Those were actually some of the things I liked about it! They weren't the usual vampire carbon copies from Anne Rice or the Vampire RPG or Dracula. I also liked how vampires and werewolves were explained more as diseased people instead of undead. Seline even mentions something about the virus if she bites someone, something like that. It was a little twist they put on the whole thing. So, I really don't think these vampires were undead at all, just folks that are infected with something nasty. A virus that could do something like that to someone is pretty farfetched, but then this is a movie after all I think the mirror part especially was added to show that the vampires in this story aren't the usual kind. I dunno, that was my take on the whole thing

One thing that I thought was mind boggling was the huge black fella that was one of the main werewolves... he co-wrote the story and in the extra features he says he's a genetic engineer in real life (?!) and anyway, he said they wanted more of a scientific spin on the whole thing. I always thought genetic engineers were the nerdy types with pocket protectors and stuff

It seems like a lot of those folks enjoyed being sick then since the vampires loved wearing black and living that "sickness"

But the Vampires never even drank blood! HELLO!

Exactly this is what I liked about it. The reflection thing really threw me off at first but it is explained later on in the movie that it is a virus (both vampirism and lycan). So that was enough for me. Atleast it took out the "fantasy" of vampires and brough it down to a mor e"realistic" level. Sort of like the books of Poppy Z. Brite as compared to Anne Rice and such.

The director talks about this in the commentary BTW.

It seems that the vampires were against killing humans. That is why what The vamps, I think, are supposed to be more refined and against killing humans while the lycans are not. Remember in the interrogation room she has bags of synthetic blood that she shows Corvin.

Hated it ..Hated it...Hated it...Hated it...
Had potenial. Pissed it away.

I loved the way they played musical chairs with the accents they had. one minute it was a british accent, the next they were from down south. They couldn't make up there mind on what a characters accent was.

total crap film, and I say that in a "non-dvdtalk automatic hate it" way. I paid to see this and I theater hopped into it to kill time till the next movie started.. so seeing it both times was enough to make a clear view on why I didn't like the film..

seriously...go back to your lab.

Seline explained at the interrogation house that one of the Vampire Nation's "Ventures" was a huge cdrug company and that the next big thing they were going to market to was artificial blood products they had been using for years.


i read the book and she said, perhaps she even said it in the movie, that the Edlers decided hundreds of years ago to stop killing humans. For a long time they used animals but then they create a blood substitute. However, that never matched the supernatural sensation of draining warm human blood/life force from a real person. When she finally bites Micheal to save him she finally realizes why some vampires still occasionally attacked humans eventhough it's genreally frowned upon.

Yeah, but man-o-man was Beckinsale "powerful"!

Worst movie i seen in a long time.

I would give the movie a C overall. Not good, but not totally horrible. The real shame is that it has potential. The back story/world is good. I think with a little tweaking to the story and perhaps some better direction/editing (and a new score) it could have been pretty good. The only cast member I really had a problem with was Craven, he was way too hammy.

The actor playing Craven was horrible. I swore I saw his eyes looked like they were reading cue cards off to the side when they shot his scenes.

I think part of the reason Craven sucked so bad was because he's got an Irish accent and he decided to talk like an american. Almost everyone else had "european" accents, don't see why he had to disguise his... I watched it again last night and you hear his accent coming out toward the end when he's supposed to be real mad and stuff. He looked good as a beurocratic political type of vampire lord kinda guy, but as soon as he talked he sounded like he came right from a soap opera.

Craven was the worst part of the movie for me, too. Pretty much everything about him was bad.

Well, necros... most everyone in the film is british or uses a british accent (the old plan of "if it sucks, give everyone an english accent, then it'll be art!"), and while I agree that he seemed to be doing an american accent, a smart director would have just told him to stop as soon as possible.

Also, just because someone's doing an awful accent is no need for them to stop acting. Take Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own. Absolutely atrocious, almost offensive accent. But a great performance from a fine actor; it's great to watch him do stuff, as long as you can stand hearing him!

Shane Brolly ("Kraven"... ooh, what an original name) spent the film with an irritated look, as if he was pissed off to spoil his look when spitting words out.

Of course, it might just be the incredibly bad, laughable dialogue. BUt fgiven a good actor, even horrible words can be livened up by great actors. Look at Equilibrium, another niche favorite - and also one that has had undue Matrix comparisons and accusations of unoriginality. Shane Brolly affects an American accent and can't half-master that, act and chew gum at the same time. Christian Bale's yank drawl doesn't get in the way of him playing cold, hard, emotional... bloody fantastic.

Just rented this tonight. I agree that it had some potential, but just got increasingly silly as it went on. Plus, it gets my votes for 2 "WORST"s:

WORST Fight Scene: The final fight between Viktor and Michael. It was really apparent most of the time that their punches weren't anywhere close to connecting. Absolutely terrible stunt choreography.

WORST Performance I've Seen in Ages: Shane Brolly. Gotta agree with some of my fellow DVDTalkers. This guy was really, really awful! It was actually painful watching him over-emote on the screen.

I thought it was fair at best. I really didn't like the way they backed into the storyline. I do think that the sequel could be very promising if they learn from their mistakes.

What worries me about a sequel though is... Craven got away. So Shane Brolly will be back

Whats worries me about a sequel is..."Theres gonna be a sequel? S**t!"

saw it last night....LOVED IT!!!!

Will be buying it soon.

ps
on a side note the comment about "let's put British accents and make it an art film" is the least to say stupid. I could recall a number of recent films with the same theme (or plot) characteristics that outright were horrible. Yet all of the accents were home-made!! So, lets not be so narrow-minded, shall we?

My wife rented this and she watched it today. I watched the first 5 minutes and then left the room. I hated the sight of cheese dripping out of my DVD player. 90 minutes later I hear the TV click off and a voice saying, "That movie sucked."

Hee, that mirrors my experience almost exactly except in my case the wife was the smart one. I lasted 20 minutes. Life's too short.

I saw it not expecting much and was very pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it despite some flaws that it has.

I agree. My friend dragged me to this, and I rarely see this type of movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the story-line was pretty crisp, and I kind of liked the concept of vampires vs. werewolves. And nothing in the film seemed corny or cheesy. And I also didn't mind the concept of the setting being "anytown" as someone previously pointed out. I thought it had kind of a cool mix of classic and modern architecture. But I think the biggest thing for me was that in the context of this fantasy, there was nothing that stood out as being unbelievable or ridiculous. I thought everything seemed pretty consistent.

I actually enjoyed the flick. Not great, not bad but not a time waster. Had some good parts, had some not so good parts but Kate Beckinsale in leather is worth the price of a rental. Also, they are doing a Prequel to the movie as a Comic Book. It's being co-written by one of the screenwriters (i think the guy who played Raze) and it chronicles the story of Viktors daughter Sonia and Lucien, the war, and how Kate Beckinsales character became a vampire.