Vampireland (2012) – Review

1/2 Star

Vampireland (formerly titled The 6th Extinction) is similar to George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in that it deals with a small group of people who take refuge in a house during a supernatural apocalypse. That’s as far as I’d go with that comparison. Here we have vampires substituted in for zombies, plus some sort of satanic cult. The film starts out with a quick intro into the vampire post-apocalypse and after the titles we delve into the happenings of some folk right before the beginning of the end. A priest ominously looks through old texts, a cheating man’s wife arrives back home, a grumpy fireman is forced from his bed and a young woman sets out on a date with a stranger she met on the Internet. Later that night a satanic cult moves in on the town, killing everyone they come across. They release a powerful evil from its grave and the apocalypse is in full swing. Who will survive?

If you make it past the excruciatingly boring and pointless first half an hour Vampireland does get marginally better before falling back into its incredibly fatigued and slow pace. Clearly this was shot on a shoestring budget, but regardless of the shot on home video look there’s little to no artistic value. A small moment when our heroine is being chased by a vampire after her date is the exception. Suddenly the director finds the ability to frame a shot and the editor is capable of making cuts that have impact on the scene.

This movie is a great example of why the digital revolution was never a threat to Hollywood. This plays like something that the neighborhood kids put together for fun. The actors appear to be nonprofessional friends of the director or producer. The writing is nothing more than an idea with a “fill the voids” style. It’s incredible when anyone gets a movie made, it’s a truly hard and difficult feat to achieve. Unfortunately what happens with these made for fun flicks is they are bought up by crafty companies which slap some interesting artwork on them along with a more commercial title. Those who don’t know what they’re getting into will feel ripped off by these used car salesman bait and switch tactics.

The half a star is up from no stars because of some surprisingly effective digital special effects. Regardless of that short praise, skip Vampireland, there’s no reason to see this one.

Director: John Vincent
Stars: Mahssa Rashidy, Eric Maurer, Michael Bugard, Eric Jaan