I never understood why people hated Uwe Boll's movies so much. It always seems that whenever a new film of his comes out there is hemming and hawing from the haters. All of the hubbub even came down to Uwe Boll himself saying, online, that he was never going to direct another film again if the public demanded it. They were supposed to sign a petition that he created asking him to retire and if it reached 1,000,000 signatures he would never make another movie again (it didn't); all of this went over my head. Of course I had never seen a Uwe Boll movie, so my opinion was more based on "leave the poor guy alone" than anything fact based. That was until I found out about Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance....the sequel to original Bloodrayne that came out in 2005 and had an all star cast (for the most part)....Bloodrayne 2 is not Bloodrayne.
From Chris Walker on IMDB:
It's a hundred years later, and the dhampir Rayne has arrived in the town of Deliverance, Montana where a group of vampire cowboys have emerged. Led by Billy the Kid, hell-bent on creating is own kingdom, he slaughters townspeople and rounds up children. He spares the life of Chicago Chronicle reported Newton Pyles. Rayne aligns herself with Pat Garret, a member of the long-thought-dead Brimstone society, a dishonest preacher, and a low life named Franson, to stop Billy the Kid and show the world how the West was really won.
Throughout Bolls' very strange audio commentary (which he ends 2/3 into the movie leaving nothing but silence) he mentions that they didn't have much money for the movie and that conditions were pretty terrible during the filming. You can see that the conditions were VERY terrible during filming....but it adds to Western feel of the film, especially a scene inside the church were you can see the preachers breath whenever he speaks....it looks VERY cold. That part of the film I liked. However a lack of money in your budget is no reason to film your movie like a Sci Fi Channel TV movie.....which pretty early into this I felt like I was watching. Lots of wide shots, and the attempts at making a stylish Spaghetti Western feel falls flat at every turn. Boll, in his commentary, stated that that was the feel they were going for...and you can hear it in the music they chose. But you never get the feeling that you are watching a Vampire Leone film....which is too bad, because that would have been cool.
About halfway into the film, Rayne and Pat Garrett go out looking for a couple men to help them take down Billy and his crew. The problem is, we know nothing about these guys or why they (in particular) are the men for the job..Its sloppy writing, especially when, at the end, the two men have their death scenes and it feels like we are supposed to care....but we don't even know who they are except a crazy preacher and criminal. This feels like a film made by a bunch of friends who really wanted to make a Spaghetti Western but only have a passing knowledge of what that even means, and it was kind of a disappointment, because as readers of this blog know good Weird Western films are very hard to come by.
Someone online had mention the silliness of having Vampires take over a town, but then have them involved in guns fights instead of biting people......as I was watching this, I felt the same way. Why is "Vampire A" firing a gun at that guy? Why not just bite him or attack him? If you'll excuse the pun, it really takes the bite out of the Vampires in this movie, sometimes I forgot they were Vampires....very silly.
Check this one out at your own risk....a definite renter.
1 out of 5 Bloody Spurs.
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