The Thirst
(2006)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Feature: D
Recently
in Night Junkies, we saw an
ambitious attempt (for a change) to do an independently produced vampire story
that takes risks and holds its audience in some esteem. Usually, we just get schlock when it comes to
such independent productions; the kind that think all people want to see are
the same old, tired blood & gore effects and are pretty smug about it. Jeremy Kasten’s The Thirst (2006) is one of those very, bad, tired and lame
entries.
Like Night Junkies, we have the connection
of vampirism and drug addiction with Clare Kramer and Matt Keeslar as drug
addicts begin harassed by another unimpressive “leader of the monster pack”
head vampire, this time played by career-wasting Jeremy Sisto, who seems to
commit professional suicide with each dumb and over-the top role (see Smokin’ Aces) he signs for. He manages to outdo Oliver Martinez in Blood & Chocolate (see my review)
by hamming up a role that needed to be shocking and deadly to work. At 88 minutes, it goes on far too long
considering the lack of substance in the script (by five people, including
Kasten, who could not make this mess work) and this also wastes good actor Adam
Baldwin.
All in
all, it will make you thirst for a
better story. Then there is the
performance of the disc.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is soft, shot sloppily on digital video
and is lame. What were they
thinking? The Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0
mixes are victims of bad location recording, bad use of surrounds and sometimes
harsh sounds. The boring extras include
DVD-ROM printable script, stills, deleted scenes and an audio commentary that
is plain blah. It could be a good
substitute for sleeping pills, though, give to take brain damage.
- Nicholas Sheffo
