Vampires: The Turning

Vampires: The Turning

Vampires: The Turning

Like the other person who commented, I was actually happily diverted by this film, and thought it was everything one could expect from a Thai Vampire Kickboxing flick. Actually, the cinematography seemed above B-movie-average much of time; great colors with a heavy concentration on keeping a sense of being in Thailand and in Bangkok. A couple of exceedingly cheesy missteps aside- spinning camera effect + Sex = the giggles - it was easy to get lost in. The Bad guy, Dom Hetrakul, was very good at being slinky and evil; he was also very hot. My only major casting complaint is with the woman playing Sang; she was lovely, but was a horrible actress where everyone else in this movie was at least Not That Bad, and her flat California accent sorta took away from that whole key "800 hundred year old Thai-princess-vampire" effect. But, the tone was just right for what type of movie it was, and everyone's reactions were nicely realistic. (If, say, you were caught trying to rescue your girlfriend from vampires in Thailand.) I would recommend this movie highly if you have a love of, say, Bloodsport and other 80s classics of cheesy kung-fu and semi-mystical Asia-based fun.

An in-name-only sequel to John Carpenter's Vampires, this movie takes place in Thailand and involves a sect of bad vampires, who enjoy killing people, and a sect of good vampires who do not. While it's an interesting idea to set a vampire film in Thailand, the writers don't seem to do a lot with the exotic locale. This film could just as easily have been set in Los Angeles. Which brings me to my next point, which is that this seems a lot like Blade Lite. We've got the rock soundtrack, the martial art battle scenes, a dance club bloodletting and, of course, lots of sharp objects going through vampires. What we don't have is the budget and talent. Yes, the hero is a good martial arts fighter, too bad his acting wasn't as good, and there's plenty of decent wire work, and tons of revved up fight sequences, maybe too many. The problem is they just don't have the same impact as the ones in any of the Blade films. Perhaps it's just that the film has a "been there seen that" feel to it. However, for me the biggest problem was that the filmmakers didn't take enough time to establish the relationship between the lead, played by the buff and bland Colin Egglesfield, and his girlfriend. She gets snatched at the very beginning of the flick after a whiny exchange with her boyfriend. We have no vested interest in her welfare at this point and no reason to believe that her boyfriend would be willing to risk his neck to save her. Now that's a major drawback when that's the major thrust of the plot. In the end, you could do worse than waste 85 minutes of your time with this, but I can think of a lot better things to do with your time, like renting any of the Blade movies.

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT* "Vampires: the Turning" is a very generic B-movie. Everything one would expect from a kung fu vampire flick is here. No surprises, just the usual. So a kickboxer breaks up with his girlfriend in Thailand. The vampires swoop down on her and take her away. This upsets the kickboxer. Soon he will meet up with some good vamps and try to wage war against the motorcycle driving bad guys. Some vampire hunters show up as well to complicate the thin plot further. It all ends with a generic fight to the death. First off, why is this guy risking his life for a girl that doesn't love him? She breaks up with him in the middle of a bloody kickboxing match. How cruel is that? It's clear that she is not the girl for him yet he insists on risking his soul to save her. It doesn't make sense. At any rate, all of the fight scenes are ho hum and not that bloody. This movie has almost no connection to the other "Vampires" flicks other than a brief hunting scene where they drag one vamp out into the sunlight via car pulley. The movie putters along with one lame fight scene after another until it finally ends. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled by this one. 3/10.

I first saw bits n pieces of this movie in the mid 2k on Sony Pix channel. Revisited it recently. This is the third installment of the Vampires film series although John Carpenter who directed the first film and produced the second film had no involvement with this film. So now viewers can do their math. There is one single decapitation scene, an unnecessary bike chase sequence n few unnecessary kung fu or for that matter wi fu scenes. It has a hot babe, Stephanie Chao but her sex n nudity scene is one of the worst shot ever. This movie has lots of vampires but no good action or gory stuff.

Man oh man, this was a piece of dog sh#t. I read a few reviews on here after seeing the case in the local video store, and thought to myself........ Ah this seems like a half decent movie.Vampires.Swords. Thailand.How can you go wrong? Right? No,no,no way f*cking wrong. Jesus, if only I could gouge out my eyes and not remember this film, I would be happy. The lead actor had THE whiniest, gayest voice ever.Man!It really was bad...."Amandaaaaaaaa....","I gotta save my girlfriend...." F*ck off! My buddy and I actually changed the Audio Track on the DVD to Portugese just so we didn't have to hear the guy's voice. Subtitles and all...and this IMPROVED the film. I'm serious, if your anything like me and wondered what this film was like..STOP WONDERING. I have the answer. WORST VAMPIRE MOVIE EVER! No good action, no good gore and only the smallest smattering of nudity. Just pure sh*t for 90 Mins. Don't rent this,buy it,think about it,or watch it at 3:00am. It just doesn't cut the cake......at all....in any way. F*ck this movie and watch All Anal 7: Real Deep Cover. You'd have a better time. I'm sure.

This show isn't bad at all, even if it's not terribly original. The premise is one of good vampires vs. evil vampires with the obligatory mortal stuck in the middle (they must do that because they think it helps people relate). The setting of the movie is Thailand, the lead actor is a normal human amateur Muay Thai fighter. He teams up with professional vampire hunters to find and kill the vampires responsible for turning his girlfriend. Overarching this story is one of the vampires creator trying to undo the curse that brought vampires into being. A curse for which she is responsible. The production values are better than most low budget horror flicks, the action is also well done. Acting is passable but the overall story is weak but well told. The biggest downfall to this movie (it being so action oriented and all) is that there a "atmospher setting" type scenes that drag on too long. Interrupts the flow of the movie without really adding anything significant. If you like these type of movies this will be a treat, if your bored and need something to watch this it a decent choice, if you like comedies and dramas there's nothing to see here.

Contrary to some reviews on the film, this is meant to be the third chapter in the "Vampires" series (check May 2005 Fangoria) after "John Carpenter's Vampires" and "Vampires: Los Muertos". It keeps enough series elements to stay true, but also makes a number of changes. An American couple on vacation in Thailand are attacked my the title characters. The female is taken and the boyfriend is left to search for her. He comes upon a group of semi-good vampires (they don't drink from living humans) that are in a feud with the 'bad' vampires. He also encounters the titular slayers, who have a stock in the proceedings. With the uneasy help of the two groups, the boyfriend seeks to recover his lover. Keeping with the series roots, there are a group of slayers and we get to see them do their thing briefly (as in dragging a screaming vampire into the day light), but that is as far as the similarities go. First of the major changes is the location; no longer set in southwest America, the film now takes place in southeast Asia. Secondly, while slayers are present, the film mostly focuses on the inner workings of the vampire world. Lastly, instead of it's prequels tendency to treat the action like a violent 70's flick, here instead it's given the 'kung-fu' treatment, with flying kicks and sword fights. The movie is surprisingly well made. The direction is solid through out and the fight choreography is mostly well done. Also the music isn't bad either. However, the script is boring and many of the actors just aren't up to par. Some of the gore effects are well done, while others use over use second rate CG. Still, for a low-budget effort it at least looks good. A perfectly alright picture that never excels in any category, but is well enough made to be of interest to genre fans. 6/10