Home
Home

Crimson (2007)

DVD Cover (Poche Pictures)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
Overall Rating 46%
Overall Rating
Ranked #13,130
...out of 20,322 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!

In the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.. A group of party-hungry nursing students stumble upon a bloodied and battered woman named Sammi in an alley. Going against their better judgment, they decide to take her back to their sorority house for medical attention. They soon realize, however, that this isn't a harmless stray. Sammi is on the run from a vampire cult, led by the murderous Rachel. And tonight, Rachel wants Sammi back...In a bloody way. --IMDb
User Image
Review by Chad
Added: December 27, 2007
When it comes to vampire films, the final product has to be downright spectacular to garner a high rating from yours truly as I'm simply not a fan of the genre. I blame this on the flood of direct-to-video releases by filmmakers who thought that this would be the best place to start in the world of independent horror, a sentiment which I can't fault them for (after all, what's harder to make that a vampire flick?), but nevertheless, I've gotten downright sick of these bloodsucking beasts. Tonight's film, Crimson, does not fall into that "spectacular" group of films, but it is decent enough when one considers my hatred for the genre and the enjoyment that I got out of this one.

We begin with two ladies - Sammi (Stuart Brazell) and Rosa (Jade Tailor) - sitting in a field discussing "making the right decisions" and "their new lifestyle." What they're talking about isn't totally clear at this point, but the clues will unravel over time for us watching at home; however, more important things are at hand at this point in the film, as a powerful vampire (Erika Smith) arrives and proceeds to break up this little party. Sammi manages to escape with minor injuries, but this vampire makes a feast out of poor little Rosa.

In another part of town, four sorority girls - Amy (Leesel Boulware), Katie (Sarah MacKay), Carla (Jaimi Paige), and Jodie (Elizabeth Di Prinzio) - are planning a night out on the town, but their plans are quickly taking a nosedive due to Jodie's withdrawal from drugs. Yes, this little lady is a former junkie, and although some of her sisters are wanting to help her out, one can't help but feel that they're quickly growing weary of her bullshit. When Jodie disappears, they finally decide to let her make her own mistakes, and the remaining three head out for a night of drinking and partying, and it is then that they find Sammi bleeding and nearly dead in a field. They decide to bring her back to their house to get her some medical attention, but what they don't count on is her attacker showing up and attempting to finish what she started.

One of the things that I enjoyed about the film was the comparison between Jodie's drug addiction and the "addiction" that comes along with being a vampire, that being an insatiable thirst for blood. This was a neat spin on the traditional vampire mythos, and I was pleased to see some originality from a film of this nature. I also enjoyed most of the storyline, and felt that the filmmakers created an effective claustrophobic environment for our characters once they were trapped inside the house with the bloodthirsty undead desperate to get inside. These were the high points of the film, but it wasn't all perfection as the minutes ticked by.

I normally don't gripe about audio and video quality when discussing an independent film, but the audio here really tested my patience and actually made me consider just shutting the thing off and ignoring the fact that it ever even showed up in the mail. You see, the audio levels will be extremely quiet during a particular conversation, so I'd turn the volume way up to be able to make out the dialogue, and then BAM - a piece of the score will pop in at an ungodly loud volume and damned near blow out my speakers. I'd quickly turn the volume down, and then, you guessed it: I couldn't make out the next piece of the dialogue due to it being so low. This was a constant struggle throughout the film, and while it could have been due to the fact that I received a DVD-R screener (which may or may not have contained the final cut of the film), the fact that the filmmakers are currently selling it on their site leads me to believe that this problem may have made it to the final version.

This wasn't my only gripe about the film, as I felt that while the overall storyline was a good one, there were pieces of it that went nowhere and could have easily found a spot on the cutting room floor. My main issue was with some scenes that seemed to be rather redundant, scenes which basically reaffirmed things that we had already seen. We get that Carla is a drunk, we get that Sammi can't control her urges, and we get that Jodie is a druggie... why keep reminding us of these things? This complaint isn't a huge one as there aren't a whole lot of scenes that bugged me in this regard, but some tighter editing would have worked wonders here.

Finally, while I thought that the comparison between an addiction to drugs and an addiction to blood was a novel idea that could have made for a damned fine film, I felt that it wasn't used to its full potential. We begin with a look at Jodie going through severe withdrawal, but once Sammi enters the picture, Jodie's problems seem to take a backseat to everything else; in fact, save for a single scene where she excuses herself to go puke, we wouldn't even know that she was a druggie if it wasn't for her initial and final scenes. While I realize that this is a horror film and not a drama dealing with drug usage, some more emphasis on this would have really sealed the deal for me.

If you're a fan of vampire films and felt that the above synopsis was interesting, check it out. It's far from the worst genre entry that I've seen, and the fact that I normally don't enjoy these films may have had more than a little impact on my overall enjoyment of the presentation. However, the fact that I made it through to the credits - even with those audio problems - is a testament to its staying power, as I did find a number of things here that made it stand out. 6/10.
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
30 Days Of Night Necroville 30 Days Of Night: Blood Trails Rise: Blood Hunter The Sexy Adventures Of Van Helsing Decadent Evil II Fist Of The Vampire A Feast Of Flesh Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 7 Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 6 Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 5 Monster Cops: The Midnight Special Angel: Season 5 Angel: Season 2 Angel: Season 4 Angel: Season 3 Thirst Shadow Of The Vampire
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates