Web of Darkness (2001) (V)

User Rating:

2.6/10   

Director:

Rick Danford

Writers:

Rick Danford (writer)
Jennifer Whitaker (writer)

Release Date:

10 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Julie is a Vampire fanatic. When her boyfriend Mike, turns her on to a new web site that boasts a clan of real life vampires...

Cast

Will Moore	...	Bloodrush
Pati White	...	Julie
Melinda Chilton	...	Shadow
Brinke Stevens	...	Intensity
Jack Brand	...	Hunter
Rick Schiebel	...	Mike
Mike Ricker	...	Deke (as Michael Ricker)
Helene Kersey	...	Nightchild
Alan Thomas	...	Father Peter
Porl Denicolo	...	Dick Gazinya
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kevin Bangos	...	Sid
Tom Savini	...	Rouge

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Tampa, Florida, USA

Company:

Enigma Films

No-budget videotaped vampire movie from Florida

I don't believe this has ever received an official release on VHS or DVD, though I could be mistaken. I found that someone had uploaded it onto a public site where where it could be viewed for free. And I see why it was a free view, the quality of the upload was terrible and so badly pixelated you could barely make it out (this lasted about the first ten minutes but it eventually got a little better). Two of the selling points here are cast members Brinke Stevens and Tom Savini, both B-horror royalty. Brinke appears only during the opening credits sequence (it clocked in at around five minutes) as a seductive vampire prostitute named Intensity. A guy picks her up and brings her back to a hotel, where she does the obligatory topless scene, bares her fangs and is then quickly dispatched by both the guy who picked her up and his buddy; both freelance vampire hunters. Turns out that Intensity is just one member of a clan of bloodsuckers who all have silly goth names and use an internet chat room called "Vampyre Chat" to lure victims into their nightclub ("The Castle"). A friendly computer programmer named Mike (Rick Schiebel), his brainless vampire-buff girlfriend Julie (Pati White) and his burnt-out radio DJ friend Deke (Michael Ricker) all become involved. Julie is bitten, Deke is bitten and poor Mike must find a way to help.

Bloodrush (Will Moore), the extremely annoying, cocky, power-hungry, pseudo-badass leader of the vampire clan runs the club, has two long-haired henchmen and is surrounded by vampire "whores" with names like Shadow (Melinda Chilton) and Nightchild (Helene Kersey). Guest star #2 Tom Savini (also credited as the make-up effects supervisor) shows up about 25 minutes in as a high-ranking vampire ("2nd in command," as they say) named Rogue, who disagrees with the way Bloodrush is running things. He says a few lines, exits and that's about it for Tom (he does have one more scene toward the end). Meanwhile, Mike learns that a loophole might save his friends; even though they've been bit and are starting to show signs of transforming, the "procedure" is not complete until they feed from Bloodrush (see, he's only bitten them). Mike locates the two vampire hunters from the opening scene; Hunter (Jack Brand) and Father Peter (Alan Thomas). They give him the Cliff's Notes version of Vampire Slaying 101 and then the three infiltrate the club to put a stop to Bloodrush and his gang once and for all.

As customary with these videotaped horror films, the acting is pretty uneven throughout. A few of the cast members do show some promise from time to time, but it's next to impossible to give a great performance when you only get a couple of takes to say your lines (I'm well aware how these regional productions normally work). The writing is about average. There are a few witty lines, there's enough plot complication to keep it going, plus a decent twist at the end. Sound quality is OK and recorded well for the most part. There are some original songs on the soundtrack, as well as a little bit of nudity (namely, a few of the female extras in the club scenes). I can't accurately evaluate the photography based on the online version I watched, but for the most part it looked presentable. The very low budget range is overextended quite frequently, with some awkward fight choreography and some poorly delivered dramatic scenes that require better actors to pull off.

All in all though, for a film of this budget range, I've seen much worse. Even though it does seem to drag a lot, it doesn't seem as padded out as many of the other shot-on-video efforts I've seen. And I have to give them credit for at least TRYING to make a decent film. It makes you wonder what some of these directors could pull off if given a decent-sized budget.