Director: Carlos Dunn
Release date: 2019
Contains spoilers
Using an author’s name in a film title is (perhaps low-grade) controversial. It suggests that the resultant film will be to the author’s original vision and very often it really isn’t. Within the vampire genre there is an all too obvious example of this.
Equally it is odd with this, not because it doesn’t match the original vision but precisely because I (and I’m sure many viewers) couldn’t tell you. I am sure Maggie Shayne is thrilled that a film has been made of her novel. I am also sure that, despite more than 70 novels (according to Wikipedia), she isn’t a household name (and for clarification that isn’t an attack, just a fact) and whilst I am sure that her fans will seek out the film (and would have done without her name in the title), the use of her name will not draw in those of us unaware of her work.
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| tortured |
This brings us to the film, which starts with cut scenes, one set being set in the past and a gypsy fortune teller, Sarafina (Theresa Byron), telling her story and the bad blood between her and her sister. Intercut are scenes in recent Afghanistan and concentrating on a captured American soldier Colonel Willem Stone (Logan Shephard), who is tortured and brutalised by the Taliban. Whenever the pain gets too much, he enters a fugue state through which he watches Sarafina’s story – however it is more than that as she (being psychic) is also aware of him and thinks he is a spirit.
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| Theresa Byron as Sarafina |
Eventually Stone is able to escape and hobbles miles (his foot looks about ready to drop off) before passing out. He has seen, in his visions, Sarafina being turned and her sire, Bartrone (Christian Miguel Rangel Aguirre), facing the sun in a moment of vampiric suicide. Stone wakes in a hospital (Stateside), his foot has been saved (though he will limp for the rest of his life) and he is a national hero. One night in the hospital he is wandering the halls and comes across a thief, Jameson Bryant (Jason Klingensmith), stealing blood and recognises him as a vampire. He covers for him.
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| burnt |
Once home, and missing Sarafina, Stone actually smashes his injured foot with his cane to summon the fugue state again and sees a burnt Sarafina climb into her coffin. Bryant visits him and offers him a job. Stone has no need of money and so wants the payment of meeting Sarafina – Bryant finds out where she is and Stone does meet her, but the meeting doesn’t go that well. The job is for Stone to follow Bryant’s daughter, Amber lily (Bridget Messaros) as a surreptitious bodyguard whilst she goes on a trip with her friend.
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| Amber Lily and friend |
Amber Lily was conceived by her vampire mother whilst Bryant was still human and she is a rare half-breed. She needs large amounts of protein (but not blood) – difficult as she is a vegetarian, has telepathic and telekinetic powers and can walk in the sun. Because of this a group of vampire hunters have targeted her. Unfortunately, she realises Stone is following her but not what his reason is (he is resistant to mind reading), reaches out psychically for help and Sarafina answers and kidnaps him leaving her exposed and ultimately taken prisoner. Sarafina, thinking Stone is a wrong-un tries to break his will and make him a slave but Amber Lily’s family need Stone’s help rescuing their daughter.
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| Stone bitten |
So I have mentioned the hybrid's powers. As for the full vampires they need blood, have mind reading abilities, and can use their blood as a controlling drug to ensure loyalty if they make a slave. They appear to be fast and strong (and, not being au fait with the source material, this made the reliance on Stone, who may have been a military hero but was also physically compromised, a puzzle) but are not necessarily that strong (a prison cell can hold them) and they burn in sunlight. We do see an invisibility trick.
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| newly turned |
So, this was fairly involved and I suspect followed the novel plot (or part of it as the book is part of a longer series) quite closely. Unfortunately, film plots and novel plots do not, often, neatly match and this lengthy indie film was just way too long for its own good. It was ambitious, no doubt about that, but again perhaps too ambitious for an indie (some mismatched exterior shots could have been avoided but in the main the budget constraints were simply unfortunate). I can’t take away from the ambition however. The acting was inconsistent, with some performances of a higher quality than others – but sometimes the rather stagy dialogue didn’t help.
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| antagonists-r-us |
This is an independent film and you need to understand that going in. With that in mind it has ambition and felt like it had a respect for the source material (though I stand to be corrected, being unsighted). However, it needs a re-edit badly, as it is way too long – sadly director Carlos Dunn passed away during the production and, I will say, this is a cut above his previously reviewed film Katherine (which he wrote and produced). The cast try with what they have got – actually probably favourite but unmentioned as I went over the plot was the performance by Aja Nicole as Amber Lily’s aunt Rhiannon – but as mentioned above the performances are uneven. There is a love story side to this but the film doesn’t remain fixated on it. 4 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Demand @ Amazon UK
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