- Directed by: Sean Cronin
- Written by: Henry P. Gravelle
- Stars: Arifin Putra, Eloise Lovell Anderson, Sean Cronin
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 48 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koah_Kj8v0E
- Watch it: https://amzn.to/4jPwZTs
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A young couple go from the frying pan to the fire when they’re running from trouble and find something much worse. It’s a complicated situation of entrapment, loyalties, and family ties revolving around a nest of vampires. The effects and makeup were excellent, both horror guys are in agreement there. Brian didn’t care for this one at all. Kevin was disappointed but thought it was at least okay overall.
Spoilery Synopsis
A car drives up to the gas station; gas is $1.51, so we know this is in the distant past. The woman is monthly bleeding and goes into her restroom to clean up. A vampire tears the door off and goes straight for the bloodiest part of the woman. Credits roll.
Ham, a mechanic, loses his job. He tells his girlfriend, Jody, at the bar where she works, and she’s not happy. Everyone talks like Europeans doing a pretend-Texas accent. This all leads to a very contrived barfight, and then Jody’s fired too.
That evening, the vampires attack the gas station and the people from the bar.
Ham and Jody go for a drive in his beat-up old truck. They talk about getting married in the new life they’re going to start. They hit something on the road and are knocked out in the accident.
The police investigate the massacre at the gas station. Doctor Mills examines the body, and the sheriff points out that there’s not a single drop of blood anywhere on the site. The vamps eat a pair of campers in the woods.
In the morning, Ham and Jody wake up on the outskirts of an old mobile home park. Rather than actual mobile homes, there’s just a big circle of little trailers (I don’t think they have actual mobile homes in the UK). A man with a shotgun comes out and tells them to skedaddle. He’s Crawford, and he runs what’s left of the park; he hires them for maintenance. He tells them they need to stay there, especially at night. Crawford’s got a lot of rules.
Crawford’s brother-in-law, Madison, owns the place, and he named the whole place “Bogieville.” We cut to Madison and his wife, who are clearly community-theater rejects standing in a bright, sunny kitchen.
Crawford explains that the residents of the park are “resting” during the day, and he never puts down his shotgun. Ham thinks that’s ridiculous. They look at a dusty skeleton; it was a kid whose name was Terry. Crawford shows Ham what’s inside the trailers; it’s vampires.
“You can’t leave. They have your scent,” warns Crawford as Ham decides to leave. The old man explains that Madison and the others are all vampires, but Ham is unbelieving. They let Crawford live because he watches over them during the daytime. Ham goes inside and tells Jody everything.
Crawford’s got a little girl living in the attic upstairs. He warns Lily not to eat the two guests, as he might want them to stick around to take care of her.
We cut to the sheriff and Dr. Mills, talking about the most recent “animal” attack last night. She’s got some idea of what’s going on, but that’s crazy, right? An informant talks to the sheriff and suggests that Ham might be behind some of the recent murders.
Back at the farmhouse, Ham hears growling on the other side of the door. Ham wants to see what’s in the basement, and Crawford reluctantly lets them in. Madison, Lily, and some others are down there, and they’re clearly really vampires, which convinces the newcomers.
Crawford explains how this all came about, and we get a flashback. Madison got bit by a vampire and soon turned, as did Lily and Tess; they all soon turned. Those three went into town and killed a bunch of people who also became vampires, and that was twenty years ago. Crawford’s the only one in Bogieville who ages.
That night, everyone goes outside to see all the vampires. There’s an argument, and a group of vampires is sent away, including Billy Cupps, a rival to Madison.
The doctor tells the whole police force her vampire theory, and this time, the sheriff backs her up. Ham goes back to town and learns that the sheriff is looking for him. He’s immediately arrested, but then Madison shows up and kills both deputies.
Ham calls the State Police, but his call goes to voicemail (what?). He drives back to Bogieville, where Crawford shoots out his tires.
The vampires wake up and kill Crawford. Ham and Jody bury him in the morning. The sheriff and doctor figure out that Ham is in the middle of all this, but don’t know where to find him.
Back at Bogieville, Ham repairs an old car to make his escape but has to leave Jody behind because she smells like blood. Ham finally catches up with the sheriff, and they arm themselves for war against the undead. They all load up a bus and head for Bogieville.
The cops arrive at the trailer park and start killing vampires. Most of the vamps are killed, but Madison and Lily disappear. Madison shows up just in time to bite Jody, but she turns quickly.
Three months pass, and the sheriff comes to Bogieville to see how Ham is doing. Ham runs it now. The sheriff wonders where Jody is, and Ham says she’s having a snack…
Brian’s Commentary
Man, this was seriously BAD. This movie might have been good if it had been filmed in America. The vampire makeup is quite good, but that’s the only positive thing I’ve got to say about this film.
All the main actors needed dialogue coaches for all their atrocious accents, especially the two main characters. The written dialogue is pretty bad in the first place, but wherever they got these actors from– yeeesh. This is clearly supposed to be the American South, but these people barely speak English, much less American. The sheriff is the only character in the film who sounds even remotely realistic.
Clearly, the UK filmmakers don’t think much of American southerners, and they’ve never seen a trailer park before either.
This is another of those films that we watched so you don’t have to. You guys owe us big-time now.
Kevin’s Commentary
We previously saw and reviewed the vampire movie Drained which Sean Cronin was involved with as co-director and actor, and I really liked that one. This one didn’t do it for me nearly as much. I liked the emotional content and struggles of family and loyalty. Like Brian said, the makeup was great. The accents were distracting, and I thought it went on a bit too long. But I’m going to rate it as okay, not hating on it to the degree that Brian did.