Vampire Clan

I found this movie lacking and above all sad. It has all the necessary elements(like the darkness and crazy teens)for a decent movie but if the SCREENPLAY is as bad as it was, then this movie is just a bunch of hot boys and girls talking to each other in scenes that last longer than my mind can keep up.

In a nutshell...screenplay bad, scenes to long that end up coming back to bore you again...Not watchable. Do Not Recommend.

By the way, I blame the bad acting on the directors and producers because I know Drew Fuller to be a decent actor. I do however recommend to read an article of the true story...far more interesting.

The people producing this film fell for the same fallacy that one of the students in the class did. He insisted that a couple of the stories he wrote in the vein of, "I realized that such-and-such is a true because this happened." He insisted that the story didn't need modification simply because it was true. Problem was, he forgot about a few things like effective story telling and sticking with just the significant facts. And the need to embellish a little is always a good thing.

This film suffers from the same problems. The back of the DVD says that the plot is all the more chilling because it is real. Well, being real is not scary. Most good horror films are scary because they are real. And if based on real life, they are scary because they are well-written and directed to convey a mood where even if you know the real story, you are unsure what will happen next and fear for the characters.

The biggest problem with the story telling is that the story of the clan begins at the end of the journey--with the kids being arrested in New Orleans for the murder of a Eustis, FL couple. THEN they all sit down one-by-one and tell the tale of how they got to be in 'Nawlins. The problem is, at this point we already know what is going to happen: parents get killed and kids get arrested in New Orleans! End of plot! Somehow the actual traveling seemed to take up a big portion of the run time but we already know where they are headed before they even take the trip.

The film has some good, young talent in the supporting roles (there is no real lead except for the one daughter of the parents who are murdered who goes on the journey). For some reason, all the young actors seemed to out-shine the older ones (especially the laughably bad-acting police officers). The casting of these roles was right on cue. Most people look like they did in real life except for the Rod character, who if you look him up on the Florida Dept. of Corrections site does NOT look like a hearthrob like he was in this movie. The kid with the glasses was eerily doppleganger-like.

The very opening of the movie is very reminiscent of Scream 1's opening scene with a girl realizing she may not be alone while talking on the phone. The shot setups look alike too. The bad-acting cop who shows up and tries to be the scare-factor in the scene makes the film more of a comedy than a thriller.

There is some decent amount of blood in the film. The killing of the parents is on-camera but out of frame (not necessarily a bad thing). We do get to see some bloodied, bludgeoned bodies which is always good (I think). The music is pretty fitting as well but it is cranked up too high at parts and you can't hear parts of the dialogue. And that is not because it is diagetic music.

Like the whole arrest at the beginning of the movie, putting off the murders for as long as the creators did makes it far less dramatic. The kids actually flash back to the murder scene but skip showing it on camera until the end. Why?! There's no revelation. It's just pointless to add it at the point and not put it in chronologically.

In the end, the writing is the biggest thing keeping this film down. Some B-grade actors as cops and complete lack of suspense build-up in direction doesn't help either. 3/10

I'm not sure who to blame in this movie. Could it be the actors? No? Then maybe it's the script writers. Or it could be both. One thing I know is, even if the script are so poorly written, a good actor would be able to portray his role well. I saw so many plot holes and I think they could have thunk a better title for this movie. Vampire Clan? Please, they're not even vampires. They're wannabes. I think they choose this title as to attract fans of the horror genre. But even if you fancy thriller or horror movies, I don't think you'll even like this one. There's nothing horrifying about this movie. Heck, IMDb didn't even bother putting a genre for this movie (as of this writing).

Don't watch this with the expectations of seeing bats and fangs. The biggest disappointment is the title. I've seen MUCH worse. An actor can only go as far as a director allows them to. I have a feeling that the younger cast could've displayed their talents much more if they had the motivation in the script to do it. I've been acting for over 26 years and felt sorry at times for the cast. Some scripts/lines etc. can only be spoken and acted out one way. Unfortunately, when that happens, you have to go with it. There were times when I would ask myself "how could I do it better?" and the result would be what is already there. After watching Vampire Clan, the first thing that came to my mind was another, somewhat similar, "cult following" classic called Helter Skelter. Although different in many ways, those who have ever seen Helter Skelter also remember that it was a deep movie. I would have to agree that the teenage population, along with college students, could probably get more out of this if it was viewed as a project and not to be entertained. Vampire Clan is one of those movies where you have to stick with it from the get go or you lose interest fast. If that happens then you become lost with the plot. Except for a script, that I'm sure was taken from what the writers could only obtain from the actual news events, and a few choppy editing sequences (shortly after the scene with the cop while Rod was putting gas in the vehicle), it's not that bad of a movie. Don't blame the actors if you feel the finished product is poor. They are only one element. Out of a rating of 1-10, 10 being the highest, I would give it a 6 on the entertainment level. If a college professor could get away with showing this to a psych class then I would up the rating to an 8.5. I would love to see the conversations about this piece.

I followed the "Vampire Clan" murder story through the years, mainly because I was the same age as the teens involved in the case and also played roleplaying games like Vampire: The Masquerade. I never believed I was a real vampire or got into actual bloodsucking, cutting or what have you, but still, the case struck close to home.

As a result I can attest that this movie has done a very good job of presenting the facts of the case in reasonable detail, right down to Jennifer Wendorf's red Saturn convertible. The most obvious changes were in the characterization, which someone probably thought would make the story flow better.

Missing was Rod Ferrell's massive mane of black hair, as well as Scott's somewhat less intrusive chin-length cut. They were given standard short haircuts, which kind of detracts from the weirdness of the original case. The characters of Charity Keesee and Dana Cooper should have been played by opposite actors. The actual Dana was overweight, which could have been pulled off more easily by the round-faced Alex Breckenridge. Marina Black looks absolutely nothing like Dana Cooper (who had short, curly hair at the time,) but wouldn't have been a far cry from Charity.

As far as the personalities go, there was no indication that Scott Anderson was a fidgety, shifty, nutball-type character. He had a hellish upbringing but was normally seen as calm and collected and was mostly a good student. Rod's characterization was reasonable, but I saw Charity as a less demonic force than the movie portrayed her as. She was a generally cheery girl who was grossly misled by her love of Rod, and she took the news of the deaths pretty hard. When it came down to it, she was one of the first to break down, and it was in fact Charity that made the call to her mother, not Dana.

I found it a bit ludicrous that they showed the Lake County Sherriff (who of course wasn't actually present at the questioning in Baton Rouge) just letting Heather go after hearing her story. In real life, Heather spent several months in jail waiting on the authorities to make up their minds before they finally decided to clear her of the charges. And Jennifer and Heather had bad blood between them in the interim due to some of Jennifer's comments to the media and Heather's responses. I highly doubt that they embraced like that when they reunited.

There was also a lot more dirt on Heather that never made it to the DVD. She just barely escaped charges, and there is still some question as to how much she actually had to do with the murders. Also, I wonder how long it took for somebody to come by and swipe the pearls she left on her mother's grave.

Another IMDB user had a good point in that they missed out on some interesting plot by not involving Rod's mother Sondra Gibson in the movie. There were aspects of that mother-son relationship that would have gone far to enhance Rod's insane image. They also ignored the entire role-playing issue, but it might have been better that they did. It's not that the game makes people insane, it's that Rod was already insane to begin with, but not everyone understands that.

All in all, though, the movie was well-done, although I think it's been grossly miscategorized. This is a True Crime story, and people looking for a good Horror flick are doubtlessly going to be disappointed. Yet, that's where you'll always find the movie, mainly because it has the word "Vampire" in the title.