Tainted

This movie was horrid. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of bad movies, and even have a few that I watch again and again. But this one really had few redeeming qualities.

I got that we were supposed to see that the characters were pretentious, and thought a lot of themselves and their own opinions. Possibly we were even supposed to figure out that they were trying to sound impressive while having little substance to back it up. But I'm somehow doubt it.

The entire film ended up reading like the characters themselves. The director seemed to have an exceedingly high opinion of his own dialog, but lacked the skill or insight to carry it off. And like another commenter stated, imagine a group of 14 year old boys winging it, and you've closely nailed the dialog level.

The entire film consists of rapid-fire trite and bitchy dialog framing a fairly simple vampire story. While there are a few funny lines throughout the film, they didn't make up for the poor acting, horrid writing and plot holes the size of steamships. The 'vampire plot' had some interesting potential but didn't really explore any of the areas it touched on.

I know it is an indie film, I know it is a local film, but starting May 11th 1999 it won't be! The video release is finally happening, thanks are due to Troma for that. This film is wonderful, and definitely worth seeing. Shot on roughly a $35,000 budget, I was astounded when I first saw it. This film earns my highest commendations, and I order you to see it! Bug your local video stores, and when they won't say yes, bug them until they do. Personally, I'm buying my copy! I've had the opportunity to talk with the 'Am I Wrong?' Production team on several occasions, and to make things even better, they are wonderful people to be around. Rating: 9 out 10, losing one point only because of its necessary budget restrictions. The script, acting, and score are all great!

The movie has some excess footage, but you have a fast-forward button, do you not? Other than that, this is an independent triumph of a film, taking everything we know about the vampire legend and twisting it into a truly intelligent and well-written film about, well, as the tagline states it, "ONE HELL OF A NIGHT!" Successful in a local run, this film was picked up by the tremendously trashy Troma team, and this may throw off some die-hard film buffs, but if people really know about this hilarious indie gem, they'll die to see it.

Seeing as how this was included as part of a Troma Triple B Header disc, I didn't expect a movie that was actually funny without being gross, had a well thought out storyline, and looked more to Linklater and Tarantino's talking bits than Fulci. Yes, it had it's moments of off acting (mainly from extras or bit characters) and is obviously an amateur effort, but it's an amateur effort made with love and care.

After an opening sequence with such shaky camera work that I got nauseous and contemplated turning it off, things actually got much better really quickly. One of those "it's the journey, not the destination" films with more emphasis on the conversations of the guys than what they were actually trying to accomplish. Strangely reminded me of hanging out with some of my friends.

I can see where with a bigger budget, better equipment, and more time, this could have really been something. As it is, I see lots of potential for development and I do not want my 105 minutes back, they were spent happily. The team who made the film just needs to not look to other's so much stylistically and go with their gut instincts and follow their own muse.

I was looking for a good, cheap, vampire movie that was locally shot (in the Detroit area). Tainted (1998) seemed to be just the ticket to cap our Halloween celebration. While the movie opens with an exciting and well-orchestrated action sequence, the next half-hour of character development plays like the outtakes from Slackers. Don't get me wrong, I actually liked the humorous riffs from Slackers. However, this writer simply misfires every joke. Imagine a room full of 14-year old boys doing improvisational humor. Maybe the director was channeling the ghost of Ed Wood here, certainly the dialog could have been ghost written by Ed himself.