Bad Medicine
I surprisingly liked John Carpenter's "Vampires", I didn't think it was great but it had some beer & pizza night merit. I certainly didn't expect to feel the same about the sequel "Vampires: Los Muertos" because basically it looked like one of those sequels which go direct to DVD and do nothing but rehash the first movie. But "Vampires: Los Muertos" is entertaining, not as good as the original "Vampires" but still a no brainer movie perfect for Friday night beer & pizza in front of the box with Jon Bon Jovi giving his version of cool vampire hunter.
Derek Bliss (Jon Bon Jovi - Pay It Forward) is a vampire hunter, an assassin who works alone doing contract work for the Van Helsing Group but he is asked to put a team of hunters together after a group of suckers start running rampage in Mexico. As he works through a list of contacts he discovers that the vampires are getting to them before him forcing him to enlist the unlikely help of 16 year old Sancho (Diego Luna), Zoey (Natasha Gregson Wagner) who takes medication to prevent the cravings having been bitten during sex and Father Rodrigo (Cristián de la Fuente) the survivor from a massacre in a monastery. But as they head across the border they discover that the vampires are lead by blue eyed Una (Arly Jover) who is smarter than they realise.
If you compare "Vampires" to "Vampires: Los Muertos" there is no denying that the sequel is inferior and basically recycles elements from numerous vampire movies in creating a familiar storyline. That isn't a complaint because "Vampires: Los Muertos" is not trying to engage your brain but just entertain with action and some humour, as I said it's a Friday night beer & pizza movie. That doesn't mean to say that it is without storyline, there is the continuation of vampires and the black cross as they look to be able to walk in the sun but the storyline and subplots such as the one surrounding Zoey's chemical based craving beaters really are just there as a vehicle for visual entertainment.
Whilst "Vampires: Los Muertos" is not the most action packed movie or features a bucket full of laughs what it has works. The whole series of scenes featuring Derek meeting 16 year old Sancho and him having a note from his mother to join the hunt is stupid but it is funny. And that is where "Vampires: Los Muertos" works, much of it is stupid and the action is over the top but in a strange way it makes you smile.
Now Jon Bon Jovi is no James Woods and he knows that, he doesn't try to deliver the edgy cool which Woods delivered but goes for grown up surfer cool which is kind of all right. In fact Bon Jovi is entertaining as is the entire cast especially Diego Luna who as young Sancho steals many a scene thanks to his humorous lines. But when I say entertaining I don't necessarily mean good so whilst Arly Jover is entertaining as the sexy Una her character actually sucks.
What this all boils down to is that "Vampires: Los Muertos" is as you would expect not as good as the original movie but it is by no means as terrible as you might expect. It is as I keep on saying a Friday night beer & pizza movie where the entertainment is all about the action and humour.
Tags: Vampire Movies
