BA_Harrison In the desert town of Purgatory, the locals wear special UVA/B sunglasses, cover themselves in protective sunblock, and shade themselves from the sun with umbrellas: when you're a vampire living in the desert, you can't afford to take any chances.From Anthony Hickox, director of fun anthology-style horror Waxwork (1988), comes this equally enjoyable vampire/western hybrid which typifies the unique, quirky, and somewhat campy nature of many a late-'80s horror flick. As is immediately evident from the prologue—which tells of forward thinking vampires who are attempting to harmonise with humans, synthesising blood so they need not kill—this film takes a refreshingly original approach to the very old vampire sub-genre.David Carradine plays Count Mardulak, the town's leader, who is experiencing teething troubles with his synthetic blood processing plant. Trouble is also brewing in the form of elder vampire Ethan Jefferson (John Ireland), who has formed an army of followers who are willing to kill their own kind in order to return to the old ways. Caught in the middle of this uprising is the plant's human designer David Harrison (Jim Metzler), who has travelled to Purgatory with his family (sexy wife Sarah, played by Morgan Brittany, and two irritating brats) to try and solve the plant's problems, unaware of the true nature of the townsfolk. Meanwhile, vampire hunter Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell) is in town seeking to continue his ancestor's work.Director Hickox conducts this silliness with his tongue firmly in cheek, offering up cheesy gore, stop motion vampire bats, death by umbrella, guns that fire wooden bullets, and the awesome sight of delicious horror babe Deborah Foreman in over-the-knee socks and mini skirt, brandishing a machine gun. As if that wasn't enough, Hickox also finds time to deliver some stunning shots of the Utah landscape, an all-guns-blazing shootout between good and bad bloodsuckers, and a heart-warming finale in which a giant cross vanquishes the evil but spares the righteous, Mardulak and his followers having been forgiven by God.

phoebuz62 i recently rediscovered this movie first in my memory and then in real life. i think my disappointment was partly caused by the fact that children (i was maybe 9 or ten when i first saw it) are so much more impressionable than the grown-ups (im 28 now), but maaaan, there was a lot of annoying stuff in this movie besides the acting (ever tried to make a movie with older people when you were a child? if anyone did, they might know wat im getting at).through the course of the movie the impression that the film makers just ran out of time or money and quikkly wanted to finish everything up became increasingly apparent. the choices and general behaviour of everybody involved seemed kind of illogical and irrational at times, which could, of course, be related to the bad acting. the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that the vampires just kinda became normal human beings by the invention of the wooden bullets. superior strength was implied when the one guy threw the other vampire through the diner window, but wat about other vampire qualities like heightened senses (besides the one smelling incident involving shane), overly fast movements or similar things that are generally known for vampires? i find it disappointingly bothering that all the super-human aspects were being dropped by the people responsible. during the last third of the movie it panned out to be more like some cheap western than a vampire movie. also, the progressive fact that vampire apparently explode when they see crosses.. what was that about? ever thought about how much danger a vampire will encounter in everyday situations?! just imagine they wanted to clean out the attic or the basement. if they haven't done that in, like, 300 years, i bet one or two things get crossed... and so they explode while vacuuming? man, that almost makes me p*s*ed.one could argue that it was the 80s and standards for acting, directing and special effects weren't as evolved as they are today, but i have seen older and much better movies, even by anthony hickox. interesting idea, not well executed. one thing i liked was deborah foreman. i haven't seen her before, but she was hot AND beautiful and was next to David carradine one of the tolerably decent actors.as already mentioned before me, this movie had potential to be a classic, but no. just no.

Ash Cornish We all know Bruce Campbell rocks. So when we were looking for a fun movie to sit down and watch we figured this would be no exception. Upon watching it we found it to be pretty good, but it seemed like it was just lacking in cheesiness department. We were hoping it would be more like Evil Dead, that same awesome cheese, the best kind of cheese. The real kicker for us was the ending. After watching a movie about vampires the last thing we wanted to see was a religious reference, well, not even a reference but a direct religious plug. We stopped and looked at each other and just said "What the f*&#?!". Seriously, who watches a vampire movie in hopes of religious uplifting? Not I. Not anyone I know. It could have been an okay movie with a bit more cheese and taking out the ridiculous religious push. This is a good movie if you're 13 and living with religious oppression and can't watch anything better. Disappointing.

Scarecrow-88 Any film that has David Carradine as Count Dracula and Bruce Campbell as a dorky, rather inept Van Helsing descendant is gonna grab my attention. From what I understand Anthony Hickox's(Waxwork;Hellraiser III)vampire western, Sundown-The Vampire in Retreat, rather lingered in obscurity which is rather surprising since it is such an interesting, colorful, sprawling, ambitious hybrid of genres. And, the film is packed full of terrific names in the cast! For an avid horror and western fan such as myself, Hickox's film was quite a treat and I could just feel the enthusiasm behind the direction although his influences are very visible. The score is rousing and quite orchestral, despite the fact that this film is actually set in modern 1990 with family man, David Harrison(Jim Metzler), wife Sarah(Morgan Brittany)and daughters driving into an American Western town of Purgatory to help assist an old college "pal", Shane(Maxwell Caulfield)adjust a machine which might have the ability to create synthetic blood. This machine was purchased by the mysterious millionaire, Jozek Mardulak(David Carradine), who is the authority over the town which consists completely of vampires who have taken a vow to not harm humans unless absolutely necessary. Interesting enough, Mardulak seeks favor from God for the murderous, blood-sucking deeds from his past with a township also guilty for those innocents who perished thanks to their thirst. But, under Mardulak's nose is his lieutenant, Ethan Jefferson(John Ireland)plotting to overthrow the great leader so that his race can hunt humans again. Shane joins forces with Jefferson and has plans of his own..in a major sub-plot, it is revealed that Shane and David's wife slept together and that daughter Julie could in fact be his. Shane desires to "turn" Sarah and Julie if just for spite because he's an egotistical, arrogant, smug punk who doesn't like playing second fiddle to anybody. The problem for David is that he can not defend his honor properly because Shane has superior powers thanks to his vampiric abilities. And, also, Jefferson plans to kill all the regular citizens of Purgatory if they do not comply with demands for joining the hunt. Shane has developed a wood-tipped bullet which, when fired into the heart, splinters on impact killing the vampire. Having built an army of vampires by hunting human outsiders willing to join him, Jefferson plans an onslaught which threatens all the work Mardulak has contributed to conforming his race. A nerdy descendant of Van Helsing, Robert(Bruce Campbell, operating his shtick without restriction;very cartoony and animated offering quite a nervous and over-his-head, but impossibly brave hero;quite an alternative to his Evil Dead series persona)kidnaps a vampire diner waitress in Purgatory, Sandy(..the yummy beauty Deborah Foreman who steps away from her usual adorable cuteness;quite a sexy and alluring presentation, but she had tapped into this kind of deliciousness in Hickox's previous horror flick, Waxwork)threatening to sprinkle holy water on her if she doesn't take him to Mardulak's home. Lots of stuff going on, that's for sure. There's even time to show a frightened young couple, who witnessed their friend's beheading at the hands of hillbilly vampire, Mort(the great M Emmet Walsh)imprisoned next to him by the sheriff because they know too much with the town wanting to feast from them. The vampires survive off of the artificial blood Shane's machine, produced from David's schematics, and heavy UV cream.This was my first viewing of the film and as much a buff as I am, I shamefully admit to just finding out about this rather recently. I thought the film is quick paced enough to look over it's flaws, although there were times when certain performances were a bit cringe-worthy, particularly Metzler as the heroic father whose dramatic scenes with Brittany(..who is cute, but doesn't exactly blow you away with her performance, either)regarding Shane are overwrought. Caulfield nails his part as the a$$hole of the film, behind the possible destruction of a family and only joining forces with Jefferson as a way to get his "property", Sarah and Julie. Campbell and Foreman have nice chemistry together in their sweet, budding romance. But, Carradine as Dracula, masquerading as Mardulak is money and seeing him opposite old Hollywood veteran Ireland in a gunfight was sheer bliss for me. We definitely see the spaghetti western influence here..I am pretty sure Hickox just dreamed of directing such a scenario. The vampire effects are surprisingly good, but many will probably wince at the bat creations(..there are different effects used such as animated and clay forms of vampires in bat-form). Rarely is their any fanging on screen, which was the greatest drag for this vampire cinema lover. It was a lot of fun seeing M Emmett Walsh steal entire scenes so easily and Buck Flower as a town vampire switching allegiances to Jefferson's clan(..his confrontation with Foreman is a doozy and his fate regarding an open umbrella is priceless). Ireland once again, no matter his age, finding that menace was also a pleasure and he knew how to really bare those fangs so fiendishly.Fabulous use of Moab, Utah locations shot in widescreen and the wonderful sense of irony in the plot being that these vampires, in their attempt to go straight choose such a hot place as their refuge from humankind.