BUY IT AT AMAZON: STUDIO: LionsGate
MSRP: $19.98
RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 88 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Commentary
• Featurette
• Interviews
• Storyboards
The Pitch
Ken Foree and Sid Haig found a pair of fangs. They’ll alternate the teeth between scenes.
The Humans
Jason Connery, Ken Foree, Sid Haig, Jeremy James Kissner and Victoria Pratt
The Nutshell
Carrie Rieger hunts vampires for a living. The problem is that Carrie has stumbled into the den of the leading vampires in the world. The film shifts back and forth, as we see how Carrie became involved in this predicament. But, that doesn’t distract from the fact that she’s currently being stalked by a former hunter turned bad guy. That’s some Raimi level complexity for you there.
The Lowdown
Brotherhood of Blood
would work as a television episode. But, stretched to feature length…it falls apart. The digital video makes the production look amateurish. Then, there’s the fact that the B-actors can’t really carry all the dialogue. This film wants to be The Usual Suspects of vampire flicks. But, you know the big secret by the end of the first reel.
Thirty years of ditching zombies and Nosferatu nips your ass.
Brotherhood of Blood reminds me of how Twilight Zone economics don’t apply to modern films. Playing against the ADD nature of most horror fans, this just doesn’t work. One location, shitty lighting and too much dialogue is a buzzkill. Sure, you get to see Ken Foree’s teeth get ripped out. But, that’s an hour long build for the only real violence in the picture.
Ken Foree tries his best to make the most out of the material. You’ve got to give it to the guy, as he seems to be a workhorse. It’s just that he’s the anchor in a flick that still flutters around in the wind. You get the grounding to understand who or what Vlad is. But, the question is do you care?
Brotherhood of Blood is
a movie that falls apart due to its inability to muster concern. If it would’ve been scaled back to a thirty minute runtime, I could see the dynamic changing. But, there’s too much room to lose my attention. Fuck that noise. Luckily, you weren’t one of the thousand people that paid money to see this during the GhostHouse Underground mini-run.
The
DVD
has a pretty strong transfer with no audio dropout. The special features follow the same structure as the rest of the GhostHouse Underground releases. The commentary really offers nothing to behold. Everything else is of the behind the scene supplemental nature. I’d only recommend picking it up, if you’re a completist. Otherwise, skip it.