- Directed by Ben Ketai
- Written by Steve Niles, Ben Katai, Ben Templesmith
- Stars Kiele Sanchez, Rhys Coiro, Diora Baird
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZepeBxWFc
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a surprisingly well done sequel to the first movie, with a different actress playing the heroine. She sells being the same person and does a great job. The supporting cast are all good. The story has some issues and raises some questions, but it’s a very watchable and entertaining movie overall.
Synopsis
We pick up right where we left off, with Eben turning to dust as Stella (who looks like a different actress now) watches. She recaps what happened. No one believed what really happened, so they rebuilt the town. “I never wanted a war,” she says. As credits roll, we read that they have been in several large cities. Someone named Dane has written to her explaining that they’re in Los Angeles now.
She tells the truth to groups of people, but people laugh. She says every time that she gives one of these talks, a couple of vampires show up. This time, she’s rigged the auditorium with sun lamps. She hits the lights, and a couple of the audience members go up in flames. She’s immediately arrested. Agent Norris of the FBI wants her to say it was a hoax. We don’t get any details; could they be in on it?
When she gets home to her motel room, there’s a bunch of people there, all sent by Dane. They all lost someone to the vampires, but no one ever believes them either. The group has been hunting vampires for years. Amber, Todd, and Paul want Stella to join them in the hunt. Amber spots a vampire outside, and they all wait for him to come in.Enough bullets to the head does the trick. Stella decides to go with the hunters.
Paul explains that Lilith is the leader of the vampires, and Agent Norris is one of the “bugeaters.” If they could kill Lilith, their entire network would fall apart. They go to meet Dane, who is a vampire himself. He was only superficially wounded, so he’s been able to hold onto his humanity. He’s got a while refrigerator full of blood. He explains that Lilith and her people are hiding in subterranean tunnels under the city. Lilith was behind the attack on Barrow.
Meanwhile, Agent Norris goes to see Lilith, and Lilith specifically asks about Stella, and she’s not pleased with his answer.
Stella and the other three hunters go into the sewers that lead to the tunnels where Lilith is supposed to be. They soon find a man hanging upside down bleeding into a bucket. Maybe not surprisingly, it’s an ambush. Todd is bitten and starts to change. Stella shows the others how to kill a vampire. Night falls, and Dane comes to lead them out.
They capture one of the vampires and take him home to interrogate. He explains that there will soon be another feast where the sun doesn’t rise. Only Lilith knows which town will be the target. Stella explains that the sun sets in three days. They let him go and follow him through the apparently completely abandoned streets of Los Angeles and blow up a bunch of them, but Lilith wasn’t there. They rescue a girl prisoner, Jennifer.
For some reason, Stella and Paul decide to stop and have sex. Across town, Lilith orders Norris to kill an innocent to prove his loyalty. He tears out her throat with his human teeth. Lilith approves and feeds Norris her blood.
Jennifer explains that the vampires brought her to town on a large ship. She thinks Lilith stays on the ship. Norris shows up and kills Dane as the others drive away. Jennifer leads them to the ship. Stella wants to board the ship and stop it from leaving, but Paul says they don’t even have a plan. Their last three plans worked so well…
Stella, Paul, and Amber go inside the ship and see that dead vampires can be reconstituted and resuscitated with blood– if they have their head. They find the captain, who says the ship is headed to Wainwright Alaska. Before they can get any more exposition, the vamps grab Amber and drag her away.
Paul and Stella are captured and finally get to meet Lilith, who orders the others to “bleed them out.” Norris cuts Paul but then fights Stella, which goes badly. They don’t really know how the ship works, so they just smash everything. Lilith bites Paul.
Stella and Lilith fight. Stella hides in Lilith’s bathtub of blood until just the right moment when she leaps up and hacks off Lilith’s head. The other vampires come in and step aside, letting her go. She goes up to the bridge and calls the Coast Guard. Naturally, it was all kept secret afterwards.
Stella goes back to Barrow and digs up Eben’s body. She cuts herself and drips blood onto his burnt remains. Then she waits…
Commentary
It definitely adds to the lore of the vampires, but it raises some questions. The monsters in the first film were so viciously feral, most of the ones here feel positively civilized in comparison. Having a queen vampire gives them a weakness that the first group didn’t have. Also, why do they all dress like goth-kid vampire wannabes? Several of them looked like they watched “Dark City” too many times.
These vampires seem to be surviving just fine in the big city, so what was the need for another Barrow-like attack? A long sea voyage seems to be a big risk for a few-weeks-long hunting trip when they aren’t at all short of food.
It’s all right. The idea of vampire hunters has been done better. This one drags a bit in a few places and there are lots of plot holes. Still, it seemed better on this second rewatch than it was when it came out; maybe I just had higher expectations after watching the first film