Thralls (2005)

First, there is the word Beli-al, the name of a demon. The word is transformed into the Necronomicon, a powerful book of spells, but then it disappeared. Mr. Jones (Lorenzo Lamas) is a powerful vampire with his minion Rennie. He keeps six beautiful women prisoners as thralls or semi-vampires. Roxie, Leslie, Lean, Brigitte and Buzz manage to escape. Leslie's sister Ashley arrives in the big city. The girls are running a hot local club. It's the winter solstice. Jim falls for Ashley. His cousin is an idiot. Ashley realizes that some of the girls are vampires.The dialog is god-awful. The acting is even worst. Lorenzo Lamas may be the best actor in the lot which says everything. Beautiful women kicking butt can go a little way but it doesn't alleviate the movie's many problems. Lamas is the big bad but he doesn't have enough screen time. The story is more complicated than it needs to be. The exposition comes too late. It is a mess and not scary as a vampire horror.

"Blood Angels" is a much better film than it has every right to be.**SPOILERS**Leslie, (Leah Cairns) who has been away from town for a while, returns home and helps her sister Ashley, (Siri Baruc) get introduced to the rave nightlife she shares with her friends Lean, (Sonya Salomaa) Roxie, (Fiona Scott) Brigitte, (Moneca Delain) and Buzz, (Lisa Marie Caruk) who themselves are vampires and have escapes from the home of Mr. Jones, (Lorenzo Lamas) who turned them into vampires. Ashley soon finds out the truth, but no one will believe her. When Leslie officially tells her about her and her friends' change into a form of vampire called Thralls, she decides to help them in their fight against Jones.The Good News: This one actually isn't that bad. The film is just too cheesy to be taken seriously. The fact that five vampires can open a nightclub and not get caught is just one example, as is the fact that all the vampires know kung-fu once bitten. This just works in a "throw your brain at the door and relax" sort of manner. The film has a great sense of humor, and is surprisingly funny. The moments with a transvestite wanting to get into the club are some great one-liners, and some choice moments spread throughout contain some intended for laughs. There's three main comedians in the film, though, and generally get a laugh every time. Lorenzo Lamas' character in particular gets off some great lines, and is perfectly suited for the tone of the film. His assistant is also quite funny, especially what keeps happening to him. Lastly, one of the characters in the club continually gets out plenty of laughs. It's quite nice to see someone different keep the humor coming rather than just a main character. It's bloody when it needs to be, and gets the red stuff going at times. A highlight is a marvelous decapitation that isn't performed with a usual instrument, and comes off as totally unexpected.The Bad News: There's only a few problems I had with the film. The first one is that, as usual, the special effects look incredibly fake and cheesy. There's no way any of them could be taken seriously, and by being done with CGI, it ruins what it had before. It's a common problem with these kinds of movies, and hasn't really gotten any better. Also, the first hour of the film is pretty slow. There's a lot of moments where it's hard to tell why it was not included, as they don't make you feel anymore for the character than had it not been in there, and simply makes you want to get on with the main storyline. It plays pretty fast and loose with the vampire rules in here. Nothing too controversial, but the ranking and powers in it is tweaked slightly to allow for the ending. It can be something to get over. There's also some scattered moments in the film that doesn't seem to add up together, and it makes it hard to imagine why it would be so. If you can let yourself get into the film or don't let moments like this get you down, though, then those would be the only complaints.The Final Verdict: I wasn't expecting such a good time with this one, but it actually does manage to impress. It bends the rules, but has fun while doing it. At least worthy of a look-see for vampire fans or for anyone else into these kinds of films. Just don't think about them too hard.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity

"Thralls", or "Blood Angels" as it is known now, appears with a very attractive cover and an equally attractive plot: A group of semi-vampire slaves escape from his master in order to become full vampires by themselves using a ritual they read in an old black magic book (the always present Necronomicon). In the mean time, they pay the bills running a club that looks like a mixture between "Coyote Ugly" and the nightclubs in "Blade".I was not expecting a lot of this Canadian B-Movie, so I was very surprised as it turned out to be enjoyable, on a level similar to the TV series "Buffy the vampire slayer". In fact, the style of the movie is very similar, with TV level CGI effects, silly comic relief and a great looking cast who put up some Kung-Fu moves, message about family values included. Also, despite its cover and the small amount of nudity, the movie is a bit feminist, on a "Coyote Ugly" level.Considering its budget, the Make-up and gore are awesome. Few gore, but well delivered. Too bad the CGI effects were not that great. As I wrote above, they are on a TV level, so, don't expect too much. The acting is above average, and while lead character Ashley (Siri Baruc) is not at her best, Sonya Salomaa and Leah Cairns gave good support acting. While I'm not a fan of Lorenzo Lamas' work, he ended up being the most likable character. Kevan Ohtsji as a rapper wannabe and Richard Ian Cox as the Renfield-like servant were good as comic relief and they helped the movie to be more enjoyable.Overall, it was an entertaining movie; of course, it won't pass on history as one of the best horror/comedy movies ever, but it is good for an afternoon with friends or your beloved. If you like campy vampire stories like "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", give it a try. 6/10

Ashley meets her sister in the dead of night at the bus depot. Right away she is almost attacked by a group of hoodlums that sis is able to dispatch without as much as a drop of sweat. Ashley is escaping her traumatic past to live with her sister who happens to run a rave with a bunch of her bodacious lady friends. These girls have got it all….brains, looks, a killer job and oh did I mention they were vampires? Well not exactly vampires but 'thralls' half human, half vampire and the whole lot of them are hiding from their ex-master. Mr. Jones (Lorenzo Lamas) will stop at nothing to get his girls back or is he up to something more sinister? Well I had passed this one by once or twice but I'm glad I reconsidered. "Blood Angels' (aka Thralls) on the surface does appear to be yet another batch of the same old thing. But the film is surprisingly fun and has energy. The director did a good job with what he had. The action scenes pop pretty well and the lovely ladies chew up the screen. True the script is clichéd and the one-liners are real groaners at times, not to mention the digital effects sometimes are a bit weak. But I had fun in the end and with a film like 'Blood Angels' that's all one can hope for.