The Breed (2001)

This film is actually surprisingly good considering the ratings and some of the reviews. The setting and atmosphere, while nice in itself, lends to the film not feeling dated. The story is competent, if not somewhat predictable. The only real complaint would be Bokeem Woodbine's performance in this; it feels off and even forced at times (overacting) - which wouldn't honestly be much of a problem if he wasn't such a main and central character. Adrian Paul, however, is fantastic. This isn't a rip-off film by any means (no more than any other film, anyway), and is definitely an underrated vampire flick that I'd have no problem recommending to people looking for something more than what's on every "must see" vampire movie list. It's no masterpiece, but it's good for what it is.

It's a great movie. Bai Ling and Adrian Paul deserve huge amounts of credit for maintaining their roles and carrying the miasma of authoritarian Gothic goodness while that idiot Bokeem Woodbine savages every line he has, fails to even swear in an appropriate or at least believable manner and basically attempts to single-handedly ruin the movie. His performance is atrocious.That said, the movie is quite good. It has a cold war/Eastern Bloc/orwellian vibe with hints of art deco and the 40s thrown in as well. the plot is interesting and fairly innovative.Anyone who is a fan of films like blade runner, citizen X, etc would do well to check this out as well as any mainstream horror fans. Don't let Bokeem get in the way its definitely worth a view. For an extra treat rent or buy the DVD and check out the audio commentaries.

Sometimes with cheap budget films, you can see what they might have been- and that can be both good and bad. Bad, because you can see that more money = better special effects/ more actor motivation. Good, because you can see some qualities in the film, that while rather charming in this version, would be crap in a big budget film. The Breed falls into this section.The acting is about what you'd expect, and the storyline the same, but what really, really made me actually enjoy this film for the time I watched it, was the sets. They were incredibly reminiscent of the Second World War- the propaganda posters on the walls, the typewriters, the big grey buildings all of it combined to make an atmosphere which managed to meld times totally.Definitely worth the time spent watching it- it doesn't pretend to be a masterpiece, and it's all the the better for it.

I found it to be very Kim Newman-esquire in its approach to vampirism. It was likable, despite the painfully wooden acting. The scenery and costumes were heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and the Dr. Strangelove/1984 atmosphere was incredibly cool. However I still have to wonder how the main girl vampire managed to run around with those whacking great collars on her...And exactly what the heating bill was on her Gothic Mansion (tm). And I did love the fact that they used Buda-Pesth as their setting...The club was also cool, and slightly more fetish-y than other vampire movies like Blade...The dynamic between vamp cop and meat cop was quite good, still the same people from opposite sides aiming for the same goal while not quite trusting each other thing, but it made for some passable character development. And did I mention the supersharp 40s-style suit that the vamp cop gets to wear? Like I said, the costumes were gorgeous and well put together. The dialogue was a scream, but I'm sure it wasn't meant to be. "Cut the Anne Rice act!" From the lips of a vampire girl who I'm sure I've seen in gaming books, in fact, most of the main vamp characters seem to be based in the Masquerade vamp-style, running from fetish cyberpunk to nosferatu. The random acts of vampire motion were misplaced too. Stopping during a chase and twitching madly may look cool, but most viewers are going to be wondering WTF is going on. And the actor vamp is just the funniest thing alive...Or not quite so, as the case may be. And the handgrenade made me laugh, but that may just be my sense of humour.