SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

Produced by Howard Nash
Directed, Edited & Written by William Hopkins

Christian Grey - Matthew Thomas .
Jacob Sloane - Bart Shatto Sr.
Malgaard - Duke York

The vampires have had enough, and after being led by Lord Malgaard they are set to take over the world. Two of the fighters against the unholy are Christian Grey and his mentor Jacob Sloane. Unfortunately, Christian's wife is converted into one of the undead and attacks her husband. Now he can fight fire with fire. He refuses to follow Lord Malgaard, using his vampiric powers instead to stop the lord of the undead in his tracks.

Now I admit to being a fan of Interview with A Vampire. I'm also in the minority in that I think the novel is an excellent stand alone novel. I can't stand any of the sequels. I'm also a minor fan of Dark Shadows. This film borrows from both of these sources and a little of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Hell, it's even got a little Vampirella in it. It does twist these elements to fit within its own storyline which is nice.

I'm not sure why one man circus William Hopkins decided to make yet another vampires-taking-over -he-world film. His career was mainly writing for television. The shows Lou Grant, Knots Landing and The Paper Chase are where he spent most of his time. Now we get his Orson Welles take of the vampire mythos. I've always had a problem with the whole 'vampires taking over the world' premise. If they made everyone vampires, then what would they eat? And how could we lose this particular war? Don't these bloodsuckers have to spend an inordinate amount of time sleeping? And isn't that done while we're awake? See the major plot holes in this whole concept? Yet, it doesn't stop the filmmakers of the world from churning these things out on a regular basis.

Now, don't get me wrong. The film is well done. The acting isn't hokey. And when you've got a real good villain like Malgaard then you can forgive a lot of things. But this derivative, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, plotline is a definite hole in this production. Add to that they fact that at 104 minutes it gets dull and comes to a standstill a few times during the narrative.

The die hard Anne Rice junkies, who I have probably ticked off in a big way, will eat this flick up. As well all the Dark Shadow fans. It was really made for them. Maybe Director Hopkins could widen the appeal of his next project. And maybe the whole vampires taking over the world idea has seen its last inception. Yeah, right. You wish.

MTI Home Video


Bio Info for Douglas Waltz

In the spare time afforded him between a full time job for the local phone company, Douglas is happily married with five, that's right five, children. He is a staff writer for the Print magazine Cult Cuts and does work for the webzine (www.cultcuts.net). He also publishes his own small press zine called X-Ploitation. In addition to that he's working on an annual publication of short stories from various writers called On The Night Highways. And if that wasn't enough he's about to shoot his first short film, Phone Sex, sometime this summer.