UHM - Review - Rise: Blood Hunter

Produced by Ghost House Pictures (The Grudge 2, 30 Days of Night), the film was originally simply titled Rise, and opened theatrically to only a few select cities back in June and pretty much fell off the map until news broke of its DVD release in October. I saw this film with low-expectations, like I try to do with any movie I see now-a-days, to insure that I don't set myself up for a huge letdown, and once again it worked in my favor, as I found this to be a fairly entertaining vampire effort.

The premise is a mix of The Crow with fangless vampires -- a journalist named "Sadie" (Lucy Lui) discovers that a young goth girl she briefly covered in a recent article has been found dead and a hidden message she left behind may lead to her killer's whereabouts. What she discovers is a secret underground group of vampires, who feed on unsuspecting women. Sadie becomes their latest victim, but instead of being left for dead, is turned into one of them. After she awakens in the morgue, she must come to terms with her new self and is enlisted by a mysterious Spanish man, who gives her the means and know-how on how to find and destroy the vampires that turned her.

This movie proved to be another interesting take on the vampire mythos. The vamps in this flick are fangless and really show no signs of being Nosferatu, with the exception of their strength, lack of a reflection, and thirst for blood. They're not afraid of crosses, and we're not shown whether the old garlic theory works on them. Sadie doesn't even use wooden stakes to kill them; instead she seems to use metal bolts shot from her small crossbow. Although the flick is very slow-paced and doesn't offer a whole lot of the typical vampire action we're accustomed too, it does show a different side to the legend, by following Sadie from the moment she awakens in the morgue, to how she gradually copes with her thirst, and eventually finding strength in herself to confront those that harmed her.

The whole sequence where she awakens in the morgue, to her trip to a homeless shelter, where she feeds on her first victim, was somehow mesmerizing to me. I also liked a scene where she finally accepts the fact that she needs to feed and picks up a hitchhiker in a secluded road in the middle of the night and parks the car off to the side to kill him. From the homeless shelter to her reactions and awkward dialogue with the hitchhiker, the film seemed to portray a kind of realism behind vampirism and the need to feed. That, and my general interest with revenge-type flicks, led me to enjoy the movie as much as I did. Since this isn't your typical vampire film, there's no flying, clawing, or neck biting, so the gore is kept at a minimum. There is, however, a lot of blood spurting and bolts to the heart. In the end, what it lacks in gore and action, it makes up for in story, and I appreciate Sebastian Gutierrez's take on the usually bland vampire sub-genre.

Michael Chiklis co-stars in the film as a rogue detective bent on finding who murdered his daughter (the goth girl) and eventually teams up with Lucy Lui's character towards the end of the film. He pretty much plays a slightly less hot-tempered "Vic Mackey" (FX's The Shield) character, and in my opinion didn't really offer much to the overall story. You'll also see cameos by Marilyn Manson as a spineless bartender (who looks incredibly boring without his usual makeup and attire) and Nick Lachey as a perverted redneck who luckily gets a good ass-kicking. This is, sadly, also veteran Japanese actor Mako's last performance.

OVERALL

This film proved to be another interesting take on the vampire sub-genre, showing a different look at how one copes with their new found thirst for blood. It's essentially a revenge tale masquerading as a vampire flick, which will likely turn a lot of people off. I personally enjoyed it for being creative and semi-original and would recommend anyone who's looking for something different to give it a check. However, it's a bit slow-paced, and won't offer a lot of action or gore, so be warned.

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McLovin :

Posted 45 days ago

Director tried add something new to the vamp genre but failed to give us something exciting.

Lechero :

Posted 148 days ago

a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY BORING MOVIE! Lucy Liu. a reporter who gets kidnapped by a cult of vampires. Ms. Lucy is turned. she is freed though after. wakes up in a morgue. decides to have revenge! similar to the pilot episode of Blade: the Series. specifically, the character of Krista Starr. back to RISE: Ms. Liu then becomes a vampire-vigilante. hunting & killing one-by-one the vamps. in the end, she wins. LUCY LIU! Rumors Say That A Sequel Is Already Planned. But SERIOUSLY! Other Than This Stupid Story, Rise: Blood Hunter Did Not Offered Anything Good! IT WAS GARBAGE! ARE YOU JOKING?

William :

Posted 221 days ago

Vampires without fangs are not vampires. Innocent Blood kept much of the genre intact, but I did not much care for it without the fangs. You gotta keep the fangs. Fangs. THE FANGS! fangs...!

Chief :

Posted 288 days ago

I had heard "middle of the fence" things about this movie. So I was suprised when I found I really enjoyed this flick. Sort of original take on the vampire. Fright was right when he said its basically a revenge flick. But its an enjoyable one. I liked how the vampires were only slightly more powerful than humans. I would like to see a sequal to this, but I doubt it'll happen now.

Erick from Chile :

Posted 315 days ago

This is the first vampire movie without jaws typical of this kind of movies. Great story and cool performance of Lucy. Recommendable.

Slasher Shaun :

Posted 332 days ago

I saw an advanced copy of this movie, I thought it was Awesome lots of blood and LUCY LIU is great actress and beautiful. you can't go wrong with this

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