Absolutely Fantastic

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Vampires: Los Muertos starts as Vampire hunter Derek Bliss (Jon Bon Jovi) is hired by a mysterious client to recruit a team of Vampire hunters & travel to a small town in Mexico to wipe out a nest of Vampires situated there, however it seems that someone is one step ahead of him as all of his potential team of hunters are being killed off. Derek becomes suspicious & eventually assembles his own team of a half human half Vampire woman named Zoey (Natasha Wagner), a Mexican kid named Sancho (Diego Luna) & a Catholic Priest Father Rodrigo (Cristián de la Fuente) who brotherhood has been killed by the master Vampire. Derek learns that the Master Vampire Una (Arly Jover) is trying to find the anti-crucifix & perform a ceremony that will allow her to walk in daylight...Written & directed by Tommy Lee Wallace this was the first sequel to John Carpenter's rather good horror film Vampires (1998) who already has previous when it comes to horror film sequels having helmed the criminally underrated Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) & the fun Fright Night Part 2 (1988), while not as good as the original Vampires or featuring any of the original character's or even referring to the original events this sequel isn't that bad as far as follow ups go although I doubt I'd want to ever watch it again. The script feels a little routine, ideas & themes are taken from other better films such as the Mexican setting already seen in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) & the anti-crucifix aspect is ripped directed from the original Vampires. The script takes itself very seriously & plods along in unspectacular fashion, there are these people who talk about killing Vampires, drive for a bit, kill a few Vampires & then talk about killing Vampires some more in a rather underwhelming manner that gets repetitive. At 90 odd minutes long the pace is alright even if there isn't enough story to fill that time out, the character's are all dull & no-one comes across as particularly likable or interesting with the Master vampire Una only speaking a few lines of dialogue during the entire film. There are a few decent moments, there's nothing amazingly bad about Vampires: Los Muertos either & it passed the time harmlessly enough but I doubt I'll remember anything about it by the end of the week.Shot in full 2:35:1 widescreen the film looks nice enough with strong Earthy colours & nice enough locations & sets but again nothing stands out that much, sure it's competent & while it's on screen it's find but once the end credits roll you will probably forget all about it. There's some alright gore here & luckily I didn't notice any CGI computer effects, a bartender has his head punched off & his stump spurts blood over a pool table, there are slit throats, a fair amount of blood splatter, burning Vampires, decapitated heads & several stakings as well. Set mainly in the daytime at least you can see what's going on, there's none of that shaky hand-held camera crap either which is appreciated.Actually filmed in Mexico the production values are nice & it looks like Vampires: Los Muertos had some money spent on it. The acting is alright, the obvious thing of note is the casting of rocker Jon Bon Jovi as the lead Vampire hunter who to be fair does OK, Natasha Wagner is poor while Arly Jover plays another Vampire after appearing in the original Blade (1998) as Mercury.Vampires: Los Muertos is passable horror sequel fare that is neither particularly great nor particularly bad, it's just sort of middle of the road entertainment that you can watch & use to pass the time but will have forgotten about by the time the end credits finish rolling. Not as good as the original Vampires but maybe worth catching if you were a fan of it, followed by a further sequel Vampires: The Turning (2005).

This is what happens when you make a switch from James Woods to Jon Bon Jovi and make a story considerably less interesting. Don't get me wrong; this isn't by any means a terrible movie. It just lacks a lot of the things the first movie had. Primarily a Baldwin brother. Seriously though, I've not in love with James Woods as an actor by any stretch of the imagination. He does, however, possess a certain smart-ass bravado that made him a really good fit for the first movie. Squeaky clean Jon Bon Jovi, try as he might, does not possess that quality and the movie suffers a bit for it.Basically this is standard vampire flick fare with some (very) tenuous connections to the first film. It tries hard, but I can't help but feel like it's kind a rip off of the first movie, which is kind of weird since the the same people produced it. It's basically a pale version of the whole vampires who want to go out in the sun motif. Fair enough, but you've seen it done to death and you've seen it done better. Except unlike the last movie we largely ditch the mysterious black cross in favor of some unnamed medication that works but only for a short while. Snore.All in all it's not a bad movie, it's just a disappointment, especially when viewed right after the first. It gets some points for decent gore, but falls short of the original there as well. When all is said and done it's not a bad movie really...it's just not up to par with the first one which I happened to really like. Not a terrible way to kill an hour and a half of your day, though.

The last reviewer was very generous. I quiet like the first movie, but can't say I enjoy this one very much. The beginning is bearable, but it goes downhill pretty quickly. I just don't see Jon Bon Jovi as a "bad-ass vampire hunter" and the vampire princess is neither sexy nor scary. A lot of the scenes just do not make sense. I mean any normal person would suspect something is up when a strange woman suddenly appearing out of nowhere to seduce you, let alone an experienced hunter. Why Una is able to communicate with Jovi? Nothing was ever explain in this movie, you wouldn't mind if it was entertaining, but that was too much to ask. This has to be one of worst vampire movie I have seen.

This "Debuted" today on the SciFi channel and all I can say is "I am speechless" I taped it today so I could watch it tonight after work. I had high hopes, Now I am tearing apart the closets looking for a length of rope so I can hang myself. Possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. I wish I could say something nice like "It was fun to make fun of this movie" but this movie is giving me nothing to work with. I know you are not supposed to post spoilers here with out prior warning but I am going to anyway "This movie sucks" There I said it! They should show this flick to film students to show them what NOT to do! My nine year old niece could make a better film. The only decent thing about this film is the sound and/or sound track. OH! I just found a rusty C-clamp in my old tool box. I am going to put it on the thumb of my left hand and tighten it until the pain erases the memory of what my eyes have seen. I could just tape over this VHS but I think I will burn it in the fire pit instead. I could wash with soap but I fear I will never be clean again. Christmas is coming. Buy this movie and give it to people you hate. -Mike