Well the Twilight saga that I'm quite a fan of is over, so it's time to approach new vampire movies. One of the biggest non-cinema films of the genre in 2013 is "Embrace of the Vampire", a remake of the almost 20-year-old version starring Alyssa Milano. Unfortunately the hopes I put in this one were not really fulfilled. There's not really one single scene that genuinely scared me or had me on the edge of the seat. And I usually like films where the danger is sort of invisible, looking below the surface. The lead actress isn't too bad and the lead actor shows why he's one of the reasons behind the success of "Continuum". Unfortunately the two can't save the shoddy writing. It's the usual "innocent girl comes to new place and faces dark mysteries"-plot which was done so many times and most of the time better than here. Add a couple of the usual sorority girls and challenges (without the humor from teen comedies) and you have the typical example of a film where there's girls of every ethnicity and hair color and a virile guy and a boyishly cute guy, so there's something in there for every viewer's taste. Also, the film is quite explicit, almost soft-porn level: lots of making-out, boobs and even some girl-on-girl action, so you get horny at least if you don't get scared.
The story seemed to be wandering aimlessly between dream sequences and reality, so you never knew what was real and what wasn't. It wasn't as effective as I'd have liked it to be and same can be said for the centuries-earlier-flashbacks and for the final exposure of the vampire. The only scene I at least enjoyed a bit was the group trip to the forest. The setting was pretty good and would have made a great choice for the big ending scene. Instead they switched back quickly to the place full of police investigating what happened. Shame. A good ending can't save a film, but it can surely make you appreciate it more with hindsight and they missed this chance by choosing a far less interesting location for the final scene. All in all, it's really only worth watching for die-hard fans of vampire genre. Everybody else is not missing much.
The story seemed to be wandering aimlessly between dream sequences and reality, so you never knew what was real and what wasn't. It wasn't as effective as I'd have liked it to be and same can be said for the centuries-earlier-flashbacks and for the final exposure of the vampire. The only scene I at least enjoyed a bit was the group trip to the forest. The setting was pretty good and would have made a great choice for the big ending scene. Instead they switched back quickly to the place full of police investigating what happened. Shame. A good ending can't save a film, but it can surely make you appreciate it more with hindsight and they missed this chance by choosing a far less interesting location for the final scene. All in all, it's really only worth watching for die-hard fans of vampire genre. Everybody else is not missing much.