Gary Otto

The plot -- teenagers at a rave on an island get attacked by the living dead -- is pretty straightforward, in spite of the rather convoluted story about Spanish pirates creating the elixir of life, which allows the action to take centre stage. And so it should, because these action scenes are pretty damned impressed. Director Uwe Boll packs a record number of cuts into a very short time frame, which, though not quite the mark of genius he might have been hoping, is certainly a one-of-a-kind achievement. Using hundreds of cameras and special rotating equipment, the film is packed with spinning shots, which evoke exactly the air of a computer game. House of the Dead really revels in the ridiculous; references range from Lord of the Rings to Gone with the Wind; "Captain Kirk" commands the Lazarus V; and a starred-and-striped Spandex catsuit clad "Liberty" is anything but all-American: and this is the beauty of it. The whole production feels like an elaborate joke between the filmmakers and their audience -- sadly, it's a joke most people don't seem to have appreciated.

The story in "BloodRayne" is about Rayne (played by Kristanna Loken), a dhampir (half human, half vampire) living in humiliation in a traveling carnival. When a blood-lust consumes her, she escapes at the cost of several carnival members. Now free from captivity, Rayne sets out to find and kill the vampire that killed her mother. The fight scenes are intense and bloody, there is a fair amount of nudity (some of which surrounds Meat Loaf, and must, as a result, be somewhat discounted) and the conclusion is decidedly emphatic.

It would be easy to view this movie as simply another wretched entry in the recent spate of video game/horror movies. However, director Uwe Boll has brilliantly deconstructed this genre and cloaked it in the guise of Alone In The Dark. The first 3/4 of the movie is devoted to setting up the conventions of the genre - invisible monsters, secret government organizations, the lone wolf investigator (brilliantly underplayed by Christian Slater), the implausibly attractive assistant (Tara Reid at her most self-aware). The setup, akin to Sondheim's Into The Woods, establishes conventions which the second part of the movie gleefully deconstructs. The last quarter of the movie turns all previous convention on its head, willfully ignoring its own rules and exposing the entire genre as the mindless pablum that it is - all while confusing the audience to such a degree that we are left with no alternative but to reject the overt meaning entirely and grasp at the underlying substance - which, as Boll masterfully renders, is nothing. He even taunts the audience with clues as to his actual intent - Reid's obviously intentional mispronunciations, climactic fights which end with non-exploding grenades, Stephen Dorff's entire performance. The simultaneous construction/deconstruction of the movie could be accomplished by no one save an artist on the level of Dali, which Boll undoubtedly is. Ten out of ten.

I don't know what the critics were thinking because this movie was awesome from start to finish. Sure you probably have to know the character to care, because out of context it comes off as extreme but this movie was harder hitting than I expected... it's like a darker "Taken" which degenerates into a gory "Home Alone" at the end where Rambo kills the bad guys in creative and crazy ways. The movie is satisfying from an action fan perspective - I would compare it to the classic exploitative laced Cannon pictures fare, whom Stallone also did "Over the Top" with - they don't make them like this anymore, and it seems reviews are reflecting it as outdated but pay it no mind. The gore, the crazy scenes, the plot... it was badass. Go see it if you want absurdist action with extremely graphic scenes.

A great, impressive and very, very important movie! And I think it is really no wonder that Amnesty International will showing an official screening of the Darfur movie. It is very important to show the world what's going in Darfur / Sudan. That really happens right now. So don't close your eyes, watch it! I think that this is the best film of Dr. Uwe Boll and I hope that this movie will start something in some heads. It shows the horrible and brutal reality and the Darfur movie shows it very obviously. Thanks to Uwe Boll, Chris Roland and Dan Clarke for producing this stirring movie. Kristanna Loken, David O'Hara and Billy Zane doing their very best work.