tlavideo.com

Review

The new British horror-romance Vampires: Brighter in Darkness tries to offer a low-budget gay alternative to The Twilight Saga... and half-succeeds.

Having just ended a bad relationship, Toby Brighter (Dan Briggs) is in a funk as far as relationships are concerned. Eager to cheer him up and get him back onto the dating scene, his sister Charlotte (Rebecca Eastwood – no relation to the chair-reprimanding Hollywood icon, as far as I know) sets him up on a blind date with an attractive, worldly bachelor by the name of Lucas Delmore (Rhys Howells).

At first, Lucas seems like quite the catch. He’s smolderingly handsome, has a mysterious and alluring accent, knows how to dress and has enough personal wealth to rent out an expensive restaurant for the evening so that he and Toby can have some privacy.

Toby is definitely intrigued, but he has no idea that Lucas is actually a 1,500-year-old vampire in search of a companion with whom he can spend the rest of eternity. He is already in deep by the time Lucas reveals his true identity. Not long after their date, Toby is forced to make a major commitment to his new potential boyfriend and help him battle an ancient vampire goddess with plans for world destruction.

Writer/director Jason Davitt has ambitions that his limited budget doesn’t always allow him to pull off. While some sequences are crafted gorgeously with high production values – particularly the opening scene set in 500 AD that establishes the film’s mythology – the special effects don’t always hit the intended mark. And while vampire movies always require a suspension of disbelief, the plot here moves along way too briskly to qualify as even remotely believable. Lucas and Toby have barely known each other for two hours before they’re staring at each other longingly and making romantic commitments that can never die.

The film, though, is not without its charms. Stars Dan Briggs and Rhys Howells are both captivatingly handsome and the director doesn’t skimp on steamy love (and shower) scenes. As far-fetched as the story, even in this context, may seem at times, it should prove exciting for fans of gothic fantasy and romance who don’t mind forgiving a few plot conveniences. Jason Davitt is trying to create a fantasy epic with limited resources. While it only works half the time, he still gets an "A" for effort. Also, it’s still more action-packed and less broody than the far-more-expensive Twilight movies – so that alone is pretty impressive.

 -- Robert O'Neill