FILM REVIEW OF ''BLADE" (1998)

Actor-producer Wesley Snipes may have finally found himself an action movie franchise that he can sink his teeth into with British director Stephen Norrington's "Blade," (***1/2 out of ****)a well-made, imaginative, adrenaline-laced vampire chiller based on the Marvel Comics' super hero. Snipes heads a first-rate cast that includes Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff, N' Bushe Wright, Udo Kier, and Traci Lords. "Blade" synthesizes the exotic swordplay of the "Highlander" epics, the double-digit body count of a John Woo thriller, and the martial arts pandemonium of a Jackie Chan opus to spawn a horror movie several cuts above your ordinary vampire fare.

If the sight of blood, especially torrents of bogus blood, turns your stomach, avoid "Blade." "Blade" takes its cues from renegade vampire sags like Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996) and Kathryn Bigelow's "Near Dark" (1987) rather than those venerable classics such as either Tod Browning's "Dracula" (1931) with Bela Lugosi or Neil Jordan's "Interview with a Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles" with Tom Cruise (1994). The Snipes hero must have chose the same guy who tailored "Mad Max" and "The Terminator" in what essentially constitutes an apocalyptic version of Fran Rubel Kuzui's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1992). "Blade" qualifies as a tour-de-fang chiller with darker humor than "Buffy," top drawer special effects, and an infectious techno-pop soundtrack. Lowbrow escapism that it ranks as, "Blade" benefits chiefly from scenarist David S. Goyer's solid, seasoned writing skills and atmospheric, innovative helming by sophomore director Stephen Norrington.

Scenarist David S. Goyer provides an invigorating screenplay. "Blade" bristles not only with lively action and adventure, but also an intelligible plot that the characters go to extreme lengths of describe and discuss. When you consider that Goyer has penned scripts for "Dark City," "The Crow 2: City of Angels," "Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters," "Demonic Toys," and "Kickboxer 2," then you know he qualified as the ideal choice to pen the script. Goyer's revenge fantasy script never leaves you in the dark about a bloody new world where its embattled but immortal hero Blade wages a perennial war against vampires. Goyer shows impressive flexibility in co-opting vampire mythology. At one point, a half-blooded vampire smears on sun screen lotion to shield himself from the sun. Jealous vampires put one of their vampire enemies to death by gradually exposing him to sunlight at dawn. Meanwhile, our hero uses an ultra-violet light to singe unruly fangsters. About the only vampire trait neglected by Goyer is the ability to shape-shift into a bat.

A vampire infected our protagonist's pregnant mom, Vanessa Brooke (Sanaa Lathan of "Love & Basketball") with its venomous blood while she was carrying Blade in her womb. Delivered by Caesarean section from his dying mother, Blade emerges as neither totally human nor truly vampire. He can walk in sunlight without risk, and neither silver nor garlic can faze him. One villainous vampire admires Blade when he observes that Blade has "all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses." The filmmakers milk dramatic tension from Blade's growing tolerance to Whistler's (Kris Kristofferson of "Convoy") anti-venom serum. The chance that Blade may not revert to his vampire origins not only lurks in the background but also enhances the suspense. This element of uncertainty generates anxiety and endows the protagonist with an Achilles' heel that makes him seem more believable and charismatic. Blade cruises around in a 1968 Dodge Charger that looks very cool despite its late model make.

Legendary vampire hunter Abraham Whistler (a grouchy Kris Kristofferson with a gimpy leg) found Blade as a juvenile roaming the streets and living off the blood of derelicts. Transforming Blade into a super hero with injections of a blood substitute, he serves as Blade's stepfather and ordnance maker. Surprisingly, Whistler lasts longer than most sacrificial characters. Loosely modeled on the Roman god Vulcan who forged weapons for the deities, Whistler trains Blade to slay vampires with extreme prejudice. Blade approaches his crusade with the enthusiasm that Charles Bronson mustered for killing muggers in the quintet of "Death Wish" movies. Not surprisingly, more than enough vampires survive from other parts of the world for Blade to combat in the sequels. Wow, does "Blade" ever leave itself wide open in its wrap-up in Russia for a sequel! Anyhow, the vampires in "Blade" are not tooth fairies. Organized into a powerful, global underground syndicate, Dragonetti (Udo Kier) presides over them as a Corleonesque godfather. The scene in the shadowy conference room with vampires dressed in suits is effectively creepy. Kier's Dragonetti is a pure-blooded fangster in a world of full and half-blooded vampires.

In "Blade," the cities of the world have been practically undermined by vampires. Vampires have gained leverage in the business and politician arenas. These vampires own the police so they control the law. As the snotty, upstart Deacon Frost, actor Stephen Dorff plays the half-breed vampire who Dragonetti turned. Frost harbors greater ambitions than Dragonetti. The elder vampire prefers to co-exist with mortals and abide by their treaties. Frost demands that the vampires dominate humanity. Secretly, Frost has been translating the ancient vampire text, The Book of Erebus, which will enable him to resurrect vampire blood god La Magra. Frost wants to revive this demon, but he needs the missing link: Blade's blood. Frost calls Blade "day-walker," because the vampire bible has prophesied Blade's unique genetic make-up. If he can revive this blood god, Frost can control the House of Erebus that rules the undead, and vampires can emerge as the dominant force in the world. The splashy finale in a phantasmagoric vampire temple with skeletons bursting out of the mouths of vampires in a storm of jagged lightning bolts owes a little to "The Fifth Element" as well as "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958), but this scene is fully and logically integrated in Goyer's script.

Sure, "Blade" amounts to nothing more than bloody pulp fiction. Nevertheless, Goyer and Norrington have reinvented vampire thrillers. "Blade" is entertaining, somewhat cheesy, but technically proficient hokum done with considerable technical prowess. Congratulations Stan Lee!

FILM REVIEW OF ''DRACULA" (1931)

 Bela Lugosi plays the eponymous vampire in "Dracula" based on Bram Stokers' novel.Many actors have incarnated Dracula since Lugosi originated the role in Tod Browning's landmark horror chiller, but only one has matched Lugosi. Christopher Lee portrayed the immortal fangster memorably at least seven times for Hammer Films and a couple of times for other producers. Ironically, Lugosi only played Dracula twice during his disappointing Hollywood film career. Seventeen years later at the twilight of his career, Lugosi donned the cape to play Dracula in "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein." Although Browning's movie introduced one of the most popular horror villains in cinematic history, nothing about "Dracula" (*** OUT OF ****) is remotely scary. First, Universal Studios made the film so as to not incur the wrath of the Hollywood Production Code or offend pious church groups. Second, Dracula never bares his fangs. Furthermore, we never see the infamous vampire feeding off his prey. After all, he couldn't have kept his evening clothes looking so pristine if he got blood splashed all over himself from draining a rebellious human of their life essence. Third, when Van Helsing stakes Dracula in his coffin at the end, this important action occurs off screen with only the anguished groans of the Count to let us know that the vampire is dead. Originally, the Production Code Administration had Universal remove these sounds of death. Indeed, "Metropolis" lenser Carl Freund photographed "Dracula," and he makes this nonsense look genuinely atmospheric. The close-up shots of an unblinking Lugosi as Dracula with pen lights brightening his lupine stare make this vampire look appropriately intimidating.

Initially, the studio sought Lon Chaney, Sr., for the part, but cancer claimed Chaney before the great thespian could make the film. Lugosi landed the role for a minimal $500-a-week and he never topped "Dracula," though he came close with "White Zombie." Eventually, he would thrive in Poverty Row studio chillers and comedies and ended his career in director Ed D. Wood's preposterous "Plan 9 from Outer Space." Browning went on to make the controversial "Freaks" with genuine freaks about intrigue and murder in a small traveling circus. Universal produced "Dracula" for about $341-thousand, but curiously enough they neglected to capitalize on their surprise hit until four years later when they produced "Dracula's Daughter" with no Lugosi in sight. Granted, Van Helsing had destroyed the Lugosi monster in the first film, but later films dismissed this consolation to realism. Lee's Dracula reconstitutes himself in virtually all the Hammer films.

"Dracula" opens with a long shot as a real-life, horse-drawn stagecoach threads its way through the Carpathian Mountains. Renfield (Dwight Frye of "The Doorway to Hell") is a London real estate agent who has come to Transylvania with a lease for Count Dracula to sign. Renfield is riding with several other passengers when an anxious native explains that they must reach the inn before sunset. "It is Walpurgis night, the night of evil." He pauses and then continues, "Nosferatu. On this night, Madame, the doors-they are barred and to the Virgin we pray." Meantime, at the inn, the workers are reciting the Lord's Prayer in Hungarian. The coach pulls up at the Inn, but Renfield has no plans to stay. "I say, porter, don't take my luggage down. I'm going to the Borgo Pass tonight." The innkeeper struggles to persuade Renfield to remain until sunrise the following day because the coachman is frightened. Renfield explains that a carriage awaits him at midnight at the Borgo Pass. He adds that his destination is Castle Dracula. The innkeeper warns Renfield not to enter Castle Dracula. "We people of the mountains believe at the castle there are vampires! Dracula and his wives. They take the form of wolves and bats. They leave their coffins at night and they feed on the blood of the living." Renfield discounts all this hokum. He believes they are all superstitious, something that Renfield isn't. The innkeeper's wife thrusts a crucifix into Renfield's hand. "If you must go, wear this for your mother's sake. It will protect you." The crucifix was a standard weapon in any vampire hunter's arsenal. In this 1931 production, the crucifix can stop a vampire. When Universal Studios remade "Dracula" in the 1970s with Frank Langella, the crucifix bursts into flames in Dracula's presence.

Renfield swaps stagecoaches at Borgo Pass and rides off to Castle Dracula. The coach is making good time when Renfield peers outside and sees a huge bat flapping its wings in front of the horses as if it were leading the steeds. Once they reach the castle, Renfield searches for the coachman who is nowhere in sight. Of course, we know from the instant that we saw the coachmen that he is Dracula and can shape-shift. Renfield enters the imposing but dilapidated Castle Dracula. The count guides his guest through the cob-web infested premises to more comfortable quarters. Dracula scrutinizes the lease to his future home in Carfax Abbey. Afterward, Renfield cuts himself accidentally with a paper clip. Dracula darts forward impulsively at the sight of blood on Renfield's middle finger. Just as he closes in for the kill, Dracula shrinks backwards in revulsion at the sight of the crucifix that topples onto Renfield's bloody hands. Later, Dracula bites Renfield after the head vampire has scared off his three wives.

Dracula boards a sailing vessel, the Vesta, for London. He arrives in London and tours the town dressed up in a silk top hat and a cape. He approaches a flower girl and bites her, but we are shown nothing. Dracula introduces himself to Dr. Seward, Jonathan Harker, and Professor Van Helsing at the opera house. Not long afterward Dracula strikes and kills Lucy (Francis Dade of "Raffles"). The mirror scene where Van Helsing exposes Dracula is good. The count exits the premises as a wolf so nobody will follow him. Later, Van Helsing and Harker track Dracula down and kill him in his coffin. "Dracula" qualifies a spooky classic horror thriller.

FILM REVIEW OF ''DAYBREAKERS'' (2010)

The Australian-based Spierig Brothers have the distinction of writing and directing the second-best zombie comedy ever after “Shaun of the Dead” changed the genre for good. Their movie “Undead” did not illuminate movie screens in America but went straight to DVD and if you have not seen it, then you have missed quite a treat. The Brothers Spierig make their big-screen American theatrical debut with “Daybreakers,” but they have forsaken giddy, outlandish comedy for straight-faced, humorless drama in this lukewarm vampire chiller with a unique premise but weak payoff. Two-time Academy award nominee Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill topline this glossy, widescreen, futuristic epic.

The Spierigs have made a traditional vampire movie where the fangsters cannot be seen in mirrors, and they have to restrict their comings and goings to after sundown or confine themselves to sheltered walkways or blacked out vehicles with video screens so the sunlight does not bake them. The title “Daybreakers” (** 1/2 out of ****) refers to what happens when vampires expose themselves to moderate amounts of light under controlled conditions. The film opens on a downbeat note as a young girl who will never grow up leaves a suicide note behind and steps outside at sunrise to turn herself into ashes. Meanwhile, vampires have gained the upper hand in society and imprisoned the human populations to blood farms. If you go back and watch the revolutionary Wesley Snipes thriller “Blade,” the vampires have established blood farms where they milked humans, but they remained subservient to humans. “Daybreakers” reverses the formula. The vampires dominate humans, but the former find themselves now in the precarious predicament as the supply of human blood has dwindled to dangerously low levels. This amounts to a metaphor for the declining supply of oil. Some vampires, like our protagonist, Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke of “Training Day”), prefers to sip synthetic blood.

The Bromsley Marks Corporation employs Edward as its chief hematologist, and he is struggling without luck to discover an artificial blood substitute that does not blow his vampire test subjects to smithereens. Unfortunately, the blood shortage is having severe effects on the fanged population. Some of these starving bloodsuckers are turning into what the authorities refer to as subsiders. In other words, they are reverting to their bat-like origins. They turn cavadaverously pale, lose their hair, sprout wings and hang from the ceiling. Just so this transformation does not evoke laughter, the Spierig brothers make these renegade vampires extremely violent as well as absolutely hideous. They are far uglier that Max Schreck was in the seminal 1922 vampire silent movie “Nosferatu.” Indeed, the scene where a subsider breaks into the home of Edward Dalton is probably as scary as this anemic movie gets.

Although Edward is a vampire, we learn from his brother, Frankie Dalton (Michael Dorman of “Suburban Mayhem”), that Edward never wanted to be a vampire. Frankie serves in the cammo-clad vampire army that ruthlessly scours the earth for fresh humans. They resemble SWAT teams; cruise around in armored carriers with video cameras serving as their eyes and wear specially designed outfits to operate during the daylight hours. Frank craves human blood and loves being a vampire. Indeed, Frankie transformed Edward into a vampire because his older brother wanted to die. Meanwhile, Edward sympathizes with the plight of the poor humans who are put into comatose states and drained of their blood.

One night during his drive home from work, Edward notices that his ears are being to change, an unmistakable sign that he has not partaken of enough genuine human blood. While he is checking out his deformed ears, he crosses the yellow line on the highway and nearly collides with an on-coming vehicle. When he goes to check the SUV that he almost sideswiped, he is surprised to see that the passengers are humans armed with automatic crossbows. The driver, Audrey Bennett (Claudia Karvan of “Aquamarine”), is prepared to pull the trigger on him, but Edward convinces her and her companions that he does not pose a threat to them. The alerted Vampire Police careen to the scene of the accident to investigate. Edward persuades the humans to take refuge in his vehicle before the cops arrive. While Edward sends the vampire cops on a wild goose chase, Audrey spots his ID tag and later introduces Edward to a very special friend.

Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac (Willem Dafoe of “Spider-Man 3”) tells Edward that he was once a vampire, but he was involved in a one-vehicle car crash that catapulted him through the windshield into the sunlight before he plunged into a stream. The baptism of sunlight and water changed him back into a human. The Vampire Army are breathing down the necks of these human resistance fighters that take Edward into their hideout where he finds that the blood supply shortfall need not be the doom of his race. Despite several scenes where the Vampire Army ambushes humans smuggling themselves through the back woods at night or the Vampire Police round up the evil subsiders, “Daybreakers” devotes little time to developing the budding romance between Edward and Audrey.

Although Spierig Brothers have mined a fresh, different vein for vampire movies, “Daybreakers” rarely generates the high caliber of suspense, tension, and high-octane action scenes that the first two “Blade” epics created. Indeed, when the explosive crossbow arrows hit their mark on the Vampire Army troops, they vanish in bloody explosives, but there is no charisma here. Edward Dalton does not make a good action hero. In fact, Willem Dafoe steals every scene that he has with Ethan Hawke and Dafoe delivers the best lines of dialogue. As imaginative as the Spierig Brothers are, this vampire chiller lacks enough hair-raising scenes to make your blood boil, with the exception of the few subsider scenes and an occasional bats shrieking out of nowhere. Altogether, “Daybreakers” is a little too synthetic for its own good.