UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) The world of independent cinema is definitely a difficult one to work, sure, the artists receive an unlimited amount of freedom and the chance to put on film whatever idea they have on mind without caring if the content goes against studio policies or marketing issues. However, this apparently unlimited freedom comes hand in hand with the difficult task of raising funds for the project without the aid of wealthy producers or helpful supporters, putting the quality of the final product in a compromising situation. "Dark Town" is probably one of the best examples of this double edged sword, as director Desi Scarpone and writer David Birke truly aim for a very ambitious (and surprisingly original) story that sadly gets practically mutilated by their status as independent filmmakers and modest micro-budget.It's Curtis Armstrong's (Joel King) birthday, but instead of being celebrating it with his dysfunctional family, this greedy WASP slumlord is checking one of his properties in Compton during a series of blackouts. When he finally arrives to his suburban "paradise", his family discovers that something is not exactly right with Curtis, as he acts a bit weirder than his usual self. His wife and kids will realize too late that the head of the Armstrong family is now one of the undead, a vampire lord that quickly begins to turn the neighborhood into a bloody hell. Only his estranged lesbian daughter Jen (Janet Martin) seems to be unaffected by the curse and she'll have to make an uneasy alliance with a group of Gangstas from Compton who chose the wrong night to have their revenge against Armstrong.As written above, this film does offer a somewhat original story, as David Birke's tale of suburban horror adds elements of zombie films to his vampire tale. In fact, the violent beastly way his vampires behave can not be more far removed from the seductive stereotype usually portrayed on film, as their bite has more to do with the gruesome cannibalism of Fulci's zombie films than with the smooth kiss of Dracula. With a not-so-subtle social cometary and a convoluted plot that rises more questions than answers, Birke's vampire odyssey sadly ends up as a very ambitious project that feels incomplete and sloppy due to the poor development of the dialogs and characters, as well as the lack of enough funds to create what truly may have looked like a great idea on paper.Director Desi Scarpone makes a respectable effort to bring Birke's story to life, but it's obvious that this suburban vampire story proved to be more ambitious than what the crew was able to achieve. Shot on video, the film has a photography that at best looks like a soap opera, but at its worst it looks like a poor student's project; however, it's wort to point out that Adam Tash's cinematography offers really inventive points of view and a somewhat creative camera-work despite the poor look of what he captures. While some of the make up is really cheap, most of the gore effects (and there are plenty of them) look indeed very good. Overall Scarpone shows conviction, love for his movie and even talent behind the camera; sadly not enough of those elements to save the film from its fate.The acting is the film's true downfall, as most of the cast members act and speak their lines with the skills of an amateur. The fact that the script is not that good is a serious problem, but this kind of acting only makes things worse, and shows that directing actors is a characteristic that Scarpone needs to practice more in order to improve. Still, one actor manage to come up with not only an effective work, but also a believable one, and that is Joel King's performance as Curtis Armstrong. King seems to enjoy the part of this despicable evil vampire and it's safe to say that is his performance what sometimes saves the film from being a disgrace.Honestly, it would be very easy to write about the countless flaws found in "Dark Town", as everything from the cinematography to the acting to the way the script is written is plagued with problems that make the movie feel as a mediocre horror film; but it's better to say that what Scarpone and Birke attempted in the film is something that should be done more often in films: to offer a fresh and original take on a horror sub-genre. Sure, "Dark Town" is disjointed, and maybe boring at times, but as a low-budget attempt is not that bad.I wouldn't recommend this movie to everyone, as people not used to micro budget movies would not really appreciate the effort put in this indie film, but fans of micro budget horror movies will find an original film that while not very well done, it's fairly original and even entertaining when watched with the right mood. Definitely not a winner, but not "the worst film ever made". 4/10

slayrrr666 "Dark Town" is a halfway decent vampire film.**SPOILERS**As they're trying to celebrate their father's birthday, Sandy Armstrong, (Alison Dian Miller) Curtis Jr., (Rwaling Curtis) Heather, (Sarah Horvath) and Jen, (Janet Martin) along with her lover Lisa, (Meghan Stansfield) get together and await Curtis, Sr., (Joel King) who arrives late. When it finally gets started, a group of gang-members, Rakeem, (Delpano Wills) O-Dog, (Derrick Wayne Smith) Geoff, (Siaka Harding) and Tisha, (Kobina Wright) crash the party to escape a drug deal gone bad, only to find that the entire family are vampires. Trying to escape from the vampires, they eventually turn and fight the group from the inside.The Good News: This wasn't as bad as it was said to be. It's biggest asset is that it delivers exactly what genre fans of this kind of film enjoy. It's over-the-top violent, features enough cheesy action to keep it interesting and there's also a couple of great nudity scenes thrown in for good measure. The violence is pretty graphic, and is quite surprising for a vampire film. Aside from a huge amount of neck bites that freely flow as in normal movies, this one also has a new twist for the vampires in that they now gorge on the flesh of their victims. There's several victims who are surrounded and have several different vampires and begin feasting, ripping up the body quite messily. It pumps up the gore factor quite nicely. There's also nice decent action in here, quite easily seen in the final showdown. Not only highly gory, but features some action scenes as well. And then any film that features a lesbian vampire certainly scores some points in it's favor as well.The Bad News: The one main problem with this film is the same inherent problem all vampire films have, which is that vampires aren't that scary. That is the focus of the film, and it doesn't really provide a way to make them scary. It's a problem with all the vampire films, and this one is no exception. It's also very hard to really figure out what's going on here. There's lot of different subplots going on with no real conclusion to any of them and it just makes for a disjointed beginning half. Nothing really isn't explained either, and is just mostly taken for granted without much explanation. It makes it very easy to get confused in the middle section where nothing is ever shown yet every one is suddenly a vampire. It simply doesn't make much sense all around. There's also a big question mark as to the finale. Just another example of it not really making much sense.The Final Verdict: A nice, gory ride that never really explains itself. It gives the gore, action and nudity when needed, but really struggles when that isn't around. Vampire fans might be more inclined to check this out, while those not really into them might want to exceed with caution.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity and a sex scene

movieman_kev What do you get when you throw in "Leprechaun in da hood" minus the leprechaun and mixing in vampires that are pretty fang-less, and adding a pinch of lesbians for no good reason other than to have lesbians in the mix (I'll bet dollars to donuts that the producers dictated that they be in there somewhere)? Well i'll tell you what you get. Pure unadulterated crap. Not even good crap, the kind you could enjoy if properly inebriated. But the kind of filth that is just hard to watch on account of the overly melodramatic acting, loopy stunted dialog, and illogical storyline. Notice how I didn't particularly go into the plot line of this putrid number. There's a reason for that, this being that I'd rather not think back on this wasted hour and a half that I will NEVER get back from my life no matter how hard I try. And the sad thing is that there actually are worse movies dealing with vampires out there. And that, my friend, is a sad state of affairs indeed.Where I Saw it: Starz on Demand Eye Candy: Janet Martin, Claire Mills, Ariana Fronti, and Meghan Stansfield all get topless My Grade: F

Horrorible_Horror_Films If you like bad movies don't watch this, it wont keep your interest. This is such a stupid movie, the ganstas in this movie are so incredibly stupid, the vampires are really lame, I've seen protazoa with better acting skills. I think there was supposed to be 'drama' in this 'film' and I swear, what passes for 'drama' here will either make you fall asleep or spit at the screen for the filmmakers and actors being so stupid. There are worse movies than this - titanic for instance (that movie sucks) - but this still shares the bottom of the pile with all the other mountains of crap that is out there. I hope thats 10 lines.