Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)

A small town located in the American West is improbably inhabited entirely by vampires who exist on artificial blood produced by a plasma-manufacturing plant. In this way they can live without having to kill people and co-exist peacefully. But one faction decides that it is time to resort to their true nature, this results in a civil war of sorts between the good and bad vampires.This one was directed by Anthony Hickox who is probably most well remembered for the comedy horror Waxwork (1998). I personally found that film to be something of a disappointment and in contrast found Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat to be quite a bit better than I expected and a lot more enjoyable than Waxwork. It's one of those films from the late 80's / early 90's that could be described as a hybrid-western, in this case a combo of western, horror and comedy. I only really heard of it this year and thought it slightly surprising that I hadn't been aware of it back in the day, as I couldn't see how me and my teenage buddies would have not wanted to see a Bruce Campbell horror comedy back then. But it seems that maybe it wasn't due to our own lack of awareness and more to do with this one kind of going under the radar a bit. I can't really understand why to be honest as it covers quite a lot of ground pretty effectively and was definitely good fun, if not exactly essential stuff. Whatever the case, it definitely benefits quite a bit in having such a good cast. Campbell is in more restrained form that usual as a dopey vampire hunter, B-Movie king David Carradine is the chief vampire leader, Maxwell Caulfield of Dynasty and Colbys TV fame puts in a pretty spirited performance as one of the main evil vampires, renowned character actor M. Emmet Walsh is as reliable as ever as a slightly world weary older vampire and future Twin Peaks actor Dana Ashbrook appears as one of the victims. All-in-all, a pretty fun time is to be had with this one, a film that deserves a little more love.

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.

If you are a cheesy vampire comedies or a fan of Bruce Campbell, then you most definitely have to watch "Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat", if you haven't seen it already.Why? Well, simply because it is a hilarious vampire comedy with a rather good story actually. A town of vampires have settled in a small town far out in the desert, keeping themselves off the map and rarely getting people passing through town. The vampires are making synthetic bottled blood to satisfy their taste for human blood. But of course some vampires are not content with this, wanting to sink their fangs into the flesh of the living and drink real, warm blood. But who is the mysterious Count Mardulak who runs the town. And who is the clumsy stranger with glasses who stumble into town?"Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat" have a rather good list of actors and actresses on the cast list. David Carradine plays Count Mardulak, Bruce Campbell plays Van Helsing, M. Emmet Walsh plays Mort, and John Ireland plays Jefferson. These are but a few of the great people in the movie.There is a wonderful mix of comedy and traditional vampire flick in this movie to make it all interesting, and the cheesy combination actually works out well enough, making the movie all the more enjoyable. And of course, Bruce Campbell brings along with him his usual lovable way of portraying semi-clumsy hero-like characters."Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat" doesn't rely heavily on special effects and CGI, though whatever effects were used worked out well and came of as believable.I hadn't heard about this little gem before I ran across it on Amazon while searching for Bruce Campbell, and I am glad I added it to my DVD collection because it is sort of a weird mix between "The Evil Dead" and classic Western movies, though thrown in with a good amount of vampire fun.

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.