Le fils des ténèbres

Two things I like, Micheal Praed and vampire flicks but when I saw this movie, I found out that the two just did not mix well together. Micheal Praed is one person that I'm used to seeing in his older more prominent role as Robin Hood and when I see him in this film as a vampire, his character seemed more like a sympathetic character than a character of mystery and that sense of allurement that most vampires seem to possess. He had a little mystery in the movie but I just couldn't see him playing this role as a kind, caring loving vampire. And the British accent didn't help either. I was also lost in the explanation of the movie when all of the sudden the victims brother knows the vampire and what he's all about and begins to tell this tale to his sister that I just couldn't see fit in this movie. This is not the worst of vampire flicks but it's not the best.

It's a vampire B-flick, not much more. But Michael Praed is so hot in this movie! The perfect vampire :) He's actually the only thing that makes this movie worth a watch.

In a Northern California mountain town, Nina (Rosalind Allen) raises her adoptive infant son Tyler (Devin Sims) after her husband left her with her younger brother Danny (Jay Underwood) now living with and helping out her. As Tyler is prone to prolonged fits of crying with no way of soothing him, she takes him to various different doctors trying to understand what the underlying issue is until she meets Dr. Max Schrek (Michael Praed) who is able to sooth Tyler's cries and also strikes up a relationship with Nina unaware he is in fact vampire Vlad Tepes and the father of her child.

Son of Darkness: To Die For II is the sequel to the original To Die For produced by Greg Sims and written by Leslie King both of whom return for this sequel. Made for the emerging direct-to-video market of the 90s, the film calls upon some flimsy logic to justify continuation (wholesale ignoring aspects of the events of the first film) and also recasts Vlad Tepes while also writing out Sydney Walsh's Kate. While the central concept of a vampire-human hybrid seems like an interesting route, the film largely puts this plotpoint in the background so it can more or less follow the same points as the first film.

While Michael Praed and Rosalind Allen are fine as Max/Vlad and Nina respectively, the movie really doesn't get the same opportunity to create that same chemistry from the last film despite it's best efforts with the lingering questions of how Vlad is even still alive let alone Tom and Cellia from the last film with the explanation they go with not holding any water especially considering the first film's ending made it impossible. The filmmaking is perfectly serviceable for a direct-to-video film and there's some enjoyable kills and sequences in the film courtesy of the returning John Carl Buechler, but it just doesn't work as well as the first one did because there isn't as much care grafted onto the material.

Son of Darkness: To Die For II is perfectly watchable, but it's also unexceptional as it doesn't really do anything new and largely leaves new developments like Vlad's half vampire son in the background without much to do (maybe they were saving that for an unmade To Die For III, who knows?). The performances are at least energized with some nice hammy deliveries, so it's a reasonably enjoyable type of bad even if not a particularly memorable one.

Now, when we rented this film, we thought it would be a cheesy vampire flick. Well, it wasn't cheesy at all. It was just plain boring. I have no intentions of seeing the first one now. This movie was horrible. I give it credit for being shot well, but the plot was boring. The acting wasn't all that bad. It just makes me wonder why someone would want to make such a boring movie.

In a small town, Nina (Rosalind Allen), her adopted baby son Tyler and her Danny (Jay Underwood) live in a Bed & Breakfast of their own. Nina's husband left her since Tyler cried all the time driving him crazy. Meanwhile in the town there are several cases of coyote attack with many casualties. When Nina takes Tyler to the hospital, Dr. Max Schreck (Michael Praed) treats him, and Tyler stops crying. Nina also meets Max's impertinent brother Tom (Steve Bond). Soon Max invites Nina to have dinner with him. Meanwhile, Danny meets Cellia (Amanda Wyss) and changes his behavior towards Nina. When the stranger Martin (Scott Jacoby) visits Nina, he tries to explain that vampires moved to the town, but Nina believes he is lunatic. But soon she learns the truth about Tyler and his family.

"Son of Darkness: To Die for II" is an underrated vampire B-movie, with a good storyline. The screenplay is also good, and the conclusion is reasonable. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Destino de Tyler" ("The Destiny of Tyler")