Bloodlust

Three vampires (who can walk in the sunlight and enter a church, no problem, and have no fangs) find themselves pursued by a mobster and his men after they pull a heist; also after the trio of bloodsuckers are a group of religious fanatics and a pair of corrupt cops.

Bloodlust is a low budget Aussie comedy/horror clearly inspired by the success of fellow antipodean, Peter Jackson: it's over the top in terms of violence and delivers plenty of 'bad taste' moments. It doesn't, however, have any of the charm of a Jackson movie. The worst aspect of the whole film is its amateur cast and the thoroughly unappealing characters they play: no-one can act, so everyone overacts - wildly - making an already unlikable bunch all the more irritating. At first I thought the cops were the pits, then the religious folk proved even worse, and then the gangsters took exaggerated mannerisms one step further. Also, the cast start off trying to speak in American accents, but soon admit to themselves that they're not very convincing and revert to their native Aussie twang.

Of course, not very many people will watch this expecting a masterclass in acting: it's the splatter and general deviancy that are the film's main selling points. Unfortunately, the gore isn't very impressive and the movie isn't anywhere near as edgy or as daring as it likes to think it is. The most outrageous moment is a spot of gay necrophilia, but once again, a ridiculous OTT performance makes for a painfully unfunny and not in the least bit shocking scene.

I have to admit to being impressed by the amount of weapons amassed for the movie, which allows for plenty of bloody squib action during the all-guns-blazing finalé; I just wish as much effort had gone into finding proper actors, a decent scriptwriter and better special effects.

I have seen way too many bad movies in my life. And by "bad" I don't mean "hilariously inept" or "funny cheesy b-grade trash". I'm talking about BAD - so bad you wonder why you bother continuing to watch until the end. 'Bloodlust' is as bad as any movie I have ever seen. There is absolutely no reason to endure this movie, except just to say you have seen one of the worst movies ever made in Australia.

Now look, I'm all for the idea of saying "major studios be damned, I'll just do it MY WAY". It certainly worked for Roger Corman, Russ Meyer, Andy Warhol and John Waters. More recently, Jorge Buttgereit's astounding 'Nekromantik' has shown what can be achieved with little or no budget, no apparent outside censorship or compromise, and an original vision. That movie is genuinely exciting and disturbing. 'Bloodlust', despite the publicity screaming it is the first Australian movie banned in Britain, isn't. Buttgereit has talent and chutzpah in spades. 'Bloodlust' director Jon Hewitt, and co-writer Richard Wolstencroft don't.

This is an amateurish mess, with absolutely nothing original to say, with an abysmal script (? I'm assuming their really WAS a script) badly acted by a bunch of low lifes, druggies, and non-actors. The latter inexplicably includes respected underground musicians Ian Rilen (of legendary punk band X) and Frank Brunetti (former member of 80s indie faves Died Pretty). The involvement of those two is really the only interesting thing about this whole fiasco. Maybe 'Bloodlust' was a lot of fun to make, but watching it is a chore. If you want to see some genuinely entertaining b-grade Aussie trash check out 'Body Melt'. It's everything 'Bloodlust' would love to be.

I first received an uncut Australian VHS tape of this when it was first released. The movie was really cool but the extras on the tape are what put this movie is the MUST WATCH category. The extras were fantastic. This movie has one of the best trailers you will ever see on a low budget horror film. The film has lots of energy and is nonstop action and horror.

The basic plot has the main 3 actors wreaking havoc on everyone they cross paths with. The 3 main actors are vampires, 1 man & 2 women. The man is pretty cool and the 2 girls are great. One of the girls is a busty sexy blond and very voluptuous. The movie has a little of everything in it, including some crime action scenes inspired from Hong Kong movies. The characters in the movie are fun. It seems that the actors in the movie had fun making the movie. There is lots of gore for the gore fans. I found the soundtrack was excellent for the movie and it had lots of energy to it.

If you are able to track this down, try and find it with the extras. The extras include an awesome trailer, interviews (really funny), and trial footage with the lead voluptuous blonde actress with dark hair. This movie also stars an actor by the name of Crawdaddy playing a bad cop. I would definitely recommend this to fans of low budget horror. The directors went on to make more cult movies.

In Chicago, a VHS tape bootlegger used to sell NTSC copies of this at horror shows in Chicago, right after this came out on tape in PAL. The dealer ran a trailer of this on a TV he had on his table. He sold out a whole box of tapes of this movies within minutes of the show opening, just off the trailer.

This is an Australian film. The cast go in and out of Australian and phoney American accents for the duration because they are either morons or have absolutely no imagination. Bloodlust is gleefully, purposely and ridiculously bad. I laughed at it because it was bad but never at the 'black humour' It is never frightening, never suspenseful, hardly gory and punishes you throughout it's entire running time with it's mere existence, it took a constant watch checking feat of super human endurance to get through the last 30 minutes. On the positive side, the rich guy with the big mobile phone who gets car jacked close to the beginning delivered the most incredible performance I have ever seen. I would recommend this to crass, stoned and mediocre people.

Bloodlust is a spectacular achievement. Richard Wolstencraft and Jon Hewitt's opus is a very fine film of its own accord, however its importance ultimately lies in the fact that it is an example of that rarest of breeds - an Australian film with balls. Bloodlust spits all over the dreary crap that regularly gets churned out with the assistance of funding bodies. At the time of its release, this film was a much needed shot of adrenalin in the arm of the limp and pathetic Australian independent film-making scene.

I don't care if each character has a different, equally unconvincing, accent or that the calibre of acting displayed in the film makes the average porn star look like Laurence Olivier. The film was obviously made on the sniff of wet rag with a cast of amateurs. Get over it. Bloodlust is all about ideas, in particular exploring the cinematic boundaries of sex and violence. In that regard, Bloodlust is the least patronising film I have ever seen. It gives the viewer large doses of sex and gore, often both at once, without all the garbage in between. For me, Bloodlust is like getting a huge serving of dessert without having to eat your mangy vegetables beforehand.

The film revolves around three blood drinking killers - Tad, Frank and Lear. Our three heroes spend most of their time having sex and murdering people, although not necessarily in that order. When the local stake wielding religious fanatics almost succeed in killing Tad, the lovely threesome decide to rob a casino and retire. This sets off a chain of events that result in Tad and his ladies being chased by police, mobsters and the religious slayers. Bloodlust does not waste a second of its running time being boring. If someone is not being mutilated or having sex, then one of the characters is spewing out a tasteless joke. In fact, Bloodlust is a very funny movie. The screenplay is wonderfully literate and the humour, while not exactly subtle, is dark and pointed.

The technical aspects of the film are just as inspiring as the subject matter. The direction is innovative and the film is lovingly constructed. The film's pacing is relentless and the final showdown counts as one of the finest moments in independent horror movie history. The special effects are extraordinary for such a low budget film. Olaf Ittenbach would be proud of the stakings, shootings, be-headings, bitings and general dismemberment. With the exception of one dodgy decapitation, the gore effects are hugely impressive for both their over the top detail and sheer frequency. The sex scenes are kinky and fetishists will love the liberal use of whips and constraints. There is even the occasional sex act with a corpse, which never fails to liven up a film in my humble opinion.

The voters who have trashed this film have either entirely missed the point or simply do not belong to the intended audience. Bloodlust is made for connoisseurs of underground horror. If you like Ittenbach, Buttgereit or even dirty, old Andreas Bethmann then this should be right up your alley. Richard Wolstencraft is truly Australia's finest cinematic export. Bloodlust comes very highly recommended.