This is a low-budget vampire film featuring the conflicted, modern sort of
vampire. He really wants to be a decent guy and share a life with his beloved,
but he can't always fight the hunger.
Thirty five years ago he was buried in the Mexican desert under a silver
cross. An American tourist with a metal detector digs up the cross and ... the
vamp is back, and ready for revenge against those who buried him alive. Before
getting down to some serious revenge, he's pretty darned hungry after not having
eaten for 35 years, so he gobbles down some tourists. Next stop after
lunch - to visit his old girlfriend. Only two problems. (1) When he saw her last
they were 17. He still looks the same, but she's 52 now. (2) When the old gal
sees him she has a stroke.
The aftermath of the stroke introduces the other main character, a student
from the United States who is the niece of the stroke victim. She soon arrives
in Mexico with two of her friends in tow, and the vamp soon recognizes that
she's the living reincarnation of the young woman her aunt once was. From there,
the film becomes kind of an offbeat seduction story, with the vampire in eternal
conflict about whether to cherish the niece of his true love or to eat her for a
midnight snack.
The vamp doesn't seem to have any control over which of his victims die for
good and which join him in the realm of the undead. They seem to break about
50-50, so he starts building up a little army of sub-vampires, although he's
actually a loner and doesn't want to have anything to do with his satellite
vamps. Since he tries to attack only those people he doesn't care for, and all
of the sub-vampires are his own victims, it turns out that he really doesn't
want to hang out with the others.
The film is not as bad as it probably sounds to you from that description.
The writer actually spent some time creating complex and credible characters,
and the vampire is portrayed as a person who was very much beloved in the
village until he was attacked by some unknown force in the jungle, so the film
plays out as sort of a doomed romance among a bunch of average people, one of
whom can't control his bloodlust.
It is competently photographed, has some attractive nudity, some likeable
characters, and a little comic relief to go with the basic story. On the other
hand, it has the typical problems found in low budget productions: piecemeal
effects, boilerplate dialogue, and hit-and-miss line delivery. Ultimately, it's
one of those so-so films that is not good enough to seek out, but won't get you
looking for the remote if you happen to stumble on it and get involved in the
story.
