"Blood Angels" is a much better film than it has every right to be.
**SPOILERS**
Leslie, (Leah Cairns) who has been away from town for a while, returns home and helps her sister Ashley, (Siri Baruc) get introduced to the rave nightlife she shares with her friends Lean, (Sonya Salomaa) Roxie, (Fiona Scott) Brigitte, (Moneca Delain) and Buzz, (Lisa Marie Caruk) who themselves are vampires and have escapes from the home of Mr. Jones, (Lorenzo Lamas) who turned them into vampires. Ashley soon finds out the truth, but no one will believe her. When Leslie officially tells her about her and her friends' change into a form of vampire called Thralls, she decides to help them in their fight against Jones.
The Good News: This one actually isn't that bad. The film is just too cheesy to be taken seriously. The fact that five vampires can open a nightclub and not get caught is just one example, as is the fact that all the vampires know kung-fu once bitten. This just works in a "throw your brain at the door and relax" sort of manner. The film has a great sense of humor, and is surprisingly funny. The moments with a transvestite wanting to get into the club are some great one-liners, and some choice moments spread throughout contain some intended for laughs. There's three main comedians in the film, though, and generally get a laugh every time. Lorenzo Lamas' character in particular gets off some great lines, and is perfectly suited for the tone of the film. His assistant is also quite funny, especially what keeps happening to him. Lastly, one of the characters in the club continually gets out plenty of laughs. It's quite nice to see someone different keep the humor coming rather than just a main character. It's bloody when it needs to be, and gets the red stuff going at times. A highlight is a marvelous decapitation that isn't performed with a usual instrument, and comes off as totally unexpected.
The Bad News: There's only a few problems I had with the film. The first one is that, as usual, the special effects look incredibly fake and cheesy. There's no way any of them could be taken seriously, and by being done with CGI, it ruins what it had before. It's a common problem with these kinds of movies, and hasn't really gotten any better. Also, the first hour of the film is pretty slow. There's a lot of moments where it's hard to tell why it was not included, as they don't make you feel anymore for the character than had it not been in there, and simply makes you want to get on with the main storyline. It plays pretty fast and loose with the vampire rules in here. Nothing too controversial, but the ranking and powers in it is tweaked slightly to allow for the ending. It can be something to get over. There's also some scattered moments in the film that doesn't seem to add up together, and it makes it hard to imagine why it would be so. If you can let yourself get into the film or don't let moments like this get you down, though, then those would be the only complaints.
The Final Verdict: I wasn't expecting such a good time with this one, but it actually does manage to impress. It bends the rules, but has fun while doing it. At least worthy of a look-see for vampire fans or for anyone else into these kinds of films. Just don't think about them too hard.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity
**SPOILERS**
Leslie, (Leah Cairns) who has been away from town for a while, returns home and helps her sister Ashley, (Siri Baruc) get introduced to the rave nightlife she shares with her friends Lean, (Sonya Salomaa) Roxie, (Fiona Scott) Brigitte, (Moneca Delain) and Buzz, (Lisa Marie Caruk) who themselves are vampires and have escapes from the home of Mr. Jones, (Lorenzo Lamas) who turned them into vampires. Ashley soon finds out the truth, but no one will believe her. When Leslie officially tells her about her and her friends' change into a form of vampire called Thralls, she decides to help them in their fight against Jones.
The Good News: This one actually isn't that bad. The film is just too cheesy to be taken seriously. The fact that five vampires can open a nightclub and not get caught is just one example, as is the fact that all the vampires know kung-fu once bitten. This just works in a "throw your brain at the door and relax" sort of manner. The film has a great sense of humor, and is surprisingly funny. The moments with a transvestite wanting to get into the club are some great one-liners, and some choice moments spread throughout contain some intended for laughs. There's three main comedians in the film, though, and generally get a laugh every time. Lorenzo Lamas' character in particular gets off some great lines, and is perfectly suited for the tone of the film. His assistant is also quite funny, especially what keeps happening to him. Lastly, one of the characters in the club continually gets out plenty of laughs. It's quite nice to see someone different keep the humor coming rather than just a main character. It's bloody when it needs to be, and gets the red stuff going at times. A highlight is a marvelous decapitation that isn't performed with a usual instrument, and comes off as totally unexpected.
The Bad News: There's only a few problems I had with the film. The first one is that, as usual, the special effects look incredibly fake and cheesy. There's no way any of them could be taken seriously, and by being done with CGI, it ruins what it had before. It's a common problem with these kinds of movies, and hasn't really gotten any better. Also, the first hour of the film is pretty slow. There's a lot of moments where it's hard to tell why it was not included, as they don't make you feel anymore for the character than had it not been in there, and simply makes you want to get on with the main storyline. It plays pretty fast and loose with the vampire rules in here. Nothing too controversial, but the ranking and powers in it is tweaked slightly to allow for the ending. It can be something to get over. There's also some scattered moments in the film that doesn't seem to add up together, and it makes it hard to imagine why it would be so. If you can let yourself get into the film or don't let moments like this get you down, though, then those would be the only complaints.
The Final Verdict: I wasn't expecting such a good time with this one, but it actually does manage to impress. It bends the rules, but has fun while doing it. At least worthy of a look-see for vampire fans or for anyone else into these kinds of films. Just don't think about them too hard.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity