New Blood Awakening

Director - Chad Zuver (New Blood Rising, Night of the Living Dead)
Starring - Kayla Elizabeth (P.O.E., The Dead Will Rise 2), Thomas Sloan (New Blood Rising, Pi Day Die Day), and Melissa Zahs (Talk Nerdy to Me, Night of the Living Dead)
Release Date - 2016
Genre - Horror/Drama
Tagline - "Let the war begin"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Modern vampire films are hit and miss with me.  I grew up loving vampire films.  Hell, my favorite sub-genre when I was young was vampire films.  I loved Once Bitten, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fright Night, The Lost Boys, Children of the Night, and so on.  These vampire flicks were all the same.  They follow a vampire, or vampires, pretending to be human until they get their next meal.  At that point they no longer look human and are bloodthirsty beasts.  That's what I loved about these vampire flicks.  They may be full of humor and cheap laughs but the vampires are clearly the bad guys.  Modern vampire films often romanticize them instead of showing them as creatures of the night.  You can argue that all those movies toyed with the idea of making vampires more than monsters but in the end the monsters are monsters and nothing more.  That brings me to New Blood Awakening.  This is a sequel to Chad Zuver's New Blood Rising.  I reviewed the film a few years back and don't remember everything about the film but what I do remember was that it felt like a dark drama centered around the supernatural.  Recently, Chad let me know that Awakening was available for review and hit me up with the link.  Thanks Chad for allowing Horror Society and myself the opportunity to check out your new film.  

     The film picks up 5 years after the vampires stood up against mankind.  Humans now live in small towns where they have to be in doors by sundown.  Vampires are now led by Wes (Meyette) after Jade perished 5 years before.  A young girl sneaks out at the edge of dark to meet her boyfriend from another town when vampires attack.  She is able to get away but he is not so lucky.  She returns to the scene to put a stake through his heart.  When the vampires report back to Wes they tell him about her.  Wes is curious as to how she got away and sends them back out after her.  One thing leads to another and she finds herself in their hideout where she helps Karver (Sloan) escape and learns that she has the blood of a hunter coursing through her veins.  To make matters worse, Wes is looking for an ancient scroll of resurrection to bring back all the vampires that has died at the hands of the humans.  Wes finds it but one of his vampires intercepts it and resurrects Jade to take out Wes.  Jade kills the vampire and teams up with Karver to take out Wes.  Karver resurrects two more hunters to help but Wes sends in his troops and blood is shed on both sides.

     Zuver is a talented filmmaker.  My reviews may make you think otherwise but he is talented regardless of what I think of the films he makes.  Not all horror films are for me.  I admit that.  Some just go over my head while others I just don't appreciate them the way they were intended.  His films always look beautiful.  He has some of the best cinematography in the indie world but I fall off the wagon typically with the acting and story.  The acting in this one is a little better than the previous film, New Blood Rising.  Thomas Sloan has improved his character and makes his scenes flow a little better.  Experience worked in his favor.  Sadly, it's still a huge leap to believe he is a rugged hunter.  Allan Meyette does terrific as Wes, leader of the vampires.  He has the perfect mannerism and conviction but in some of the scenes he did not come off as menacing as one would expect.  This is painfully obviously during the action scenes.  My favorite of the film is Kayla Elizabeth.  She was beautiful and brought a lot of personality to the film.  I'm trying to avoid using the word sassy but that is about the best way to sum her up.  She has grown as an actress and I can't see where she goes next. My biggest complaint with the cast is the fight scenes.  There is several scenes where they fight and its a bit rough to watch.  When they fight they are so slow to interact with each other.  It's like watching the film in slow motion.  I have seen indie films with a lot better fight scenes and think this wouldn't have been a problem if they would have rehearsed it a few times and the camera was at better angles. The story for this one is a drama wrapped in supernatural.  I wouldn't call it a horror film but rather a dark thriller.  With that being said, its a story we have seen several times before.  There has been a few horror flicks over the years that follows the rise of vampires as the humans hide in the daylight to survive.  What sets this one apart is how it is character driven and relies on story and not gore.  It was hard for me to follow the characters.  They were all too pretty, neat, and clean.  Considering the world as we know it is gone and vampires are running wild so how would you have time to wash your clothes and keep yourself looking so nice and clean?  Wouldn't you be more worried about surviving and keeping your family alive over matching shirts and pants.  Also, the opening scene bothered me a lot.  Why would a young couple sneak out at night to see each other if they know vampires have taken over?  Scene just doesn't sit well with me.  Maybe a different scenario with them being stranded at night and then getting attacked would have worked a lot better and make more sense.  Finally, those of you looking for blood and gore won't find it here.  This film is very story rich and skips on the blood and gore. If you are looking for blood you may want to look elsewhere but if you want a dark drama that is very story driven then this one is for you.  Overall, New Blood Awakening shows that Zuver has grown as a filmmaker and has better honed his craft but the film just doesn't do it for me.  The cast is solid but shows room to grow and the story could have been tightened up some.  Fans of Vampire Diaries and MTV's Scream will enjoy it but it may not be up to speed for the gorehounds and horrorphiles.