Dark Town (2004)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Overrated and overhyped

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Suburbia is inflicted with vampirism once a slumlord(..who is bitten by vampires when he finds them lodging in one of his buildings)poisons his family with tainted blood(while also biting his younger daughter). A chain reaction of new vampires ignites when those unaware, such as Rakeem(Delpano Wils), his sister Tisha(Kobina Wright)and his other friends who show up at the slumlord's house to cause a ruckus due to the death of a young child thanks to a fire. That fire was indeed in the slumlord's building and Rakeem wants retribution, but instead finds himself in a pretty scary situation..the slumlord's family are out to get their blood. Jen(Janet Martin)seems to be the only member bitten who can control the evil raging..at least enough to assist Rakeem in his goal to kill as many vampires as he can. But, the main goal is killing the slumlord who seems to be in control of the carnage that has emerged. We get a glimpse of how bad the vampire plague has spread through the scurrying shadows that often pass the houses outside..there seems to be no hope in Rakeem and Jen's cause to end the vampire disease that's spreading quickly and endlessly.Gory micro-budget flick from director Desi Scarpone suffers from unoriginality. He really brings on the vampire feeding and never holds back on the bloodletting. When he focuses on the violence, it's quite effective. It's the other problems that surface such as a plot that really has nowhere to go. It's basically an endless supply of vampire attacks and one-liners from those infected who praise being inflicted with their disease for they say it has changed them for the better. The black characters represented here are mostly gangster stereotypes or those very nervy about being in a suburban white neighborhood. There is an obvious array of profanity and irrational behavior as if they can't think for themselves and are clueless as to how to get out of their situation. Rakeem is really the only fully developed character of the bunch, but Wils doesn't have the kind of talent to bring life to him. The film, interesting enough, mostly has females doing the biting and such. That alone makes this an interesting little watch regarding vampire mania. But, it follows the basic vampire formula and the single location of one of two suburban homes really stifles the ambition of where Scarone wishes to take his film.

The world of independent cinema is definitely a difficult one to work, sure, the artists receive an unlimited amount of freedom and the chance to put on film whatever idea they have on mind without caring if the content goes against studio policies or marketing issues. However, this apparently unlimited freedom comes hand in hand with the difficult task of raising funds for the project without the aid of wealthy producers or helpful supporters, putting the quality of the final product in a compromising situation. "Dark Town" is probably one of the best examples of this double edged sword, as director Desi Scarpone and writer David Birke truly aim for a very ambitious (and surprisingly original) story that sadly gets practically mutilated by their status as independent filmmakers and modest micro-budget.It's Curtis Armstrong's (Joel King) birthday, but instead of being celebrating it with his dysfunctional family, this greedy WASP slumlord is checking one of his properties in Compton during a series of blackouts. When he finally arrives to his suburban "paradise", his family discovers that something is not exactly right with Curtis, as he acts a bit weirder than his usual self. His wife and kids will realize too late that the head of the Armstrong family is now one of the undead, a vampire lord that quickly begins to turn the neighborhood into a bloody hell. Only his estranged lesbian daughter Jen (Janet Martin) seems to be unaffected by the curse and she'll have to make an uneasy alliance with a group of Gangstas from Compton who chose the wrong night to have their revenge against Armstrong.As written above, this film does offer a somewhat original story, as David Birke's tale of suburban horror adds elements of zombie films to his vampire tale. In fact, the violent beastly way his vampires behave can not be more far removed from the seductive stereotype usually portrayed on film, as their bite has more to do with the gruesome cannibalism of Fulci's zombie films than with the smooth kiss of Dracula. With a not-so-subtle social cometary and a convoluted plot that rises more questions than answers, Birke's vampire odyssey sadly ends up as a very ambitious project that feels incomplete and sloppy due to the poor development of the dialogs and characters, as well as the lack of enough funds to create what truly may have looked like a great idea on paper.Director Desi Scarpone makes a respectable effort to bring Birke's story to life, but it's obvious that this suburban vampire story proved to be more ambitious than what the crew was able to achieve. Shot on video, the film has a photography that at best looks like a soap opera, but at its worst it looks like a poor student's project; however, it's wort to point out that Adam Tash's cinematography offers really inventive points of view and a somewhat creative camera-work despite the poor look of what he captures. While some of the make up is really cheap, most of the gore effects (and there are plenty of them) look indeed very good. Overall Scarpone shows conviction, love for his movie and even talent behind the camera; sadly not enough of those elements to save the film from its fate.The acting is the film's true downfall, as most of the cast members act and speak their lines with the skills of an amateur. The fact that the script is not that good is a serious problem, but this kind of acting only makes things worse, and shows that directing actors is a characteristic that Scarpone needs to practice more in order to improve. Still, one actor manage to come up with not only an effective work, but also a believable one, and that is Joel King's performance as Curtis Armstrong. King seems to enjoy the part of this despicable evil vampire and it's safe to say that is his performance what sometimes saves the film from being a disgrace.Honestly, it would be very easy to write about the countless flaws found in "Dark Town", as everything from the cinematography to the acting to the way the script is written is plagued with problems that make the movie feel as a mediocre horror film; but it's better to say that what Scarpone and Birke attempted in the film is something that should be done more often in films: to offer a fresh and original take on a horror sub-genre. Sure, "Dark Town" is disjointed, and maybe boring at times, but as a low-budget attempt is not that bad.I wouldn't recommend this movie to everyone, as people not used to micro budget movies would not really appreciate the effort put in this indie film, but fans of micro budget horror movies will find an original film that while not very well done, it's fairly original and even entertaining when watched with the right mood. Definitely not a winner, but not "the worst film ever made". 4/10

"Dark Town" is a halfway decent vampire film.**SPOILERS**As they're trying to celebrate their father's birthday, Sandy Armstrong, (Alison Dian Miller) Curtis Jr., (Rwaling Curtis) Heather, (Sarah Horvath) and Jen, (Janet Martin) along with her lover Lisa, (Meghan Stansfield) get together and await Curtis, Sr., (Joel King) who arrives late. When it finally gets started, a group of gang-members, Rakeem, (Delpano Wills) O-Dog, (Derrick Wayne Smith) Geoff, (Siaka Harding) and Tisha, (Kobina Wright) crash the party to escape a drug deal gone bad, only to find that the entire family are vampires. Trying to escape from the vampires, they eventually turn and fight the group from the inside.The Good News: This wasn't as bad as it was said to be. It's biggest asset is that it delivers exactly what genre fans of this kind of film enjoy. It's over-the-top violent, features enough cheesy action to keep it interesting and there's also a couple of great nudity scenes thrown in for good measure. The violence is pretty graphic, and is quite surprising for a vampire film. Aside from a huge amount of neck bites that freely flow as in normal movies, this one also has a new twist for the vampires in that they now gorge on the flesh of their victims. There's several victims who are surrounded and have several different vampires and begin feasting, ripping up the body quite messily. It pumps up the gore factor quite nicely. There's also nice decent action in here, quite easily seen in the final showdown. Not only highly gory, but features some action scenes as well. And then any film that features a lesbian vampire certainly scores some points in it's favor as well.The Bad News: The one main problem with this film is the same inherent problem all vampire films have, which is that vampires aren't that scary. That is the focus of the film, and it doesn't really provide a way to make them scary. It's a problem with all the vampire films, and this one is no exception. It's also very hard to really figure out what's going on here. There's lot of different subplots going on with no real conclusion to any of them and it just makes for a disjointed beginning half. Nothing really isn't explained either, and is just mostly taken for granted without much explanation. It makes it very easy to get confused in the middle section where nothing is ever shown yet every one is suddenly a vampire. It simply doesn't make much sense all around. There's also a big question mark as to the finale. Just another example of it not really making much sense.The Final Verdict: A nice, gory ride that never really explains itself. It gives the gore, action and nudity when needed, but really struggles when that isn't around. Vampire fans might be more inclined to check this out, while those not really into them might want to exceed with caution.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity and a sex scene

There is bad. Then there's really bad. Then there's 'Warriors of the Wasteland' bad.This movie falls in the last category.One wonders if there was EVER a script for this movie, or if the director was just winging it as he went.I make no secrets about liking vampire movies. But this one...I'm not sure it gets much worse than this.The acting was bad. The plot was non-existent. The directing was bad. The production made no sense.How was this movie ever made? And worse, released?Luckily, I rented this movie basically for free. Because I'm so glad I didn't pay money for it.