Montrak

A very ambitious film, if perhaps a bit too over-ambitious. But the film is really fun and has very good effects. The English dubbing is so poor. Watch the film in the Original with subtitles.

The German independent film is alive. Still. Fortunately. If we didn't have Stefan Schwenk and his friends, we would only have stupid comedies and pompous dramas for mentally meaningless entertainment. However, "Montrak" isn't a really new, senseless movie, because it already exists as a little finger exercise from the year 2002. Now, however, with more effort, modern technology, familiar faces, a homely score and great pictures, it is packaged as a remake and widely circulated. Even officially on DVD and Blu-ray in stores, without indexing or confiscation as with other Gore colleagues. One reason for this is that Stefan cares more about his story and its dramaturgy, which sometimes makes abstruse changes, but in the end becomes clearer and clearer for the viewer. Schwenk doesn't jump on rough home made splatter sequences and embarrassing acting, which is quite correct and good. No, his work also works without bloodbaths with grunts, intestines, screams and "Sick Pigs". However, the story, despite constant picture and camera changes, shows small lengths and mistakes, sometimes it gets a bit dozy (mainly in the middle part). It fits quite well, a wink of the eye is allowed and you are quickly in control of the (beer) situation. Even if the movie doesn't have any real horror moments that provoke or shock, the effects are great, the photography excellent, the actors and extras super selected, you are entertained splendidly. Ergo: Tasty, quite original genre food, which is varied, could be tighter, but entertains well with its quotes and references

I love the Cinematography of Montrak. Great VFX and a classical Vampire Story, combined with good handmade Special Make up Effects.

A few words about the US release of the film. The DVD with the title "Vampire War" is not visible. Here the sound as well as the picture was totally messed up. It is simply defective. Please get the german version "Montrak".

I honestly can't fathom how this movie has such a high rating. Long story short: This is another "re-imagining" of the Dracula origin story told through multiple time periods. While the production values are better than most TV fare, the story is boring, the cast are forgettable -- with a truly bland male protagonist and an unbelivelable "love story" -- and it's bad enough that you'd want the power to fast-forward through it like Adams Sandler in "Click".

Do yourself a favor and watch "Blade: Trinity" instead of this SyFy-channel wannabe (you'll thank yourself later), or watch something like "Guardians" if you want a fun low-budget foreign sci-fi film. A Russian werebear toting a backpack chain gun is way more entertaining than bad actors wearing cheap vampire cosmetics.

For this budget, it's almost a masterpiece. The film perfectly captures the style of the 80s. Every second you notice that the makers are fans of movies like "Lost Boys" or "Near Dark". Especially the light and the atmosphere are really good. I really like it.