| RISE: BLOOD HUNTER |
 2007 - USADirector: Sebastian Gutierrez
- Reviewed by Vickie
Director Sebastian Gutierrez (She-Creature) embraces camp as much as carnage here, and the result is a movie that might not be the best horror flick ever to unspool, but certainly enough fun to merit a viewing. Liu stars as Sadie Blake, a reporter for L.A. Weekly, who finds herself forcibly, and gruesomely, converted to vampirism by a pair of toothy lovers (James D’Arcy, Carla Gugino) after exposing their existence in one of her recent cover stories. Left for dead, but decidedly undead, Sadie sets out to track and exterminate her attackers. Simultaneously, police detective Rawlins (Michael Chiklis) is on the hunt for the serial killers who have been making mincemeat (literally) of foolish teenagers... including his own daughter. Not coincidentally, both he and Sadie are unknowingly searching for the same ne’er-do-wells. Stylish and intentionally funny at times, the film is a fairly straightforward revenge offering, as Sadie works her way through a host of baddies, mowing them down one after another en route to the bloodsucking kingpin. It’s not an original idea, and a number of the scenes feel like material we’ve seen before in other films, but it’s executed in such a way as to keep the action moving and the audience engaged. Liu is fierce as a vengeance-driven good-girl-gone-bad, and Chiklis is solid as an anguished father whose tragic life becomes his all-consuming work. D’Arcy is a little meh and unconvincing as the supreme evil of the movie...he comes off as more of an annoying rich boy than a devious mastermind. Sadly, Gugino exits the movie fairly early on, which is too bad since she added a cool, sexy vibe to the proceedings. Overall, not bad, really. Surprisingly fun, actually. Will this movie blow your mind? No. Will it provide a welcome little relief from the summer juggernauts overpopulating the multiplexes? Definitely. |
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Vampire slayers have long proven to be a lucrative lot when it comes to
movies and TV...even better if they, themselves, are of the vampire
ilk. So it’s no surprise that Lucy Liu, decked out in bad-ass gear and
thirsty for blood of all sorts, helps salvage what could have been a
really awful straight-to-video dud. And, really, any movie that
co-stars Nick Lachey (?!) and Marilyn Manson can’t be all bad,
can it?
