THE STORY: Vampire movies are kind of a favorite of the Inferno. Its not easy to find one that most people like. Vampires in the movies tend to be Dracula clones, or Anne Rice lovey-dovey types. This movie has vampires in it, that never once refer to themselves as vampires…the word is never used in the film at all. Vampires that, instead of sleeping in crypts and coffins, or turning into bats and stuff, sleep in sleazy hotels and use guns.

In a sleepy little Oklahoma farming town, Caleb Colton meets a young girl named Mae hanging out by herself. Young Caleb is smitten with Mae within seconds. The two spend the evening driving around in Caleb's truck while Caleb tries all of his best lines to get into Mae's pants. Mae has a dreadful secret though….she's not really a living human, but a vampire. As dawn starts to rise, Mae has to return to her co-vampires and abruptly leaves Caleb…but not after biting him. This takes Caleb by surprise. Mae runs off and his truck won't start. Vampire bites in this movie, apparently work pretty damn fast. Caleb staggers home as the sun begins to come up, feeling disoriented and beginning to smolder. The vampiric aversion to sunlight is affecting him already.

Caleb's father, Loy Colton and his little sister, Sara see Caleb making his way through the field and figure out that something must be wrong with him. But before they can help him an RV comes driving up next to Caleb and someone snatches him inside of it. Caleb then is introduced to Mae's "family". Jesse, Diamondback, Severen and Homer. They're all vampires, and Jesse is their leader/ father figure. He's not too happy about Mae turning Caleb into one of them, but since he has become infected they have only two choices…kill him or take him in. Mae convinces the others to give Caleb a chance. The RV's windows are blocked to keep the sunlight out and the group drive to an old warehouse to rest during the day.

The police seem unable to track the RV and frustrated, Loy and Sara hit the road searching for Caleb themselves. For Caleb the whole experience seems to be a nightmare. He doesn't want to kill anyone to survive as a vampire must, but if he doesn't Jesse will destroy him, rather than let him become a liability. Mae keeps Caleb alive by making the kills and allowing Caleb to drink blood from her. The other vampires are running short of patience with Caleb though. If he doesn't start making his own kills soon, he's done far.

Which leads them to what Severen calls "[unwrite]-kicker Heaven". The band of vampires arrive at a little dive redneck bar in the middle of nowhere and proceed to kill the five or six patrons already in there. Now Jesse and his friends are by far the most interesting characters in the whole movie, and they'd be kind of sympathetic if they weren't so damned cruel. There's none of the "I don't want to kill but I must kill to survive" pathos that you see in some vampire flicks. Oh no, these vampires take a perverse pleasure in it. Severen picks fights in the bar because he knows he can't really be hurt by the mortals in there. Jesse and Diamondback kill the waitress with calculating efficiency. Homer is just a cold little bastard. The last surviving customer in the joint makes a run for it and Caleb is told that its his kill. Caleb chases the frightened man into the darkness, but can't bring himself to kill him. Instead he lets him go. This was a big no-go as far as Jesse and the others are concerned. Not only is Caleb useless as a vampire, by letting the victim go he's put them all in danger. Knowing the frightened man will run to the police, the vampires set the bar afire and hide out in a sleazy motor lodge. The day is coming and they have to get out of the light. Jesse vows to deal with Caleb later.

As they all rest in their darkened room, the police track them down. A shootout begins with the bloodsuckers at a disadvantage. Every bullet hole in the wall lets in sunlight which burns the vampires on contact. Caleb throws a blanket over himself and makes a run for their van outside. He begins to burn but makes it to the vehicle. (which has its windows blocked to keep the sunlight out) Then he drives past the cops into the room, rescuing the others. They all hop into the van and make a hasty retreat. By nightfall the vampires have acquired another vehicle and are hiding out in another cheap motel. Since his actions did save them all, the group decides to give Caleb another chance. Caleb himself seems resigned to his fate and is actually beginning to like Jesse. None of this is good news for Homer. Homer is the b-movie version of Claudia from Interview with the Vampire. Since he's immortal and can't grow old, he's trapped in the body of a twelve year old kid. We learn that it was Homer that turned Mae into a vampire. Mae tells Caleb that it was four years ago, just after she graduated High School. Homer isn't too crazy about Caleb basically because Caleb is taking Mae away from him.

Loy and Sara, having been on the road for days trying to track Caleb down have settled for the night in the very same motel. Homer, pretending to be an average little kid lures Sara into the vampire room with the promise to watch some TV. Caleb walks in and is reunited with his little sister, just as Severen brings Loy into the room under the pretense that his daughter is hanging out with his "family". Caleb tells his father that he's with these people now and begs Jesse to let his family go. Jesse refuses. Obviously Loy has been tracking them and now he knows what they look like. Homer, angry that Mae has gone sweet on Caleb threatens to turn young Sara into a vampire so he'll have a mate. Loy shoots Jesse, but of course that only pisses Jesse off. Jesse's coughs up the bullet and gives it back to Loy. Sara tries to make a run for it and opens the door. It must be dawn again, because the room fills with sunlight. As the sun's rays burn the vampires sending them diving for cover, Caleb covers himself in a sheet and flees with his father and sister.

Once safely away from Jesse and the others, Caleb refuses to let his father take him to a hospital. Instead, he gets an idea. Loy is a veterinarian and has medical equipment back at the farm. Using that stuff he gives Caleb a blood transfusion. Somehow this blood transfusion gets rid of the magic vampire blood in his system and Caleb returns to normal. Though he's human again and reunited with his family, Caleb still thinks of Mae every so often. Now, to be honest he should be thinking about Jesse and the other dangerous vampires. After all, They KNOW where he lives. They pretty much have to kill Caleb and his family by default.

Its not clear how much time has passed but a good guess would be that a night or two later Mae shows up in Caleb's yard. She's shocked to discover that he's returned to normal and runs away. Caleb goes into the house to check on his sister only to find that she's missing. The vampires have kidnapped her! (Loy is sleeping and Caleb doesn't wake him up) The tires on the two trucks outside have been slashed so Caleb takes a horse into the night and looks for them. It doesn't take too long. First Severen appears and slaps Caleb around a little. But Caleb manages to dispatch him by using a big truck that happens to come by. Then the other vampires show up. Sara manages to free herself from Homer's grip and she and Caleb make a run for it. Jesse and his friends give chase. The sun is slowly rising and the vampire crew are starting to burn. They recapture Sara and begin to drive away, trying to cover the car's windows as they go. Mae decides to act....she grabs Sara and jumps from the car. Homer jumps also to catch them, but bursts into flames in the sunlight. Mae reaches Caleb and he covers her with his coat but Homer isn't that fortunate. He erupts into flames and explodes. Jesse and Diamondback turn the car around, intending to run Caleb, Mae and Sara down, but they too succumb to the sun and burn up.

The next morning Mae awakens to find that Caleb has used the transfusion process to return her to normal. With the vampire threat ended, Caleb and Mae can finally relax.

I love this flick! It doesn't disappoint action or horror fans. It also has a few of actors in it that many will recognize. Caleb was played by actor Adrian Pasdar. I don't know what else he's been in, but he did have a short lived TV series in the 90's called "Profit". Jennette Goldstien you may not recognize right away, but she was the tough female marine, Vasquez in the movie Aliens. Bill Paxton, the same guy from Twister, Weird Science and Trespass was the sadistic Severen. I'm certain everyone recognizes Lance Henriksen. Lance was also in Aliens, Pumpkinhead and a lot of B-movies. He was Frank Black, the star of the TV show, Millenium. Loy Colton was b-movie star, Tim Thomerson.

Best Lines: "First you're gonna give me back my spur, and then I'm gonna knock your tonsils out your asshole...what d'ya think of them apples, huh?"-  Severen confronts Caleb.

"Caleb, those people back there they wasn't normal! Normal people don't spit up bullets when you shoot 'em, no sir!!"- Loy to Caleb as he rescues him from the vampires.

1.) So now that Mae is back to normal is she going to contact her family and friends and let them know how she is? What can she say to them? "Well, I didn't run away, I was turned into a vampire, that’s why I never came home four years ago. But I met this nice guy named Caleb and I'm better now."?

2.) Also since it looks like Caleb has found the love of his life in Mae, I guess he's forgiven her for the dozens of people she must have killed in the last four years. One guy she killed in front of Caleb, the truck driver!

3.) I suppose some really crafty people could get away with it, but really, could Jesse and his gang go around killing people in the Midwest, drinking their blood and stealing cars for a long period of time without getting caught? Giving them the benefit of the doubt, it is wise of the vampires to kill on their own. Other than in the bar, it seems that they all go their separate ways at night and kill their victims. If they attacked people in a group all of the time it would draw attention a lot faster.

4.) I don't get it. After Caleb refuse s to make the kill at the bar the group must seek shelter from the rising sun. What the hell time is it supposed to be? This doesn't look like the busiest bar in the world, so why is it even open that close to sunrise? It must be at least five or six in the morning when Jesse and the others come in! Yet there's guys in the drinking and playing pool. At five AM? Great Caesar's Ghost! Those guys need counseling pronto if you just gotta have a drink at just before sunrise!

5.) When Caleb rescues Sara from Jesse and the gang they seem to be in the middle of whatever town they live in. Isn't there a police station there? Why not go to the cops for help? Jesse and his friends may be able to take a lot of punsihment but enough gunshots would probably keep them down long enough for the rising sun to fry them. Just running away isn't that great of a plan. Caleb knows they'll chase him and they have the added advantage of a car!

NUDITY AND SEX:  none

HUH? : The sun makes some dramatic and fast appearances in this movie. When it rises it rises! It seems to to pop up real quick. In the scene where Homer lures Sara into his room, its because he met Sara at the coke machine. Now lets say a half hour has passed between the time he meets Sara and the time Sara, Caleb and Loy escape. It by no means took that long on screen, but bear with me. When Sara opens the door sunlight floods into the room. So the sun is coming up. What freaking time was it when Sara went to get a coke? Five AM? What the hell? She can't be more than say twelve at the most!! What's she doing up at five AM getting a coke for? Granted she's used to farm life so she probably does rise early, but she's only a kid! The entire scene makes it look like its night time but in reality its close to dawn. That means that either Sara stayed up all night or she just woke up and decided to have a coke first thing in the morning! Like the barflies in the redneck bar, if your child feels the need to have a caffeine laden soft drink at five AM that kid needs some help! (Ever drink a coke on an empty stomach? YOWTCH!)

To make it a little more confusing, what time is it when the vampires kidnap Sara? Sara, Loy and Caleb are finishing dinner. Sara goes to bed and Caleb is supposed to go read to her shortly. He first steps outside and thats where he sees Mae. Mae runs off and Caleb goes inside to find her missing. Caleb goes to look for her, fights Jesses and the gang and wins basically because the sun came up at the end and killed the bloodsuckers. UM...how long was Caleb looking around for Sara? All night? Thats the only explanation other than the Colton family eats dinner at 4 AM!!

Is there some kind of rule about regional vampire habits? European vampires dress in kind of a goth way and American ones like…uh…trailer trash? Look at these guys! Its bad enough that they don't seem to bathe at all or put on clean clothes, but Mae has a rope for a belt. Did she just jump in from the set of Lil' Abner, or Beverly Hillbillies: The Musical?

The vampires in this movie don't seem to need much blood to survive. The few times we see them feed it doesn't take them a long time and they don't seem to drink a lot of it. So they must be sadistic bastards. They could probably just steal blood from hospitals and survive. Or maybe limit their targets to criminals and thugs. Personally, I think they kill because they like to kill…even Mae. After all, she could have just said "no" after Homer turned her into a vampire. She might have died, but obviously Mae considers her own existence important enough that its okay to kill innocent people to maintain it.

THE TALLY: Here's the deal. This movie had a cast of (at the time it was made) relatively unknown actors and actresses, not a big budget, hardly any special effects. Rent this and rent Bram Stoker's Dracula. Which flick is a better movie? Do you really need me to answer that for you? This is by no means the best movie I've ever seen or anything….but compared to a lot of big budget (director's ego), all star cast (over rated actors) movies with the latest technology in special effects (distractions so the audience will think they're watching a really good movie) its pretty damn good. Looks like the Underdog wins this one folks. Who says there's no justice in the Inferno?