The Brotherhood (2001)

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Following the minor success of all-girl teen witch flick THE CRAFT, David DeCoteau made his own Z-grade spin on the franchise in THE BROTHEROOD. These are gay-friendly horror flicks in which female cast members barely feature. DeCoteau is too busy shooting his young male models lounging around in their boxer shorts or getting up to some mischievous hijinks as part of a longevity cult. The British title of the film is I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU and it sounds like something DeCoteau might have said to his male cast members during audition.Needless to say that this is a surprising production in that it manages to be sleazy and tame at the same time. Certainly the constant ogling of the young male bodies is off-putting although vaguely enlightening given the amount of films that chronicle female flesh. Sadly, the homoerotic stuff is the only real content this movie has, as nobody was really interested in telling a proper story.As usual, the acting is horrible from these planks of wood masquerading as breakout stars, and the script is dumb beyond belief. Every dialogue scene rings hollow and there's a general feeling of falsity in the air. Add in an almost entire lack of story and incident and you have a bomb of a film. Incredibly, no less than five sequels followed this mess.

A confusing tale which confronts issues like popularity, and fitting into social groups... oh and some kind of vampire ritualism too. It's too easy to throw this movie straight in the Buffy/Dawsons Creek, bin... but hey, that's what the bin is there for! Teen acting is often a little on the stiff side, especially in a teen movie like this. Very little charisma, but a whole bag of enforced "cool", which they do quite well. There is a consistent street-wise-cum-spooky atmosphere, but also a gross inconsistency whereby these supposedly most popular guys in college are never seen to do anything in or around the college. Strange! We hear about their popularity and even good grades, but don't see any interaction at all! So a cool, likable individual (Chris), doesn't want to join a fraternity and become "Mr Popular" because that would make him un-cool and un-likable? His room-mate, "Who got thrown out of chess-club for being too geeky" would love to be "Mr Popular", and if he was would spend all his time doing really un-popular things to other people and school buildings! It's a teen movie... geddit?? The whole vampire idea is quite good, not a fang in sight, but a wickedly cool lair. Their catch phrase, "Blood Brothers", links well to the fraternity idea and their vampirical past-time. It's a well designed fantasy, and even a good story for teen vampire fans.But, and there's always a but, it doesn't quite hang together. Watching this movie leaves you feeling something is missing. Maybe that the college disappears as soon as the movie gets going, and then exists between Chris' bungalow and the Frat house itself. There is more than just a hint of Homo-eroticism, with the number of fit young men crawling around each other in their underwear. Hey, maybe all fraternities are like that? A little more than 'blood' brothers perhaps!! Whereas a little more female interaction would have made the film a tad more credible... even if the guys are all gay! Also, and probably most annoying was the lead female (Megan), who put on an especially grating, gravelly drawl of an accent, and managed to deliver all her lines slowly, without breaths, or even pauses between words. Ick! Maybe that's the only way she could come across as 'cool'... or was she 'uncool' being a psychology major and all. Oh, I give up! And finally, so it's a budget film, but did it have to end quite so abruptly and unspectacularly and uninterestingly? So, I'm now left with a shell of a film, that has a couple of good ideas, and does flow through to an albeit rather abrupt ending. This may be a favourite with some unquestioning young teenage girls... I'd say around 11 or 12years should do it! So how on earth did this flick get a 15 rating?? One thing is for sure, "Lost Boys" this ain't! I rated a "4"

I made myself sit through this BS straight-to-video for what reason again? Boy...well, 1st off, I have no problem with the gay communities throughout the world, but god...some other user had it penned correctly as a homoerotic flic disguised as a horror film. I mean, there's nothing very scary about it.THIS MOVIE NEEDS TO BE SPOILED! Therefore, basically GQ models who form a fraternity try to get the new hot stud on campus into there lair of bloodsucking...but they're not vampires. (?) whatever...they are led into the frat parties they hold by some annoying actress (whose disinterest in her role comes through in her delivery) and later reveal that the other brothers are in the fraternity to act as catalysts for the main guy's spirit to live in after his time on earth is through. gaw...This movie gets a 2/10 from me because the later Brotherhood sequels are pure 0/10. Even this one has a better-looking evil lead. That gives it the 2 points...and the original musical score that is reused in the sequels first got played here. Good god, throw it away and damage every copy in your neighborhood video store!

I do like this film. Honestly, I wouldn't watch it otherwise, listening to it on the other hand is a different matter thanks to you shoddy lip synching that went on. It's a traditional good guys versus vampires type flick that I feel hasn't been done justice. Given a decent script, less wooden actors (Barring the guys who play Devon and Chris' roomie) and a slight hint of homosexuality, this film would become a classic instead of a b-movie. This film sits among greats on my shelf, Devon is a great vampire, he is both charismatic and deadly at the same time. The actor brings a great deal of mystery and seductive power to the character. Devon and the Roomie (who's name I can't remember) burn like fire on an otherwise wet film. To be honest I think that it IS a must see, but whether it is a must keep is up to taste.