When I first read the plot description of "The Forsaken", I was not expecting a whole lot. However as the story unfolded, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the movie was. The movie starts with Sean (Kerr Smith) who works at a studio cutting trailers. To earn a little extra cash on the side, he takes a job of driving a beautiful Mercedes across country which also happens to coincide with the fact that his sister is having a wedding at the destination as well. Along the way he meets a mysterious hitchhiker named Nick (Brendan Fehr) who, it turns out, is on the trail of a very nasty vampire (played to great effect by Johnathon Schaech). Nick has apparently be bitten by the Forsaken (as the vampires are referred to) and in order to save himself from becoming the undead, he must kill the master vampire before its too late and he is not the only one as they soon meet up with Megan (the beautiful Izabella Miko) who has also been cursed and left for dead by the vampire gang. To make matters worse, Sean becomes infected by accident when Megan passes the curse on to him. Due to the desert setting and outlaw nature of the vampires, one will see the obvious influence of "Near Dark" on the storyline and while this film is not quite as good as that movie, its not as bad as some people have said. The dialog is pretty decent and intelligent for this kind of movie and there is pretty good direction and camera shots by J.S. Cardone. Add some really cool car chases to the mix and you have yourself a good teenage vampire movie, something that seems rare these days with the introduction of "Twilight". So, if you're looking for a decent horror flick to kill 90 Min's, check out "The Forsaken". 8 out of 10.

The similarities between this one and a movie by John Carpenter are more than apparent (as other users have stated here too). John Carpenters movie is much better (and even that wasn't a milestone). Maybe with the new vampire craze right now, this would have been successful and I don't think that it must hide between some of the Twilight moments (especially during the second part of the series).But as it is, this just isn't really good. The action might be the best on hand here, but the characters, the dialogue, the story overall are just that bad, that you are actually wasting your time. There is one scene, that is the most insane ever. (only real spoiler ahead, concerning one scene) A human is playing chicken with a vampire ... and the vampire steers his car away ... Really? Like really? If you still think you don't mind complete madness like that being in the movie, than go ahead and watch

The script for this movie is a shameful rip-off of John Carpenter's Vampires (1998). It's almost as though the entire endeavor is a remake with Vampires cast's understudies. Considering how bad that movie is in the first place, that is not a compliment.I'm just consistently floored that writers can get away with obvious plagiarism and someone still is foolish enough to finance the production of it.Unfortunately, this reality is not restricted to forgettable films like this one, it's essentially the state of "entertainment" today.

The Forsaken starts with Sean (Kerr Smith) getting a job where he has to deliver a car across country to Miami within five days with the added bonus that he can attend his sisters wedding on the cheap. While on his journey a guy named Nick (Brendan Fehr) ask's him for a ride & he'll pay for the gas, being a tight little git Sean accepts. Unfortunately for Sean this decision turns out to be a bad one as Nick is in fact hunting Vampires that roam the desert in an attempt to kill the Forsaken, a head Vampire named Kit (Johnathon Schaech) who spreads the Vampire virus. Along the way they encounter Megan (Izabella Miko) who has been bitten & is close to turning into a Vampire herself, she bites Sean so he also becomes infected with the virus which means he too will become a vampire unless they destroy the source of the virus. Nick uses Megan as bait to lure Kit & his gang into the open where he can put an end to their evil blood-sucking ways...Written & directed by J. S. Cardone I thought The Forsaken was a decent way to pass 90 odd minutes but wasn't anything special or spectacular. The script takes a lot of modern cinematic Vampire themes & ideas, it's a sort of mix of the likes of The Lost Boys (1987), Near Dark (1987), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Blade (1998) & Vampires (1998) all of which are better than The Forsaken together with the standard isolated desert road trip type setting of The Hitcher (1986) & Thelma & Louise (1991), there's nothing original or nothing we haven't seen before in The Forsaken that's for sure. The character's are your typical teens, the dialogue tries to be hip & modern as it refers to the likes of MTV. To it's credit the film moves along at a fair pace & isn't boring although I'd hardly call it exciting. There is also a criminal lack of Vampire action & lets face it that's the only reason we're watching it, isn't it? The Forsaken is one of those films which is perfectly watchable & entertaining enough in it's own right but within five minutes of it finishing you'll have forgotten all about it.Director Cardone, who directed one time British 'Video Nasty' The Slayer (1982), does an OK job but it's hardly the most exciting film to watch. There are a lot of dull sandy yellow desert shots which give the film a bland look. There are a couple of OK car chases & a few decent explosions but again it's all rather average & middle of the road, it certainly doesn't get the blood pumping that's for sure. Gore wise The Forsaken is a disappointment, there is one scene where someone has their heart ripped out, someone has their throat slit, someone has their head blown off with a shotgun & there is some blood drinking but that's it & Cardone directs with fast editing cuts so you see the absolute minimum he can get away with. On the IMDb's main page for The Forsaken there are some still photo's from the film including one where Sean is holding what looks like a jar of eyeballs, well I only saw it a few hours ago & I'm positive this scene never appears in the version I watched so maybe the film was cut for an 'R' rating or something.With a very reasonable sounding $5,000,000 budget The Forsaken doesn't look like it, sure there are a few action scenes & explosions but other than that it's rather dull & unadventurous. The acting is quite good here actually, I liked Schaech as the main villain & the two young leads were likable enough. Despite being in the film for most of it's duration Miko doesn't say a single word until the final 10 minutes or so.The Forsaken is an OK time-waster, it's perfectly watchable but there are many better Vampire films out there so why would you bother with this? If your a horror nut like me then yeah give it a go but more casual viewers would be advised to think carefully first. Just about worth a watch but don't bust a gut doing so.