to have a rather unhealthy interest in both David's wife and his daughter Gwen. And there's Count Mardulak (David Carradine) who owns everything in the town, likes to sleep in a coffin, and is also the object of Bruce Campbell's obsession. And just on the periphery of all this is the mysterious Ethan Jefferson (John Ireland) who definitely seems to be up to no good.

Did I mention that Bruce's character's name is Robert Van Helsing?

There are a lot of laughs along the way, but at the conclusion of the film the Ultimate Showdown between Good and Evil is one that I've never quite seen before and I appreciated the originality. When you aren't really certain if your hero is gonna have a gunfight or a throwdown or whatever in order to beat the villain, I'd say the writer is doing his job!

I'd recommend this film to anyone who likes to laugh and appreciates something a bit different now and then.


SUNDOWN THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT

Directed by Anthony Hickox
Prod. by Jefferson Richard
Written by John Burgess and Anthony Hickox From a story by John Burgess

Starring: Jim Meltzer, Morgan Brittany, Bruce Campbell, David Carradine, Maxwell Caulfield, Deborah Foreman, M. Emmet Walsh, John Ireland, JohnHancock,Bert Remsury, Sunshine Parker, Marion Eaton, Dabbs Greer, Erin Courlay, Vanessa Pierson

Make-up: Tony Gardner.

Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell) is an incompetent descendant of Count Dracula, exploring the small town of Purgatory in search of his infamous ancestor. But Purgatory is inhabited by reclusive vampires who prefer to take it easy and lounge around in sunglasses and sun cream - a protection against the sun's deadly rays. There is no sign of the Count.

David Harrison (Jim Metzler) is an expert in the production of synthetic blood, hired to assist in a project that will ensure the vampires of Purgatory no longer need to kill for food. He is nevertheless unaware that Purgatory is populated by the undead, thinking his work as part of an official experiment.

Things go wrong, though. The equipment suddenly ceases to work and the evil Shane (Maxwell Caulfield), the project's original creator, turns up to investigate. He falls in love with Harrison's beautiful wife and, meanwhile, some of the toothy townspeople decide that the traditional ways of obtaining blood are preferable.

A war inevitably breaks out, resulting in vampire against human, vampire against vampire. Good versus evil.

SUNDOWN is directed by Anthony Hickox of WAXWORK, WAXWORK 2: LOST IN TIME, and HELLRAISER 3: HELL ON EARTH fame. It is a low budget, off-beat film that is perhaps not to everyone's taste. Somewhere in between comedy and horror, SUNDOWN has nevertheless gained cult status, similar to other films in this subgenre like THE LOST BOYS, FRIGHT NIGHT, INNOCENT BLOOD, TALES FROM THE CRYPT: BORDELLO OF BLOOD, and A RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT.

The Cast is well chosen: Maxwell THE SUPERNATURALS Caulfield, Dana TWIN PEAKS Ashbrook, Bruce EVIL DEAD Campbell, and David KUNG FU Carradine, who plays Jozek Mardulak aka Count Dracula. M. Emmet Walsh delivers a hilarious performance as Mort Brisby, an ageing vampire/gas station attendant, but SUNDOWN inevitably belongs to Campbell.

Point of interest: Hickox's WAXWORK starred Dana Ashbrook, and his sequel WAXWORK 2: LOST IN TIME starred Caulfield, Campbell, and Carradine.

Well as the description pointed out, the vampires are living a boring and sedentary life while their local brainiacs to to better the artificial blood they live on. Sunscreen 5 Million helps them hang out in the daylight so nobody will be suspicious at a deserted town.
Shame on the character cast here for not mentioning veteran actor John Ireland. Been waiting years for this DVD.

I am a huge Bruce Campbell fan, so when I saw him on the cover of this box I had an expectation for a campy, cheesey, B-film with some blood and gore...well, it was campy and cheesey, but more like a D-Film! There is really no blood and gore and for Bruce being on the cover he had very little screen time.

David Carradine tries and (for the short amount of time he spends on screen) so does Bruce Campbell, but the story is weak, the acting is poor and it leaves a lot to be desired. It does have a lot of pretty cool special features including some interviews with Bruce Campbell and some behind the scenes stuff.

I'm not saying don't give it a shot, I'm just saying don't get your hopes up like I did! Like I said, I love Bruce Campbell, but this is bad...even for him!

Go into this film wanting to watch a comedy vampire film, and you'll be a happy camper. Don't expect sophisticated comedy, but the good old situational type and I think you'll be pleased and enjoy watching it over and over. I loved this film years ago when it graced VHS, so I was very happy to see it appear on a cleaner picture digital!

A scientist and his family move to Purgatory, a small town in the American West, and find themselves in the middle of a war between two groups of vampires: one group who wish to give up the "old ways" by drinking synthetic blood, in the hope of integrating back into human society; and a second group who think that drinking human blood is the only way that vampires should live.
Based on the cover of this DVD, you could be forgiven for thinking that Bruce Campbell is the star of this film. He's not. Campbell plays Robert Van Helsing, a descendent of the original Van Helsing, who comes to Purgatory to hunt vampires, but he doesn't appear until about half an hour into the film and even then, his part is only a supporting one. It is scientist David Harrison, his wife and daughters, who are the main characters, which is where this film falls down. In a film filled with vampires and vampire hunters, a normal suburban family just aren't all that interesting. I spent most of the film hoping that they would die and that Campbell would take over as the lead. It didn't happen. The script isn't all that great, either. The idea is good in theory, but it takes too long to set up and the different scenes have a disjoint quality to them, as if they were written by different people and patched together. Writer/director Anthony Hickox's previous film, "Waxwork", is a much better film, by comparison (and in fact, I recommend that film instead of this one). Having said that, the end showdown between the two different vampire groups is worth the wait, even if Campbell's part wasn't as big as I had hoped. I just wish the rest of the film had been that good.

This comedy is so goofy you can't help but like it. The town is inhabited entirely by vampires and they are trying to use a new plasma producing device to supply their need for blood. The machine isn't working properly so the designer comes to town with his family in tow to see what the problem is. We quickly learn there are two factions of vampires, those that want to live in peace with humans and those who want to make them their next meal. Tongue firmly planted in cheek, we wind our way to the final conflict between the good and evil vampires. If you liked movies like "Dracula, Dead and Loving It" this one should be right up your alley.

Sudown is an interesting little film from Anthony Hickox who has directed such films as Waxwork and Hellraiser 3. This little gem is quite good because it has many things going on. It has focus on the family relationships after they arrive at Purgatory, Van Helsing's inept grandchild (Bruce Campbell) and war with two kinds of vampires. Cast was great. David Carradine showed charm in the role of the leading vampire. Bruce Campbell was hilarious as usual. John Ireland was similiar villain as David Warner in the Waxwork. Nice movie for evening in little town.

It's seems that David Harrison (Jim Meltzer) with wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) and two children (Erin Gourlay and Vanessa Pierson) are typical L.A. people as they go on vacation for 2 weeks in a small town called Pergotory where everything seems nice even for the residents. But unknown to them, the residents are all vampires who co-exist in peace with humans as they create blood substitute material at a factory to keep them live longer. A reluctant vampire hunter named Van Helsing Jr. (Bruce Campbell) would do anything to kill the vampires as a war between another pack of vampires lead by factory worker Shane (Maxwell Caulfald) with Jefferson (John Ireland) to fight against main vampire Count Mardulok (David Carradine) in a war of vampire against vampire.

Outstanding and highly overlooked modern western horror-comedy gem from co-writer and director Alex Wilcox who made "Waxwork" is one of the best vampire movies you've never seen. This movie works well as a modern western with great special effects, action and a dark dose of humor that is just flat out funny. Co-starring M. Emmet Walsh and Deborah Foreman, this movie was originally made in 1988 but didn't get released in 1990 as it was Vestron's last movie made but did got played in selected film festivals in some theaters. It finally went to video in 1991 as it has a small cult following to this day, i enjoyed this movie since i was 10 back in 92 and still enjoy it as i ever did.

This DVD has great picture and sound quality with cool extras like commentary, interviews and photo gallery.

Also recommended: "Daybreakers", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Bordello of Blood", "Van Helsing", "Near Dark", "Vampire Hunter D 1 & 2", "The Hunger", "Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter", "Vamp", "Lifeforce", "Dracula (1931 plus sequels with any including 1992)", "Ultraviolet", "Underworld Trilogy", "Blade Trilogy", "The Fearless Vampire Killers", "The Lost Boys", "Billy The Kid vs. Dracula", "Def By Temptation", "Fright Night 1 & 2", "John Carpenter's Vampires", "The Burrowers", "The Forsaken", "Lair of the White Worm", "The Omega Man", "Last Man on Earth" and "I Am Legend".

For quite sometime I believed Sundown to be a lost, forgotten classic, and it may have remained this way if it were not for the fact that this outragous b-movie sports the king 'B', Mr. Bruce Campbell. Now, without getting into some mushy fanboy-ism, let me say that while Campbell's appearences in this fim are great (and too few and far between) the gold of this movie is the beautiful backdrop, fantastic score, innovative ideas, and all-out fun---western style. I can recommend this film not only to horror fans and B.C. comleteists, but also for fans of innovative and smart westerns such as Maverick (TV), Wild Wild West (TV) and Plunkett & Macleane... Oh, and of course--- Brisco County Jr.