Sean (Kerr Smith) is taking a week off to go to his sister's wedding. To help pay, he gets a job delivering a vintage Mercedes. In the desert, he reluctantly pick up hitchhiker Nick (Brendan Fehr) who turns out to be hunting vampire Kit (Johnathon Schaech).As a vampire story, this is perfectly fine. Schaech is certainly a very creepy guy. Izabella Miko is super hot. Smith and Fehr are good TV stars. It's a functional horror movie. There are good number of explosions, but not excitingly shot. There is a good amount of blood, but it's not scary.If there is a problem, it's that it's not big enough to be outstanding. It's not gory enough for the gross out fans. It's not exciting enough for the action fans. And it's not scary for any horror fans. It's a bit of all of them and excel in none of them.

Nothing new here (as it reminded me of an hybrid of " "Near Dark (1987)" and "Vampires (1998)", plus a pinch of "The Hitcher (1986)"), but this ultra-sped up, angular and slick (although keeping dirty n' gritty due to its desolate location choice) contemporary vampire tale knows its target audience and plays it accordingly. I didn't have a bad time with this little b-grade item actually, but it sure does feel aimless and it didn't fully grab hold of me.Writer / director J.S. Cardone does a sturdy enough job, and constantly floods the screen with rapid-editing slices to make the blistering action, and disorienting spell of the situation seem more exciting. Sprinkle in some bloody gore and bare skin. Now you can't go wrong. These fitful shots might cop a real shellacking, however it seems to work in favour with its context as Cardone's material has the magnifying glass on the MTV generation. In the long run it's quite an up and down ride, as it seems to want to balance out its lean action with some character development. It wasn't too bad on that front, but a lapse or two towards the dying stages shows up prominently. There was some well-conceived ideas in certain sequences, and Cardone's cutting direction is about the timing, and setting up the hovering threat into well constructed spontaneous action, and darkly nasty spurts. The cinematography is spaciously done when on the road, and frantic during the harsh times, and the pounding soundtrack keeps the brooding tone.Oh no a young good looking cast, but where credit is due the acting was above average. Kerr Smith and Brendan Fehr's appealing, fine tuned lead performances, superbly counter-punches Jonathan Schaech's elastically vicious and sensual vampire part. The stunner Izabella Miko doesn't get up to much, but there for eye candy. Carrie Snodgress is rather enjoyable in her cameo part. The rest of performances are solid, and Phina Oruche is a hard one to forget.

~Spoiler~ The Forsaken is a vampire movie that had a lot of potential to be cool but fell short. This is probably J.S. Cardone's best film and more than likely his biggest hit. It borrows a little from better vampire movies and that's where the film suffers. You can tell Cardone was going for a Near Dark vibe and some story elements are exactly the same as John Carpenter's Vampires. In Hitcher fashion, Kerr Smith is driving a car through the desert that must be delivered on time. Because he's short on gas money he picks up hitchhiker/vampire hunter Brendan Fehr and the movie starts to pick up. Johnathan Schaech leads vampire clan that is after our heroes. Schaech is a good villain and I like him as an actor, he just has deliver some cheesy lines. I felt embarrassed for him when he has to sing Metallica's Enter Sandman. But he makes up for it with the rattlesnake scene. Despite the cheesiness, it's the buddy rapport that makes this movie good. Fehr and Smith have a good chemistry together and, to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing a follow-up with their characters (the movie is somewhat open-ended). They'd have to bring more originality to the table however. If you're really into the teen movies from this era, I'd say check it out. You could do a lot worse.

This film offers a more "real" take on the life of a vampire, minus the cartoony stuff like the mirrors, the shape-changing, the pointy teeth and tons of other stuff that most people associate with vampirism. The problem is, this film only ended up PROVING that all those cartoony things may be what is needed to tell a successful vampire tale. It follows on man who, on the way to his sister's wedding across the country, ends up tangled in another man's mission to "cure" himself of a vampire virus. Lots of car chases, blood, over-the-top acting, and eye candy galore (see Brendan Fehr and Simon Rex) Don't pay to see this film, but if you're bored and don't feel like looking for the remote, go ahead and partake. Just don't expect much.