Director: David Tarleton
Release date: 2018
Contains spoilers
For a competent little film this one certainly released with little fanfare and then faded into obscurity, showing up as a free view on the Kings of Horror YouTube channel. It isn’t perfect but it is a fine little watch.
It starts with Hunter Vanelson (Jason Keller) – which sounds suspiciously like Van Helsing phonetically – cage fighting. As things go along, we see him fight his third opponent in a row and, despite taking a beating, turning the fight around and winning…
Hunter wakes, now obviously homeless. He sleeps on the snowy Chicago winter streets. A homeless woman, who sleeps nearby and has befriended him, tells him that he was screaming in his sleep again. She gives him a Twinkie and suggests he tries the new shelter – it has good food. Later, panhandling, he notices a kid, Luke (Ryan Heindl), chatting to a girl, saying he is new in town. When the kid notices him he runs away down the street. Through this we see Hunter having flashes of memory, blood predominates.
He is walking past another homeless guy who asks him for money, he gives him the paltry change he has but the guy demands more. Eventually his temper snaps and he attacks the guy, beating him and taking his money. He goes to the shelter and his bloodied knuckles are noticed, nevertheless he ends up with shelter manager Danni (Rachel Cerda). The shelter is her thesis and uses therapy with those it helps but Hunter doesn’t want to talk. He gets angry and leaves.
Back at his sleep spot and his friend has gone but her pendant, the one thing she keeps, is on the floor. He searches for her and eventually sees two men, Peter (Beau Forbes) and Paul (Leigh Foster), dragging her. He carefully follows and sees them attacking, stabbing her and drinking her blood. He accidentally makes a noise and hides… they look but leave without unearthing him (one might have seen him but not made the effort to get him) and bundle the woman into a van. When Luke reaches his home, Peter and Paul are there with a young woman and clearly his act at the bus stop was to lure another victim.
So, Luke is a reluctant vampire – young and he hasn’t yet made a kill. Hunter’s homelessness came after a home invasion where his mother and sister were killed – he has guilt because he ran away. Hunter spots Luke as he is dumping the homeless woman’s body and Luke realises he seems to be watching him. In the meantime, Hunter is also staying at the shelter, though he is reluctant about relaying his past still. There is clearly an attraction with Danni and eventually he does admit running when his family were killed but also says he thinks he saw fangs…
Lore-wise the vampires are part of a hierarchical male group – there is reference to women not turning properly and so they do not attempt to. They do have fangs but some like to use knives. One prisoner vampire (because he would not kill) suggests it is a disease. They actually seem quite hardy, but a pierced heart will kill. There isn’t much more lore. The film itself had a few bits that are somewhat unbelievable. The cage fighting Hunter running at a home invasion seemed off, given his bravado in the opening scenes, but perhaps it was the fangs that broke him? His chasing after a bike for an extended period to track Luke took a suspension of disbelief, given the likely impact of his situation on his health and stamina, and the ending sequence also needed the same suspension in places as did the intimate relationship with Danny (it would have worked better platonically). Nevertheless, it was a solid flick that was worth a watch. 5.5 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
It starts with Hunter Vanelson (Jason Keller) – which sounds suspiciously like Van Helsing phonetically – cage fighting. As things go along, we see him fight his third opponent in a row and, despite taking a beating, turning the fight around and winning…
 |
| Jason Keller as Hunter |
Hunter wakes, now obviously homeless. He sleeps on the snowy Chicago winter streets. A homeless woman, who sleeps nearby and has befriended him, tells him that he was screaming in his sleep again. She gives him a Twinkie and suggests he tries the new shelter – it has good food. Later, panhandling, he notices a kid, Luke (Ryan Heindl), chatting to a girl, saying he is new in town. When the kid notices him he runs away down the street. Through this we see Hunter having flashes of memory, blood predominates.
 |
| Rachel Cerda as Danni |
He is walking past another homeless guy who asks him for money, he gives him the paltry change he has but the guy demands more. Eventually his temper snaps and he attacks the guy, beating him and taking his money. He goes to the shelter and his bloodied knuckles are noticed, nevertheless he ends up with shelter manager Danni (Rachel Cerda). The shelter is her thesis and uses therapy with those it helps but Hunter doesn’t want to talk. He gets angry and leaves.
 |
| Hunter's fighter days |
Back at his sleep spot and his friend has gone but her pendant, the one thing she keeps, is on the floor. He searches for her and eventually sees two men, Peter (Beau Forbes) and Paul (Leigh Foster), dragging her. He carefully follows and sees them attacking, stabbing her and drinking her blood. He accidentally makes a noise and hides… they look but leave without unearthing him (one might have seen him but not made the effort to get him) and bundle the woman into a van. When Luke reaches his home, Peter and Paul are there with a young woman and clearly his act at the bus stop was to lure another victim.
 |
| he saw fangs... |
So, Luke is a reluctant vampire – young and he hasn’t yet made a kill. Hunter’s homelessness came after a home invasion where his mother and sister were killed – he has guilt because he ran away. Hunter spots Luke as he is dumping the homeless woman’s body and Luke realises he seems to be watching him. In the meantime, Hunter is also staying at the shelter, though he is reluctant about relaying his past still. There is clearly an attraction with Danni and eventually he does admit running when his family were killed but also says he thinks he saw fangs…
 |
| tasting blood |
Lore-wise the vampires are part of a hierarchical male group – there is reference to women not turning properly and so they do not attempt to. They do have fangs but some like to use knives. One prisoner vampire (because he would not kill) suggests it is a disease. They actually seem quite hardy, but a pierced heart will kill. There isn’t much more lore. The film itself had a few bits that are somewhat unbelievable. The cage fighting Hunter running at a home invasion seemed off, given his bravado in the opening scenes, but perhaps it was the fangs that broke him? His chasing after a bike for an extended period to track Luke took a suspension of disbelief, given the likely impact of his situation on his health and stamina, and the ending sequence also needed the same suspension in places as did the intimate relationship with Danny (it would have worked better platonically). Nevertheless, it was a solid flick that was worth a watch. 5.5 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
2 comments:
An engrossing film. Not often the most interesting character in a vampire movie is not the vampire.
Thanks Khaia for stopping by, Hunter was the more interesting one in this, I agree
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