Halloween Scene: Brotherhood of Blood (2007)

2008-10-17
4:22:28 am

I figured my good luck with the Ghost House Underground flicks wouldn't last. I've been watching Brotherhood of Blood for about an hour now and I just don't really care what's going on. The story needlessly jumps around in time, which I can accept, except the editing is a bit confusing and about half the acting is wooden (the other half darn good). The dialogue has about the same percentage of hit and miss.

It's you're basic team of vampire hunters against an old vampire and his clan. There's some kind of plot about a dude whose brother may or may not be a vampire. Again, I'm being a bad reviewer and got distracted by the Internets, but there also hasn't been much in the movie to make me take note and saw "holy cats!" It's kind of like a Blade movie, but without the style or the budget. It also sets up an unfamiliar mythology and then tries to flip it on us like it's something we've known since we were kids, but it just doesn't work out all that well.

I have noticed that the movie looks more like an episode of Law and Order than a movie. I assume Dance of the Dead had a fairly low budget as well, but it looked a lot slicker than BoB. Another thing I noticed is that the young vampire hunter kid they induct into their group is pretty much an idiot. Not only does he try to unchain their vampire captive (played by Dawn of the Dead and Leatherface's Ken Foree!), but he then later complains that the vampire is tied up to tight. JEEZ! The main vampire hunter chick actually does make a point about how stupid he's being, but I question if anyone would react in such a manner after actually being around vampires.

But it's not all bad. Like I said Ken Foree's in it, which makes two movies I've watched with him in it this week! He looks kind of like a gypsy vampire, but I'm not really sure what his story is. It's ALWAYS good to see my man again. (EDITOR'S NOTE: I've never met Ken, but I feel like we could start a detective duo or a mystery solving rock band if and when we do eventually meet.) Sid Haig of Devil's Rejects and House of 1000 fame also pops up. He's the leader of the vampire pack. He tempers his usual over-the-top-ness with more subtlety than you might expect, but, like with Ken, he's always a fun face to see in a flick.

Finally, I've got to give it to Victoria Pratt for giving her all in her roll as the main vampire hunter lady. You may recognize her from Cleopatra 2025 or Mutant X, but I didn't. There wasn't a single moment on screen where I thought she believed anything but the plain and simple fact that she was a badass vampire hunter. She really keeps the movie from completely toppling in on itself with all the little problems. She's even responsible for most of the best gore pieces when she's kicking vamp butt.

Overall, I can't recommend this flick to anyone but huge vampire, Ken Foree, Sid Haig or Victoria Pratt fans. The story's muddled, the acting, editing and script only so-so, the gore pretty good though there isn't a lot of it and the big "twist ending" is just kind of eh, but you do get a slightly different take on the vampire mythos.