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Directed by J.S. Cardone
Starring Brendan Fehr Kerr Smith
Borrowing liberally from "Near Dark," but never coming even close to that film's greatness, "The Forsaken" may be one of the last of what's becoming an annoying subgenre of teen horror films -- what I like to call "MTV horror."
Some great movies have certainly been in this category, among them "The Craft," but this film proves the idea is a tired one. Basically MTV horror films feature gorgeous young actors, plenty of grunge rock in the soundtrack, rapid-fire editing and other shameless attempts to appeal to that much-sought-after teen-to-early-twenties demographic.
"The Forsaken" is so formulaic one finds it hard to imagine it wasn't cooked up in a board meeting at Sony, which produced it. Smith plays a hip young film editor who decides to go on a road trip, transporting a car cross country. He picks up a hitchhiker (Fehr) who turns out to be a vampire hunter. Naturally, the two men run into a gorgeous young female in a restaurant, who happens to be in the beginning stages of becoming a vamp herself.
After Smith himself is bitten, the two men are forced to become buddies and do battle with The Forsaken, another name for vampires. In this case, the vamps are a group of nomadic, gun-toting outlaws modeled right after the outlaw villains in "Near Dark." Unlike "Near Dark," however, you don't really identify with these cardboard cut-out villains. They do the usual things: rip people's hearts out, seduce women, hide under sheets when the sun is out, etc. But they don't have any character. Good vampire movies always feature blood suckers who are themselves tormented. That's what made "Fright Night," "Near Dark" and even "Dracula 2000" work.
The two things that "The Forsaken" does have going for it are some decent special effects -- which unfortunately are sped up MTV-style, presumably to avoid getting an NC-17 rating -- and plenty of nudity. There's even a very quick head explosion. Haven't seen one of those in a movie in a while.
Ultimately, however, the film isn't solid and, like much of the horror cranked out by Sony, is too formulaic to be fun. It borrows from just about every modern vampire film -- from the "Dust 'Til Dawn" series to "Blade" -- without recapturing any of those films' spirits. You may want to pass on this one, although if you're looking for some vampire T&A on cable it may be worth a little bit of your time.
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-- Review by Lucius Gore
Posted by hutner hagood on July 29, 2009 the movie was great but im trying to find out the head forsakens name cause that part at the end were hes singing is awsome
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Rank this film on a '666 scale' of one to six (left to right).
Based on 2097 votes.
Forsaken
Queen of the Damned
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires
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