V FOR VENGEANCE

US, 2022, 86 minutes, Colour.

Jocelyn Hudon, Grace Van Dien, Pauline Dyer, Sean Maguire, Alex Villaret Graham Greene, Christopher Russell, Trevor Lerner, Michael P.Northey.

Directed by Kelly Hallihan.

Not to be mistaken for the clever action-fantasy, V for Vendetta.

The title here might be better V for Vampire Vengeance. This is an American vampire film with practically no vampiric links with the work of Bram Stoker or, even, the imaginations from Britain’s Hammer Studios.

These vampires can be either good or bad. The good ones are avengers, attacking and destroying criminals. The bad ones are ambitious, power-hungry, involved in scientific experiments.

These vampires have no difficulty in staying alive in sunlight, they are certainly immortal but can be killed (a nod to some of the traditional means of killing, including with the same as that from the cross). They have no reflections. And, the bad vampires, led by a power-hungry Thorn (Sean Maguire), with a sinister assistant, Tatiana (Alex Villaret) also employs mercenaries like Marcus (Christopher Russell).

The film shows three young adopted girls playing together happily, their mother a scientist, and the sudden brutal murder – with the youngest escaping but the other two turned into vampires. As expected, the final revelation of who killed the parents turn out to be Tatiana and Marcus.

The opening looks ambiguous with Amber seducing a gross old boy type and killing him. But, she spares a nice family man. Then she encounters her sister, Scarlett (Grace Van Dean) from whom she has been alienated. However, there is some kind of reconciliation, they track down the younger sister and her vampire hunter advisor Bullseye, a welcome presence of veteran Graham Greene. They also encounter a handsome young man the bar, sexual involvement, Marcus and his later being unmasked.

Quite number of martial arts sequences, especially between the two sisters initially, but very much at the end with the final confrontation with the bad vampires, the assistance of the US official vampire hunters, and everything open for a sequel if one were needed…

Not the greatest plot development, not the greatest performances, an American footnote for a history of vampire movies.