Rise: Blood Hunter (2007)

With an intriguing story line, and a great cast with Lucy Liu, Michael Chiklis, Marilyn Manson, Julio Mechoso, Carla Gugino and Robert Forster , I have no idea how this movie flew under the radar. Lucy Liu was beautiful and very compelling in this emotional roller coaster.A well known reporter, Lui, is working on a story that leads her to a grizzly discovery. What she found was unexpected, to say the least, and changed her life forever. She stumbled upon a secret and vicious colony of vampires. Little did she know, they were waiting for her. Little did they know, she was the wrong girl to mess with! This was my favorite roll of Lui's, and she drew you into her character's life and made you feel and root for her. Michael Chiklis is good in everything he appears in and the supporting cast was solid as well. The writing and directing should have been a little tighter and cleaner. There are some scenes that seem to be rushed, and are a little sloppy.Strap in and enjoy this modern day thriller that tugs and the heart strings!

Vampoir?Earnest effort to put Chandler-esque lines in the heroine's mouth, but they just dribble out. She seemed comfortable in the early stages, only to lose conviction.Long running time for a simple revenger, but the time-line is fractured so it takes a while to twig the lack of substance.This really needed a dose of weird, but even the final conflict comes across as TV movie ... with a few naked bodies hanging head down from the ceiling. Every plot point turns in the expected direction, every trite sentiment hits home like a crossbow bolt. I'd say the writer hoped his direction would add the spark.Maybe they should have gone with the Korean element, or the Mexican - plenty of inspiration there.Even so, no way to cover up the dullness of the heroine as good girl. Lohan might have been better. Or maybe Hong Kong comedy vamp would have done the trick.I mark it down extra because 120 mins is an annoying overrun.

Well it felt like a TV-movie better than I expected but nothing new here other than the Vampires are more like those portrayed in The Hunger. Competent performances hold this film up the director even had a pretty good script he just wasn't very good at building suspense, camera work was average giving this the feel of a TV-movie. With a few creative nuances it could have been much more engaging. Caught this on crackle had slept all evening woke up just wanting something to pass the time in that regard it was perfect for a late night or rainy day. Surprise small role by Nick Lachey for 98 degrees fans. Lucy Lieu is one of my fave female actresses to bad she wasn't totally kickin butt, Michael Chiklis plays the grieving dad with very little commitment to the role.

After she's murdered and partially devoured by members of a cannibalistic death cult, investigative reporter Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) returns to earth as a flesh-consuming, bow-and-arrow-wielding member of the undead bent on exacting revenge on those who killed her.If you can swallow this premise, you might just possibly enjoy this ludicrous, frequently laughable, two-hour-long foray into sadism, cannibalism, vampirism, necrophilia and supremely bad acting. Sadie is at least a ghoul with a bit of a conscience - she feels really really bad when she has to eat someone - so we'll give her points for that, but the movie dedicated to telling her story rates a big fat zero on every other conceivable count.