User Reviews

Roesch & Scheerer's Brotherhood of Blood is quite a claustrophobic little vampire film, mostly taking place within the congested confines of rooms within a warehouse as vampire Pashek(Sid Haig) fears his powerful brother Vlad Kossei(..for whom he burnt alive many years ago for this vampire's blood-thirst was so intense he wiped out villages in short order)has been resurrected by an artist perhaps having found his remains in a church in Transylvania. Being held captive is the artist's brother, Tom(William Snow)by Pashek's follower Fork(Wes Ramsey)and his vampire minions as they prepare for Vlad Kossei's arrival. A small vampire hunting unit, led by Keaton(Jason Connery)and Carrie(Victoria Pratt, another in the long line of female bad-asses, with a very athletic figure, often grimacing, dead-serious demeanor, with no fear at all as danger presents itself)find themselves almost nearly wiped out by Vlad Kossei it appears. Pashek mentions to Carrie, herself kidnapped by the vampire brood, that if Kossei is able to see his family line successfully killed off by another, the mighty vampire will become all powerful and invulnerable. Cult star Ken Foree has a lucrative role as vampire Stanis who is tortured by Keaton and Carrie in acknowledging who Kossei is and what he's up to.

Very low budget, and given some extra mythology, but overall still follows many of the same vampire customs(..vampire bite turns you into one of them, sunlight burns their flesh when introduced, they crave human blood for survival). Pashek admits that vampires and humans came together in unison to stop Vlad Kossei and that this would be the only way to stop him once again. Kossei's resurrection came thanks to his skull's fangs cutting a certain human's hand. The violence is often cleverly disguised by specific movements and set-ups of the camera with blood scattering throughout(..and the sound effect of flesh ripping), although there is a pretty nasty fanged tooth removed from Foree's mouth as hunters Carrie and Keaton have him bound to a table, starving him of blood, wishing to gather information as to who could wipe out their entire unit. I found the confinements of the action in small, singular locations rather tiring..the film is very dialogue driven, with Haig given ample screen time devoted to telling us about his people's history, specifically about Kossei and his reign of terror. Pratt, as I mentioned before, is a tough broad who is often on the winning side in battles with her enemies. Her character and vampire Fork had a relationship before he was turned into an undead bloodsucker. Pretty neat twist..many will probably see it coming, while others might find it quite a surprise.

Brotherhood of Blood starts near Brazov which is near Romania three weeks ago as an American building restorer named Christopher Clayton (Darrin James) & his photographer brother Tom (William Snow) rummage around an old Church there. Jump to Los Angeles Yesterday Morning where a Vampire hunter named Carrie Reiger (Victoria Pratt) contacts Tom to enquire about his brother Chris who has developed symptoms of Vampirism while in hospital although he seems reluctant to say anything, while out staking Vampires several hunters have noticed a strange recurring symbol used by the Vampires for some reason to either attract or repel evil. Digging deeper Carrie realises that Chris & Tom found something in that old Romanian Church, something ancient & evil that threatens both the Vampire & human race of immense power. The only way to stop this great evil is for Vampires & humans to work together but can an alliance be formed in time before the ancient prophecy is fulfilled?

Written & directed by Michael Roesch & Peter Scheerer this low budget indie Vampire film tries to be a clever horror reworking of the seminal classic The Usual Suspects (1995) with it's interchanging time lines & the mysterious ultra bad guy Vlad Kossei whose identity & the way it is revealed is very similar to The Usual Suspects, in fact I'm not trying to boast or anything but I guessed the twist ending fairly early on & all in all thought it was quite predictable. The script which takes itself very seriously is passable for what it is (not much), it tries to big the mysterious Vlad Kossei character up so when his identity is revealed it's meant to have some great meaning but did anyone else think that during the final shot of Vlad Kossei walking towards the camera he looked like a dead ringer for Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Terminator (1984)? At just over 80 odd minutes long so at least it's fairly short, although I found the story predictable & dull if you haven't seen The Usual Suspects or have any intelligence then it may surprise you although that's doubtful. The character's are forgettable, no-one is that likable or particularly stands out & why didn't that Vampire played by Ken Foree not tell Carrie & her people what he knew straight away rather than wait, get tortured & let the big bad Vlad Kossei complete his plan?

Obviously filmed on a low budget Brotherhood of Blood doesn't look the best with cheap sets, locations & effects work. The lack of budget probably meant there wasn't any money for CGI computer effects work which is a sort of blessing actually although the lack of budget means there's no money for any other type of effects work. There really isn't a lot of blood or gore here at all, a Vampire has it's finger cut off & it's fangs ripped out, there are a couple of Vampire stakings & some blood splatter but nothing else. I guess the makers wanted to rely on it's story but having ripped the whole tone & feel from The Usual Suspects without being anywhere near as good I found it hard to like Brotherhood of Blood.

Filmed in Los Angeles in California on a supposed budget of about $500,000 Brotherhood of Blood is pretty rough round the edges & looks low budget. The acting is OK, Jason Connery happens to be the son of former James Bond actor Sean Connery while genre regulars Sid Haig & Ken Foree have small roles as Vampires.

Brotherhood of Blood is a low budget indie Vampire horror film that tries to be clever but anyone with any intelligence or has already seen The usual Suspects will not be impressed by it's twist. A lack of blood, nudity & action doesn't help either.

Vampire hunter Carrie Rieger (Pratt) and a small group of helpers infiltrates an industrial building in quest of killing Pashek (Haig) the head of a group of ancient vampires. Two brothers have brought back a long dead Vampire that threatens both Humans and Vampires. All though the story has ambition and tries hard, this movie proves to be unsuccessful due to its limit of budget and some campy performances. Add no jump scares and some cheesy blood and Brotherhood sinks pretty quickly under its own weight. The film makers choose to tell the story cutting back between flashbacks and current time which adds nothing but distraction to the proceedings. The vampire teeth used in this movie are huge and ridiculous looking and are only one step up from those hillbilly teeth you buy in the 25 cent machines at the store.

There is a war raging in the world of the undead. Vampires Pashek (Sid Haig) and Stanis (Ken Foree) know that the ultimate evil is about to be reborn. The last time they stopped this evil, they forged an unlikely alliance with the humans.

This time, however, the humans are less agreeable, especially vampire hunter Carrie (Victoria Pratt), whose boyfriend was turned into a vampire. She must unite with the vampires to stop this ultimate evil, before its too late.

The greatest thing about this film is the reunion between Haig and Foree, two of horror movie's most fantastic talents. Other than that, the movie his highly lacking. It feels like you're watching the middle half of a trilogy, with no real beginning or ending. If they do another film, I think it would improve my impression on it, but I don't see it happening.

After watching this movie I must conclude that all good reviews came from cast and crew along with people who watch movies just because they aren't mainstream no matter how terrible. All you have to do is see the writers' other credits which include Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark to know what you're in for.

Here's how I imagine the brainstorming went.

"Hey, we both like the role playing game Vampire the Masquerade, so lets make a Vampire movie. And we'll have it start towards the end and jump all over the timeline" "Sounds good, but why is it going to jump timelines?" "Cuz I like Quentin Tarantino and he does it all the time" "Cool. Lets make the Vampire Hunter a girl cuz I like girls. And one of the Vampires used to be her lover and was turned." "How come?" "It will fill up an extra 2 minutes. Oh and the end will be like the end of the Usual Suspects except you know, boring." "Awesome, lets do it!" I'd rather sit through Doom again. Good lord this movie sucked.