Desert of Blood

While I'm not exactly advising Anne Rice to step down, this is definitely one of the better indie vampire flicks I've seen (and I've seen more than I care to admit to the general public!). The acting was a little self-conscious, but good overall, with a few moments that were downright beautiful. The writing seemed purposefully camp, which is a risky choice, but I found myself caught up in it. And Justin Quinn is pretty hot, in my opinion.

I think fans of campy and fun will walk away pleased, while people who are more into mindless violence and pure horror are going to be disappointed. It looks as if the producers spent more of their budget on getting actors with some credentials, rather than on gallons of fake blood. I think this indie spirit sets this film apart from slash-and-gore-and-someone's-intestines films. It doesn't try to be next summer's blockbusting box office hit. It aims for more modest goals, and it reaches those with panache.

This is an amusing and tongue-in-cheek tribute to the vampire genre.

this film is a total waste of time. first of all the story is totally uninspired. it's like put together from a few random vampire books and contains absolutely no surprises or suspense or what you might else expect from a vampire story. well OK there is a simple romance thing but that too is not very well executed imho. the characters are also not even two dimensional, but simple and boring like a line in the dust.

that said, the acting is as bad as the script. it feels like quite bad soap opera style acting. the only excuse for the actors is imho that it might be really hard to deliver a good performance with such a lousy script.

finally there is not even close enough blood and stuff to provide even a little fun in a kind of old school splatter b movie style.

In Tecate, Mexico, an American tourist is hunting a treasure buried in the sand of a ghost town with his girlfriend Amy (Annika Svedman). However, he digs the grave of the vampire Luis Diego (Justin Quinn), who was buried thirty-five years ago by his friend Father Hernandez (Flint Esquerra). Luis Diego kills the tourist and leaves Amy contaminated in the desert. Then he meets his former sweetheart Sarita (Yvonne Rawn), who has a stroke after seeing him. In Malibu, California, Sarita's niece Maricela (Brenda Romero) and her best friends Heather (Natalie J. Horton) and Samantha (Tori White) are on vacation and they decide to travel to Mexico to help her family. The local Cris (Naím Thomas) and his family decide to give a party to Maricela and her friends; however, when Luis Diego sees the girl, he recalls Sarita and decides to give a second chance to his love. But he is a vampire and his love is impossible.

"Desert of Blood" is a forgettable but entertaining vampire movie. This is the typical B-movie, with beautiful breasts, hot girls and bad acting and screenplay. The story is a kind of Mexican soap-opera with vampires and the characters are poorly developed; therefore the viewer does not feel empathy for any of them. At least the vampires are classical, fearing the cross and the daylight and the girls are very sexy. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Deserto de Sangue" ("Desert of Blood")

rather than go into this movie expecting a masterpiece of high culture, you should go to have fun. let's be honest: desert of blood is a vampire movie. but having said that, it exceeded my expectations for a movie of this genre.

desert of blood is more of a vampire movie with a true driving plot, rather than a bloodsucking horror fest. while it still does have its awesome bloody moments, its story of lost love and revenge still sucks you in. and what's more is that the premise isn't remotely as ridiculous as those of most other vampire b-movies. the risen vampire, luis diego, is reminiscent of whedon's angel, as he returns with a conscience torn by love and hate.

story aside, the visual quality of the film is quite astonishing for a low-budget movie, as it was shot in hd. with a mix of blood, humor, heart, and some skin, desert of blood doesn't fail to deliver a good time.

I thought the premise was really neat - being trapped underground for 35 years before waking up to the world that's changed so much, and the whole trying to be good thing and not knowing where to fit in, it seemed reminiscent of souled vampires in the slayer-verse or even some Anne Rice characters. I'm not saying this was Buffy or Vampire Chronicles caliber - it was def b-movie indie, but I liked it. I don't know if it was the setting or the writing/acting, but I got a total telenovela vibe from this, which made the movie really fun to watch. The gore wasn't excessive, and for the guys, there was the obligatory hot-topless-chick. My fave part was Justin Quinn (absolutely yummy!), who could give Stuart Townsend's Lestat a run for his money.

8/10 A fun, kind of camp vamp movie