The Thompsons

This is not a real review, it should be taken more as a collection of impressions on the film.

Considering first of all that there are enough vampire films now and this is just the umpteenth but at least do it well, the film is very very mediocre and doesn't seem to commit, it seems like they simply wanted to make a vampire film because vampires usually sell but without adding anything else. The plot is very banal even if the plot twist isn't that bad and really surprised me, I dare say that this is the only positive thing about the film. However, we must also talk about the ending which is very far-fetched because it seems they wanted to hurry up and close the film and therefore made an ending that was a little too incongruent with the story just to give a happy ending to the events.

I haven't seen The Hamiltons so I can't comment on its relationship to this movie. The story of The Thompsons isn't told linearly but it starts more or less in the middle and then backtracks. I'll summarize the story linearly.

An American family of vampires (one girl, 2 guys, 1 kid) try to mind their own business and are driving around the desert when the kid gets shot accidentally when a bunch of thugs hold up a diner. Now the family is seeking help. Someone tells them to go to Europe and also gives them a name. One of the guys, Francis, travels to the English country side to look for this person who can help them. The twins (guy and girl) end up in Paris having fun. While the other guy watches over the kid.

Francis drives around, his car breaks down but he makes it on foot to some family pub where he draws the attention of the locals. The daughter who works there is attracted to him. But it turns out the owner and their two sons are vampires. They take him to the main vampire who offers to help if Francis calls his entire family to meet him in England. They make the trip but things turn ugly. The main vampire and his family don't have the Thompsons best intentions in mind.

A lot of the movie is told in Francis' voice overs. The filmmakers know how to put the creepy small town English country side to good use. I really enjoyed most of the movie, but when things become physical near the end, the movie loses steam. The main problem is that Cory Knauf who plays Francis (and co-wrote the script) is just too laid back. Even when he's being attacked and his life is at stake, he never loses his cool. He does a good job with the voice overs, but acting in dramatic situations is entirely beyond him. A huge plus is the attractive girls, and there are many here- all of them actually. Elizabeth Henstridge is particularly lovely, attractive and hot. What a gorgeous girl. She basically steals the show. There's some nudity too. The special effects despite being CGI are pretty good and the fangs for once look convincing. There's a lot to like here, the creepiness, the English locations, the story overall, the women. There are some plot holes and details that make no sense. I look forward to the third one and will have to check out The Hamiltons. This movie is a good effort and a very good entry into the vampire genre which has been so mercilessly abused.

After 6 years, The Butcher Brothers (Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores) return to the dysfunctional vampire family last seen in their low budget chiller The Hamiltons, who, as per that film's finale, now go by the name of The Thompsons. When a stop at a roadside diner puts them in the middle of a robbery, youngest member Lenny (Ryan Hartwig) is seriously wounded. After slaughtering robber and patron alike, the fiendish family flees to Europe to find help from others like themselves and escape the police manhunt. In the small town of Ludlow, England they find their British equivalent, The Stuarts and it seems they have found help for Lenny in this kindred family. But, The Stuarts unveil their own sinister agenda and as Francis (Cory Knauf) falls in love with their beautiful daughter, Riley (Elizabeth Henstridge), a war of the vampire clans erupts and a blood soaked battle for supremacy begins. Where the first film was a creepy and twisted family drama, the sequel shows us what a Twilight movie would be like if they had any real fangs… and gallons of blood. And The Butcher's version of that neutered vampire saga is a lot more gory fun. Where the first movie kept their vampiric nature a secret till the end, this is a full blown vampire flick that explains a lot of about the character's condition that wasn't fully explored in The Hamiltons. There are barely any humans in the cast either and those that are, don't last long. It's all red eyes, bared fangs and spurting blood. The film moves quickly too, at barely over 80 minutes, so there is little time wasted on melodrama and what I really liked was how the Butchers turned the sick and blood thirsty Hamiltons/Thompsons into the victims this time round and thus the heroes. We find ourselves rooting for characters that creep-ed us out in the first movie and that was part of what made this sequel entertaining. If you are a fan of The Hamiltons you probably will enjoy this sequel especially as the original cast are all back, except for Hartwig as Lenny, and they are taken in a different direction. The budget is slightly larger but, not by a lot as the Butcher's style seems to be a good fit for low budget indie horrors. It's not perfect, there are some flaws, it's not as atmospheric or creepy like the first film, not that it lacks it's share of shocking moments, but, overall an enjoyably different follow-up to the disturbing original.

People who liked The Hamiltons (2006) can easily pick this up because all the characters are back in action. And even if you haven't seen The Hamiltons you can see this without a doubt.

When things go awry at a diner and people are being killed the Hamiltons do have to hide themselves. Being on the run for the cops they leave the states for the UK and do come across another vampire clan. The Hamiltons now being called The Thompsons need their help but do they get it.

It do delivers on a few points but it never do becomes rather gory. Still it is watchable even as there isn't that much of red stuff. But it is the editing that aves this flick. In the beginning you will get confused by a few things but quickly you will here the story of Francis Hamilton told by himself. It do takes a while before the fighting starts between the two clans and the last part of the flick will deliver for fans over vampire flicks.

If you aren't into vampires then this isn't for you because nothing looks believable of course. Some parts I didn't like but like I just said, the last part is a must see for the ones with fangs. It won't become a classic but it's a nice start to begin your horror evening.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Francis (Cory Knauf), the central character in The Butcher Brothers' The Thompsons (the sequel to their 2006 movie The Hamiltons), is something of a tortured soul, a vampire troubled by his bloody lifestyle, searching for a meaning to his existence. Having fled the US with his bloodsucking family, he now wanders the UK looking for others like him so that he can learn about his heritage and perhaps even find love among his own kind.

The photogenic cast; the oh-so-serious emo sensibilities; the romance between vampire clans; the film-makers desperately striving for a sense of cool: The Thompsons might easily be confused for an installment of the Twilight series if it wasn't for all the graphic sex and violence on display. I doubt very much that Bella Swan would ever get it on with an absinthe addled Parisian whore, or whether Edward would savagely tear the throat out of his victims, drenching himself in blood in the process, but the vampires in this film have no such qualms, narrowly preventing it from being another worthless piece of PG-13 horror-lite and just about earning it a recommendation from yours truly.