Night Junkies (2006/Vampires)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C- Feature: C+
Lawrence
Pearce’s Night Junkies (2006) tries
to combine the Vampire picture with more sexuality and the exploitation of that
sexuality along with the exploitation of what Pearce’s script thinks is the
exploitation of what it is to be stuck being a vampire. We could call this the downside of vampirism
with the theme of blood hunger that has popped up particularly in independent
productions in the genre.
This
beings us to London and a dark underside of pimps, hookers, gangsters and
vampires, but overplays its hand in all respects, though I give Pearce credit
for taking the vampire side more seriously than the majority of such films and
TV series of late. Unfortunately, he
juggles more than he can handle and cannot get past the “porno” look or
excessive blood to really deal deeply with the implication of human sexuality
and what it means once you are a vampire.
Too bad, because he was on track to creating at least a minor classic,
but he gets caught up with too much to handle and that is why the end cannot
resolve itself.
The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is soft, has detail issues throughout, lacks depth
and despite some ambitious composition at times, is not memorable overall. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo,
not as well recorded as it needs to be and the combination can be trying and
gets in the way of what does work. The
only extra here is a trailer for this and four other Allumination releases.
- Nicholas Sheffo
