Tuesday, June 04, 2013

So Dark – review


Director: Al Lougher


Release Date: 2013


Contains spoilers


Picking up from where So Pretty ended, this continuation of vampire Sean’s (Jeremy Palko, Vampire Diaries season 4) story widens its vista. Not only in the fact that it is (whilst still a short) over twice the length but also in that the action has moved from the train and the opening shot is a panoramic view of Miami.

Russo and Wilburn
Agent Wilburn (Keri Maletto) has just intercepted the Miami PD call re the murder on the train and has swooped in to interview the suspect that cops Russo (Todd Bruno) and Crowley (Wil J. Jackson) have picked up. They are befuddled by the FBI interest given that, whilst the murder was bloody, the suspect stayed on the train, was picked up at the next stop, offered no resistance and has not lawyered up. The last fact does not surprise Wilburn. As per her orders they have put him in the basement – an area without cameras or windows. Also in the station is one of the passengers from the train, Violet (Julie Kendall).

the cross vibrates
Wilburn is not her real name and she is part of a band of hunters (attached to the government it would appear). In her case she has a cross (which vibrates on the table when too close to Sean) and a UV torch (that can burn him). He has allowed himself to be captured and Wilburn’s picture is on his wall at home. In the So Pretty review I mentioned a potential inference of telepathy but this film lets us know that he studies his potential victims, choosing the worst to take for tea.

vampire in the box
I don’t want to spoil too much but we do hear about “the boxes”, experimental holding cells where vampires are placed, starved and observed. We see this in action with the vampire (Aaron Goldenberg) gnawing at his own wrists. Every day the door is unlocked for a short period when the sun is at its zenith and the hunters wait to see how long it will be before the captive commits suicide rather than starve.

Sean, an anti-hero
I was struck, again, by how well shot these shorts are and was also taken with how they have made Sean brutal and yet sympathetic. An anti-hero who has videos of sunrise to watch in the safety of his darkened room. I also liked the fact that the location actually felt like a police station rather than other films where a desk in a hotel room would be used to pass off the location. Perhaps there wasn’t the same natural repartee between the leads as we got in the first film but, of course, the characters are antagonistic to each other and both leads were great.

I sincerely hope we get to see more of Sean’s world. 7 out of 10. So Dark is embedded below.

The imdb page is here.


12 comments:

MrLoofer said...

Thanks for a great review and glad you liked the film! I also got your note about Bram Stoker Film Festival and submitted both films yesterday. Hope they get in and get shown on the big screen! I'm a Brit BTW (from Wales) now living in the US. I won't be able to make it over there if it gets in but I'll send a good friend and mega vampire fan in my stead. Cheers! Al.

Taliesin_ttlg said...

Thanks for the comment Al, really did enjoy them.

I'll definitely be at the film festival, tickets have already been purchased, so make sure you pass my details to your friend.

In the meantime, I believe that Sean deserves a feature length vehicle ;)

test said...

Thanks for the review, I will check this out. It's been a long time since I've watched a vamp movie.

PS. I was wondering when you will review Season 3 of Being Human and Season 5 of True Blood since season 6 already started.

Taliesin_ttlg said...

Hey, thanks for the comment. I'm actually in the UK and so the fifth season if true blood has only just been released on DVD. I'm in the process of watching it and will review very soon.

With regards being human (US) so far I have reviewed from the region 1 DVDs but season 3 hasn't been released to date.

I'll get to it as soon as I can :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this! Excellent short! I'd really like to see the first part. I'll have to try and track it down, and I agree, Sean does deserve a feature length vehicle. Great stuff!

Taliesin_ttlg said...

No problem Margaret, and I see you've spotted the first part :)

MrLoofer said...

Andy, So Dark was submitted to Bram Stoker fest but alas did not get in. Was sure it would, maybe because it's already online that hurt our chances. Sorry to say you won't get to see it on the big screen! Cheers, Al.

Taliesin_ttlg said...

Al, that is a shame as the shorts are excellent. :(

MrLoofer said...

Just to let you know we're trying to get our 3rd short film off the ground. We're now putting this together as a 3-part series (bundled under the name "So Dark").

Any help to get the link out is much appreciated!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/so-dark-the-dexter-of-vampires

Cheers!
Al.

Taliesin_ttlg said...

Hey Al... will definitely put something up for you re this :) best of luck

Unknown said...

Wanted to bring you up to speed for anyone seeing this. So Dark is now a series, we will be going back to production on espies 3 and 4 in January 2017 as well as releasing a comic book to accompany the series. Season 1 will have 10 completed episodes. Please find us now on Amazon under So Dark the series. We are also at : www.SoDarktheSeries.com and we are on all social media platforms. Thank you for your support so far and we are available for interviews on the upcoming series. - Keri Maletto (Agent Wilburn and Producer)

Taliesin_ttlg said...

Thanks for that Keri - good to know there is still life in the series :)