Vampire Virus AKA After Dark (2020)

Charlie Steeds has directed about half a dozen features before this one, which I am going to insist on referring to by the better title of After Dark (EVEN if it eventually ends up being forced to go under the far-less-enjoyable title of Vampire Virus). I haven't seen any of his other works, but I've heard some praise for them, especially The Barge People, which I need to see soon.

After Dark is a familiar tale, a woman (Jennifer, played by Natalie Martins) has herself a nice sexy time and then finds that she's feeling quite different after. It turns out that she's been vampirised, which adds tension to her relationship with her friend/co-tenant Jack (Peter Lofsgard), who happens to be dating a police officer (Freddie, played by Derek Nelson). And that police officer is part of a special squad looking to take care of a vampire menace.

The look and feel of After Dark is very much in line with some beloved vampire movies from the 1980s (this is very much a distant relative to the likes of Fright Night and Vamp), which is a huge bonus. Although filmed mostly in the UK, it is set in America, and designed to feel like a pretty standardised American horror film. I don't mean that in a disparaging way, I just mean that it works extra hard to avoid looking like a low-budget, low-aiming, British indie flick.

The script, written by Steeds and Sam Ashurst, is lively and fun, happily running through the full range of dialogue and exchanges that you'd expect to find in a cool vampire movie, and everything unfolds at a cracking pace, thanks to the appeal of the central characters and the timing of some well-done gore gags.

Martins is very good in the lead role, perfect as both the uncertain and scared incarnation of her character and the strong and confident version, and she's capably supported by both Lofsgard and Nelson, even if the latter is more of a stereotypical role you can find in many other vampire/horror movies (he's basically a good cop still doing his job after being given a peek "behind the curtain). Then we have Jéssica Alonso, playing Izabella, the prime vampire who changes Jennifer's life.

You can, if you're that type of person, have fun spotting the many ways in which Steed and co. tried to cover up the fact that they were filming an American-set movie while not being actually in America. If you do that, however, then do balance out your critical eye with an appreciation of what ended up onscreen. This often looks great, and it's impressive to see a small film like this aim to be something more, something with ambition and scope that is rarely seen in smaller UK film releases.

Flawed, both in terms of the material and also the execution of the material, this is still worth your time, and I would say that it's very much worth your support. I'd rather have a few more films like this every year than the hundred other found-footage horror movies we've had that throw people into the British countryside and try to make a plus point of having very limited resources.

6/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Cabin 28 (2017)

"Based on the true life murders which inspired The Strangers" - that is the main blurb written on the front cover of the DVD of Cabin 28. So if you liked The Strangers then you should very well like this film. That's the implication. The reality is that The Strangers was a competent, at times chilling, horror film. This is not. But it has killers entering a house while wearing masks. That's where the points of similarity end.

To be fair, and to start off on a positive note, this film seems to stick to the main points of the unsolved case when it comes to the details that are known. Sue (Terri Dwyer) and members of her family were staying in the cabin when it was invaded by people who viciously murdered them. And that's the good stuff out of the way.

A quick run through the filmography of director Andrew Jones shows that he has a canny knack for helming films that end up trying to cash in on some recognisable horror genre names. He did The Amityville Asylum, he did Poltergeist Activity, and he has just completed his third movie about an evil doll named Robert. All of them either insinuate that they are connected to something they really aren't or state that they are based on a true story (always something that we horror fans take with a pinch of salt anyway).

He's working here from a script by John Klyza, and neither man seems to have a clue of how to build characters or tension. It's hard enough for the film to overcome the issue that it is full of Brits pretending they're all Americans (and if there are any actual Americans in the cast, well, they can't even manage to do their own accents properly), the fact that it fails in that regard while also lacking any competence in the writing, directing, and technical departments just makes the whole thing a real chore to get through.

I can't even feel angry enough to rant about the cast. They don't do a good job, but I suspect that's largely down to the awful script and a director who has assured them that all of their accents are fine and every scene has been nailed down just as he wants it (while he looks at how fare ahead of schedule and under budget they are). Dwyer is especially poor, although she's also given more screentime than some others, but Brendee Green, Derek Nelson, Lee Bane, Gareth Lawrence, Jason Homewood, and Ryan Michaels all give very weak performances.

You might spy this cover, see a low price, and think it can't be that bad. It can. You might think it's at least worth having on your shelf until an evening when you have nothing better available to watch. There's always something better available to watch. You may receive it as a gift from someone who knows you're a horror fan. Unfriend that person, move, and never let them discover your new address. Alternatively, regift it to someone you dislike. You get the picture.

2/10

The disc is available here.
Or, if in America, here.