Given the cast, I thought this was going to be great, but it had repeated tonal issues that made it difficult to settle into. Really, the only good part here is our quartet of Crips. They were the only part that was consistently funny. The plot is super weak here: vampires in L.A., Van Helsing hunts them, the end. While the movie focuses more on the decadent vampires themselves, along with a romance between Nico (Wagner), and Dallas (Van Dien), there's not much going on story wise. This is like three different movies jammed into one. Going back to the tone, the movie is mainly a comedy, though it would weave in and out of dark comedy, horror, and pretty brutal drama. If you're going to have wide tonal shifts like that, you need to be a damn-good director, which Elfman is not. Overall, the film doesn't work, however parts of it work well. A few good edits would have totally saved this. If you're a fan of campy horror comedies, like Tales from the Hood (1995) or Scary Movie (2000), but wish they had more nudity, and went to some dark places out of nowhere, this might work for you.
Review by BronsonBlockedParent2024-03-22T05:33:34Z
Given the cast, I thought this was going to be great, but it had repeated tonal issues that made it difficult to settle into.
Really, the only good part here is our quartet of Crips. They were the only part that was consistently funny.
The plot is super weak here: vampires in L.A., Van Helsing hunts them, the end. While the movie focuses more on the decadent vampires themselves, along with a romance between Nico (Wagner), and Dallas (Van Dien), there's not much going on story wise. This is like three different movies jammed into one.
Going back to the tone, the movie is mainly a comedy, though it would weave in and out of dark comedy, horror, and pretty brutal drama. If you're going to have wide tonal shifts like that, you need to be a damn-good director, which Elfman is not.
Overall, the film doesn't work, however parts of it work well. A few good edits would have totally saved this.
If you're a fan of campy horror comedies, like Tales from the Hood (1995) or Scary Movie (2000), but wish they had more nudity, and went to some dark places out of nowhere, this might work for you.