Low budget Vampire horror that tries to be clever.
Brotherhood of Blood starts near Brazov which is near Romania three weeks ago as an American building restorer named Christopher Clayton (Darrin James) & his photographer brother Tom (William Snow) rummage around an old Church there. Jump to Los Angeles Yesterday Morning where a Vampire hunter named Carrie Reiger (Victoria Pratt) contacts Tom to enquire about his brother Chris who has developed symptoms of Vampirism while in hospital although he seems reluctant to say anything, while out staking Vampires several hunters have noticed a strange recurring symbol used by the Vampires for some reason to either attract or repel evil. Digging deeper Carrie realises that Chris & Tom found something in that old Romanian Church, something ancient & evil that threatens both the Vampire & human race of immense power. The only way to stop this great evil is for Vampires & humans to work together but can an alliance be formed in time before the ancient prophecy is fulfilled?Written & directed by Michael Roesch & Peter Scheerer this low budget indie Vampire film tries to be a clever horror reworking of the seminal classic The Usual Suspects (1995) with it's interchanging time lines & the mysterious ultra bad guy Vlad Kossei whose identity & the way it is revealed is very similar to The Usual Suspects, in fact I'm not trying to boast or anything but I guessed the twist ending fairly early on & all in all thought it was quite predictable. The script which takes itself very seriously is passable for what it is (not much), it tries to big the mysterious Vlad Kossei character up so when his identity is revealed it's meant to have some great meaning but did anyone else think that during the final shot of Vlad Kossei walking towards the camera he looked like a dead ringer for Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Terminator (1984)? At just over 80 odd minutes long so at least it's fairly short, although I found the story predictable & dull if you haven't seen The Usual Suspects or have any intelligence then it may surprise you although that's doubtful. The character's are forgettable, no-one is that likable or particularly stands out & why didn't that Vampire played by Ken Foree not tell Carrie & her people what he knew straight away rather than wait, get tortured & let the big bad Vlad Kossei complete his plan?
Obviously filmed on a low budget Brotherhood of Blood doesn't look the best with cheap sets, locations & effects work. The lack of budget probably meant there wasn't any money for CGI computer effects work which is a sort of blessing actually although the lack of budget means there's no money for any other type of effects work. There really isn't a lot of blood or gore here at all, a Vampire has it's finger cut off & it's fangs ripped out, there are a couple of Vampire stakings & some blood splatter but nothing else. I guess the makers wanted to rely on it's story but having ripped the whole tone & feel from The Usual Suspects without being anywhere near as good I found it hard to like Brotherhood of Blood.
Filmed in Los Angeles in California on a supposed budget of about $500,000 Brotherhood of Blood is pretty rough round the edges & looks low budget. The acting is OK, Jason Connery happens to be the son of former James Bond actor Sean Connery while genre regulars Sid Haig & Ken Foree have small roles as Vampires.
Brotherhood of Blood is a low budget indie Vampire horror film that tries to be clever but anyone with any intelligence or has already seen The usual Suspects will not be impressed by it's twist. A lack of blood, nudity & action doesn't help either.
score 3/10
poolandrews 17 January 2011
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2371109/35117
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