Metamorphosis

When you make an American movie in Hungary with the budget to buy an old car, you get a movie like this one. Amazingly enough, it starred Christopher Lambert and it also had a little bit of originality in the script.

Three things were good in the film: the vampire girl was cute as hell, Cristopher Lambert was funny (also as hell, him being a vampire too, heh) when talking to the German girl and making fun of crosses and bibles and the last was that the "romance" in the movie reminded me of Quest for Glory 4, for which I keep a fondness in my heart.

The rest was absolutely wasting time. Not completely unentertaining, mind you, I could watch it and not feel bad about it.

Bottom line: for a low budget film, it was pretty good. Don't expect horror in it, the vampiric aspect is mostly a philosophical thing. Don't expect action, either, as only editing would make the moves of old Lambert and too young Irena Hoffman look anything but slow. There is almost no sex and the dialogues are ridiculous. So what did I like about it? it was not as cliché as I expected. And did I mention Irena looked sexy and reminded me of the vampire in Quest for Glory 4 ? :)

Abysmal. Horrible. Plain awful. These are just a few words that come to my mind when I think of this movie.

Let's take a closer look:

ACTING - practically non-existent, wooden,amateurish overacting;

ACTORS - horrible 1990s choice of actors and characters (three utterly annoying American tourists) and Christopher Lambert. Yes, that Christopher Lambert, who once was a big star (don't ask me how he ended up in this piece of junk);

PLOT - makes little or no sense (not to mention the terrible distortion of historical reality and truth);

SETTING - probably the only positive think in the whole film;

ENDING - clear and predictable after some 30 minutes into the film; etc.

I could go on and on, but there's no point to. It's simply one horrible horrible film which should never have been made. And Mr. Lambert should fire his agent ASAP and start making decent films again.

OK, this is a fairly low budget vampire flick but you might want to check it out. It begins rather slowly, everything seems predictable and unoriginal. However, you keep watching due to the amazingly SEXY leading lady who plays the female vampire and love interest. She is >>>>HOT<<<<< It also helps that the film is pretty well produced, it looks good, very good sometimes. Things really pick up and it gets rocking though when Christopher Lambert takes the stage as a really rotten chief vampire dude. He really brings a lot of energy and his dialogue is zany as heck. I enjoyed his performance and there is some nicely staged action sequences. Also the effects when a vampire gets killed are pretty cool. They sorta turn into this black husk and then flake away like a burning newspaper. Cool. Then, towards the end of the movie it delves into some metaphysical, spiritual, pseudo madness that is kind of dumb but brings some more zany nuttiness to the fun. Maybe it was just me but here is a strong undercurrent of tongue in cheek at work here. The last scene kinda caps it all off and sends you away with a bit of a smile on your face. The Russian couple and a really annoying sidekick steal a few scenes. Other than Lambert and the dude playing the Russian jerk the acting is kinda stiff.

The bottom line is a mildly entertaining semi farce that might help you waste some time. There are some really interesting tidbits throw in like a iron cross at a monastery that trembles when a vampire is on the property, a vampire who says the lord's prayer and declares the bible to be the best selling work of fiction ever. Then there is a creepy grave robbing scene and vampires that bit each other on the neck. Not to bad.

This movie isn't too bad, at least the special effects and plot were on par to its competition. The only sad note about this film is something that plagues many could've been good movies... bad acting.

I don't know how Corey Sevier, the lead male actor, has received so many parts in his acting career; his acting is just plain stale and contrived. His role started out OK, but I'm not sure why the director didn't do his job; i.e., inform the actors when their skills aren't up to snuff. The kid tries, but I think too hard and the result is painfully artificial. The worst part was when he detailing some history he had researched, but the way he spoke of it was like he had been there and experienced it. Just stupid. Oh yeah, I don't know too many historians doing this type of research who appear like they've walked off the beach. Who cast this guy in the role, it should have been someone more fitting and collegiate for the role.

The second acting faux pas was the Nickelodeon-acting provided by Jennifer Higham. I've seen much better talent at a Jr. High play. Where do they screen these people? Her acting, if you want to call it that, was so off-the-cuff that you would've thought she was trying to make it seem like a joke. Jennifer, you need to not only memorize your lines by get in-character when you read them; i.e., make it at least a little realistic! Overall, given it's shortcomings in the acting department, the movie wasn't too bad, though was a bit quirky at points. If you like vampire films you might want to check this one out, though prep yourself for some B-C grade acting with the leads (Irena Hoffman did much better & hot too!).

Being a big fan of Christopher Lambert and of "traditional" type Vampires, I was delighted to hear a couple of years ago that 'Metamorphosis' was happening.

Although the writers of 'Metamorphosis' were enthusiastic to portray an "original" take on Vampirism like most modern movies featuring our fanged friends do, they are still beautiful, genteel ladies and gentlemen and not a street-gang speaking in "cool" Buffy-type slang.

Mostly shot in Hungary straight after Lambert's 'Day of Wrath,' Christopher clearly enjoys playing the bad guy here, and gives us a performance that I would describe as Lord Rayden in a nastier mood. As usual, his character is a mix of dark and light, but I wish the script had allowed a bit more of an insight into his character as the write-up on the official site indicated there might be.

Irena A. Hoffman is everything you could want in a seductive Vampire, and I look forward to seeing her in other things. Scenes with her or Lambert as the main focus are certainly the most enjoyable in the movie, as the three American tourists (in real life, one Canadian, and two English) aren't very interesting.

Corey Sevier is adequate as Keith, but Jennifer Higham and particularly Charlie Hollway are stuck playing irritating, unfunny characters.

The rest of the cast is filled out by some suitable looking Hungarians, and the production is assisted by the use of genuine medieval locations.

Metamorphosis is a little light on blood and Vampire action, and struggles a bit to keep it's plot moving, but I enjoyed it.