DVDs:

	The Forsaken Kerr Smith, Brendan Fehr Sony Pictures, 2001 average customer review:based on 58 reviews view larger image
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It's basically a road movie with car chases, nudity, and plenty of grisly violence. It's not as stylish or witty as Near Dark, but after two decades in the B-movie biz, writer-director J.S. Cardone knows what he's doing, and while the movie's never really fresh, it's also never stupid. The young cast plays it straight (which is good), and Jonathan Schaech is a standout as the lead vampire. It's anybody's guess why the vampires manifest themselves as desert-dwelling punks in a rusty Dodge Charger, but hey, sometimes you just gotta go with the (blood) flow. --Jeff Shannon

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A B-horror movie for slash fans!

I totally recommend this to Slash/yaoi fans. Vampires are the virus&curse type. Sean picks up a clever hitchhiker (Nick) that turns out to be a vampire hunter. Nick is looking to kill one of the original vampires to cure himself before he turns.

Its a little cheesy but the two main characters really shine out. That and the type of vampire in the movie was intresting.

I'm a big Sean/Nick shipper. :) The girls really more of a side character with few lines. The boys really only have eyes for each other. ;)

-ksha2222


Best Horror/Thriller 'B' Movie in Decades

Beginning with rather strange Scrapyard receptionist wearing skin tight spandex over her... let's just say 'somewhat wide' hips, and from her plastic neck brace that looks very uncomfortable, to her habit of tying up her hair with between ten to fifteen pencils sticking out of the crazy brown mop atop her head, from the mechanic with a southern accent in the middle of the Sonoran Desert Badlands of Arizona to his greasy smile and vomit inducing teeth, from the black and white old western movie playing on the TV in the motel scene (which combines sex with... well I won't spoil it) to the Shasta can on top on of the dashboard of an Arizona Cop (HUGE mustache included), from the blood dripping off of a soap container at a rest stop also in those same Arizona Badlands to the popsicle sucking motel owner who has his pet money fetch the room keys for his guests, from a real life former [...] playmate teasing and flashing Kerr Smith (Final Destination, Charmed, Justice, Dawson's Creek, E-Ring, as well as being on a number of VH1 shows including the insanely popular series 'I Love The 90's') as her car speeds away then disappears into a mirage created by the desert heat, to the brutal murder and torching of another cop - supposedly a Texas State trooper - right on his own car, from lizards being cooked and eaten as a side dish at a cafe in Tornillo, Texas, to the sex scene between two vampires in the back of their broken down car in which they choose not to swap spit but rather blood and... (well you get the picture)...

From the acting of the modern 'B' movie king Johnathon Schaech (The Doom Generation, Little Chenier, Sea of Dreams, and That Thing You Do, as well as some of his 'B' Movie brilliance in films and sequals such as Road House 2, Finding Graceland, 8MM 2, Living Hell, Poison Ivy II, and Mummy an' the Armadillo - also directed by 'The Forsaken' director J.S. Cardone), and the real charisma of the young, talented Brendan Fehr (CSI:Miami, the critically acclaimed film Sugar, The Fifth Patient, the cult series Roswell, and as the field goal kicker in U2's music video 'Stuck in a Moment...'). All of the scenes and actors mentioned above are just a few of the many reasons 'The Forsaken' is a wild, brutal, often hilarious ride that must be seen to be believed. And enjoyed.
Sadly, 'The Forsaken' marks the last appearance on the Big Screen of former Oscar nominee for Best Actress in 1970's 'Dairy of a Mad Housewife,' the late Carrie Snodgrass - who is also known for her work in 1998's 'Wild Things' (with Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, and Matt Dillon), 1994's 'Blue Sky' (with Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones), and Clint Eastwood's 1985 cult classic 'Pale Rider' - who passed away on April 1st 2004. In this role, as a spooky widow living in the middle of nowhere who ends up helping out Fehr and Smith as they try to lure the vampires, which strangley enough also includes themselves as well, toward 'hallowed ground.' While you can tell Snodgrass is on her last legs, her performance alone (minimal yet important) is reason enough to see this film. All in all, 'The Forsaken' is rich with hilarious yet wonderfully rich characters, funny lines, occasional overacting - a staple of GREAT' 'B' Movies, and even the requisite (actually about five or six) nude scenes - all of gorgeous women).

Izabella Miko of 'Save The Last Dance 2', Deadwood, and the music video for The Killers' hit "Mr. Brightside', Simon Rex of Scary Movie 3 & 4, and Monarch Cove, Alexis Thorpe of Days of Our Lives and American Wedding, and British Actress and Supermodel Phina Oruche also star.

If you're looking for a movie that makes a poignant social commentary and includes tremendous acting performances that were written about and were nominated for all the awards... this is not a film for you.
And if you were looking for a Horror film in the vain of the recent 'Wolf Creek', 'SAW' (1,2&3), 'Bug', 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) or Quentin Tarantino's 'Hostel' (1&2), where stories take a back seat to whatever the most twisted, disgusting, disturbing, sick torture can be done to a human, you'll probably be disappointed that you can actualy watch 'The Forsaken' while not worrying about losing your appetite, or whatever is in your stomach - all over your girlfriend, or couch or (God Forbid) your Mary Jane. 'The Forsaken' while not quite as good, really resembles another Tarantino project 'From Dusk 'Til Dawn' much, much, more than it does any of the other aforementioned movies.

However, if you are a 'B' Movie Aficionado, love movies in the Horror/Thriller genre, specifically the recent flood of SLICK Hollywood Horror/Thriller films as well as other vampire movies, be it as far back as 'The Lost Boys' to present films such as 'The Grudge', 'Pulse', 'House of Wax' and the darker 'Underworld' movies that have made loads of money at the Box Office ('The Forsaken' was actually released 4-5 years before this trend (in 2001) and in many ways, it was done better) this movie is for you. If you love the briliance of the 'B' movie (Humourus, quirky, parts or performances hilariously bad one minute while minutes later it's so good you can't believe it's the same film, and the many other ways that 'Brilliance' is interpeted in the genre known as 'B' movies, you''ll have a blast watching this film. And if you have nothing better to do on a hot summer night, better if it's so hot every fan in the house is on, and you live either deep in the woods, on the ocean, or for authenticity... in the mddle of the desert you'll be very entertained. Or if it's a cold snowy day, or a rainy aftern... well you get my point).

Grab a six pack of the beverage of your choice, or the cinema vice you like, be it popcorn, chocolate, gummi bears, or even some Mary Jane and enjoy a fun movie. As Well as the phenomenon that is Brendan Fehr's ohh so stylish mullet. He's Canadian, and I guess that is how he pulls it off so wel. Almost too well really, since my girlfriend wanted me to get mine cut just like that after she saw this film.

'The Forsaken' is a great time and a MUST for all Horror, Vampire, and especially all 'B' movie lovers.

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"We kill the source of origin, and we kill the strain."

Written and directed by J.S. Cardone (Shadowzone, A Climate for Killing), The Forsaken (2001) stars Kerr Smith (Final Destination, "Dawson's Creek", "Charmed"), Brendan Fehr (Final Destination, "Roswell"), and Johnathon Schaech (Sol Goode, Road House 2: Last Call). Also appearing is Izabella Miko (Coyote Ugly), Phina Oruche ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Simon Rex (Scary Movie 3), Alexis Thorpe ("Days of Our Lives"), and the late Carrie Snodgress (Pale Rider, Wild Things), in one of her last, feature films.

Kerr Smith plays Sean, a California resident in need of funds so that he may travel to Miami to witness his sister's wedding. Lucky for Sean he's landed a gig driving a cherry $50,000 Mercedes to Florida, providing him not only with transportation, but a little dough to boot. After a desert driving montage, Sean has some car trouble, is forced to stop off at a podunk town, and eventually ends up picking up a greasy hitch-hiker named Nick (Fehr), who looks like he's trying to grow a beard, but not very successfully as it's coming in all uneven and such...anyway, after a slight run in with some yahoos in a Dodge Charger, Sean and Nick end up picking up a spooky, strung out blonde named Megan (Miko), who doesn't actually say anything until like an hour and ten minutes into the film. Turns out Megan's stony stupor is caused not by drugs, but by the fact she's been bitten by a vampire...and not just any vampire but an original vampire (played by Schaech), one being hunted by Nick, who's also been bitten and is using drugs to counteract the effects until he can track and eventually kill the source of the infection, freeing himself of the curse. By the way, in the process of helping the girl, Sean also gets bit, so now he gets wrapped up in all the rigmarole. Got all that? Good...from here there's lots of scenes of Sean, Nick, and Megan in the car being chased by the vampire goons, and various flashbacks, including one detailing how Megan ended up the way she did. Um, okay, so why do the vampires travel around in a late model Dodge Charger? The car looks cool, I've give you that, but the vampires are forced into the trunk during the day (that is if they happen to be on the road) as their human sycophant drives them around. Why not get an RV and black out the various windows? Maybe vampires enjoy being stuffed into the trunk of a muscle car and being driven around in the Arizona sun, but I sure wouldn't. Anyway, Sean and Nick are now forced to use Megan to lure the vampires into a trap, one where they hope to kill the main bloodsucker in an effort to free themselves of the sickness...

While The Forsaken, filmed in Arizona, wasn't necessarily a bad movie, it wasn't all that great, either. I guess the main issue I had with the film was that it seemed to borrow too liberally from other films within the genre, specifically Blade (1998), with the whole taking drugs to counteract the effects of the vampire's bite, and Near Dark (1987), and it's southwestern theme (then again, if you haven't seen those two movies, most everything here will probably seem original). Now it's not unusual for films to take from other films, but here it seemed so obvious, resulting in The Forsaken not really offering up anything new within the vampire mythos. By the end of the film I didn't really take anything away from the experience of having seen it, so I began thinking of how the hour an a half watching the film could have been better spent. The film is put together fairly well as the action, along with the gore, is spread evenly throughout, but there were times when the pacing dragged a bit. Female fans, particularly those who watch shows on the WB, will probably enjoy the fact the film spends a lot of time with the two hunky male leads. Male fans are thrown a bone as Izabella Miko does appear in various states of undress, including a few topless scenes. I did find it odd the fact she appears early on in the film but then doesn't speak one line of dialog until about forty-five minutes later. Johnathon Schaech made a pretty good vampire, but I had a hard time buying off on the hokum he was originally a knight of the crusades as he really didn't project the sense he was some 800 year old undead dude wandering the Earth all these years, surviving solely on his own intelligence (at some point in the movie we're fed a load about how the vampire strain originated during the crusades, and eight knights were initially infected with the disease). Something else, given what I've seen in movies, I'd advise strongly against ever letting anyone drive your car across the country as chances are, it's going to be seriously trashed in the process. As far as the performances, they weren't all that strong. None of the female characters had much in the way of roles, and the male leads seemed hardly capable in carrying the film. Schaech makes a good showing, hamming it up at times, providing at least something of interest. The story felt kind of limp and predictable, something director Cardone was probably aware of given how he tried to spice things up with flashy visuals and lots and lots of quick cut sequences. As far as the gore there was a decent amount of blood, along with a couple of entertaining effects including one where someone gets their melon popped with a shotgun...woo wee! Thet head shore `nuff exploded good! All in all there's really nothing new here, but if you really feel the need to see this film, you'd probably be better off renting it, as it's not one that lends itself to repeated viewings. There are some good tunes included, if you're a fan of bands like Eve 6, Nickelback, Coal Chamber, Soulfly, and Uncle Kracker...

The picture, available in both widescreen anamorphic (1.85:1) and fullscreen (1.33:1), comes across well, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio comes through clearly. As far as extras, there are subtitles in English, French, Chinese, Korean, and Thai, a director's commentary track, three deleted scenes, two featurettes, a theatrical trailer, and trailers for other films including Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), John Carpenter's Vampires (1998), Hollow Man (2000), and John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars (2001).

Cookieman108

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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