Day 64: Out For Blood

Out For Blood

Bats all, folks!

Don't let the title fool you. Unfortunately, this isn't a Steven Seagal vampire movie. That will have to wait for another day. The poster advertised it as “Vampires: Out For Blood,” but the opening credits just said “Out For Blood” so I'm going to stick with that. Zombie Apocalypse and Zombies Zombies Zombies did the same thing. Pick a name and stick with it. I understand the need to alter names for overseas markets, but I think that's giving these movies too much credit.

Out For Blood stars Kevin Dillion (Entourage, The Blob) as police officer Hank Holton. Told in mostly in a flashback from a mental institution, Hank is going through a messy divorce which isn't helping his drinking and rage problems. He is obsessed with his soon-to-be ex-wife, famed vampire novelist Susan Hastings (Vanessa Angel, Kingpin, Weird Science television show) and follows her around. Hank is assigned a missing persons case that leads him to a pseudo-gothic nightclub. He finds the missing girl, Layla, alive and well and joins her at an after-party that turns out to be some sort of vampire orgy. Hank fights them off, but is bitter by The Master. His boss, Captain Billings (Lance Henriksen, The Terminator, Aliens) does not believe him and worries that Hank is losing his mind. Hank begins to show vampiric symptoms and reaches out to his wife for help. Hank and Susan take the fight to the vampires and their helpers (here they are called Wraiths, in other movies they're referred to as Familiars). Susan is turned into a vampire by the Master and it is up to Hank to save her and kill the Master. Will he be able to save the day and why does he end up in an insane asylum?

Despite my new vampire powers, I still sweat like a mule

If you've seen any movie where the main focus is on changing into a vampire, you have a pretty good idea about what will happen in this movie. Out For Blood isn't particularly original or creative, but it still has some entertainment value. There is a decent amount of action and plenty of blood. The makeup is decent, on par with the Buffy The Vampire Slayer television series. The makeup and prosthetic pieces used for The Master are extra rubbery, making him look more like a Gremlin than a vampire. One scene towards the end in particular annoyed me where Hank kills a vampire, but no one believes him because there is no body and nothing came up on surveillance. When Hank kills the vampire, he gets covered in blood, but when he explains what happened to Captain billings, he's perfectly clean. Where did the blood go? Why is the floor clean? These are cops, why can't they do simple police work?

Dillon does a pretty good job in his role and Lance Henriksen is pretty excellent as Cpt. Billings. Vanessa Angel is a bit miscast, because she was excellent in the Weird Science television series. The movie lacked humor, which is unfortunate because I think it would have added more entertainment to the movie and would have put Angel more in her comfort zone. The dialogue is fine, although there is one line that is directly lifted from Total Recall. Maybe it was a pure coincidence, but I'm surprised no one noticed. It's a well-known line.

Don't feed me after midnight

Out For Blood is a pretty basic vampire movie. You have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen and the movie deserves credit for still being able to entertain me. Maybe it helped that there was more nudity in this movie than a movie called Zombies vs. Strippers. Go figure. There is a decent amount of action and enough blood to keep horror fans satisfied. Dillion and Henriksen do a good job, but Angel looks a bit lost in her role. Ultimately, Out For Blood is a by-the-numbers vampire movie. You could do better, but you could do far worse.

6/10