I believe the attraction of this movie is the charisma of Michael Pate which is very strong being directed into drawing sympathy for the supposed bad guy in a very classic and novel formula.One expects (in a western )the bad guy to lose.In a vampire movie one expects a vampire to be the the bad guy(at least in most of the earlier movies).Bring these two presupposed notions together and the formula is already preset for the viewer. But intentionally or not,this movie turns things upside down.The antagonist vampire is noble and intelligent.Michael Pate gives Robey a rough class and graciousness akin to Richard Boone's Paladin(Have Gun Will Travel).He was not really evil in life and made a mistake which the guilt of drove him to suicide.Now he manfully(or is that maturely...or both?)faces up to what he did ,what he is and what he must do to survive. Buffer is despicable but human.that should make him better than the vampire?He is more of a killer(for personal and monetary gain) than Robey(who kills to survive) Preacher Dan who is immature,insecure and inconsequential.Not attributes for a good priest.And he takes his relationship with Dolores for granted as if nothing ever changes once set in motion.Maybe she was with him in the first place because he had a respectable position in the community and she was of one of the richest families in the area.Or maybe because he bathed more regularly than the other men in the town.I like Eric Fleming but Preacher Dan is like a bowl of unflavored oatmeal with a bit too much water mixed in,in flavor,context and character.Which made me doubt his true motives. Dolores,mixed up and pining for a real man,perhaps. Brother Tim,well does Emo mean anything to you dear readers?He should have stayed home with his Nintendo and Hot Topics coupons.As screwed up as he was and desperate to prove himself as a man he would have ended up worse a person than Buffer. And it seems that everybody else in the town are also majorically insecure,not just our main players.And I have learned that one should not trust anyone to any degree when they are that insecure.
Except for Drago Roblais(I hope I spelled that right,I love Michael Pate and Robey is one of my favorite characters in any and all movies I've seen)He was aware of his faults and realized some thing could not be changed ...But dealt with them instead of avoidance,denial or withdrawal(as everybody else in the movie)and so showing a positive strength of character and almost benign resolve. In this movie I was rooting for the supposed bad guy(well,baddest...MOST evil).Was He evil?Before death or even as Undead? And with that impulse it turns the female for most vampire(or monster)movies and most westerns upside down and inside out.Yet the studios make the movies to sell to the audiences and therefore the movies have to be salable,or thought of as such so the studios make what they think the viewers will buy a ticket to see(these days don't forget the vhstapes,Dvds and soundtracks) I think the end of the movie was such because of the female of the genres. Was it the good guy who won?
Except for Drago Roblais(I hope I spelled that right,I love Michael Pate and Robey is one of my favorite characters in any and all movies I've seen)He was aware of his faults and realized some thing could not be changed ...But dealt with them instead of avoidance,denial or withdrawal(as everybody else in the movie)and so showing a positive strength of character and almost benign resolve. In this movie I was rooting for the supposed bad guy(well,baddest...MOST evil).Was He evil?Before death or even as Undead? And with that impulse it turns the female for most vampire(or monster)movies and most westerns upside down and inside out.Yet the studios make the movies to sell to the audiences and therefore the movies have to be salable,or thought of as such so the studios make what they think the viewers will buy a ticket to see(these days don't forget the vhstapes,Dvds and soundtracks) I think the end of the movie was such because of the female of the genres. Was it the good guy who won?