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Damned, The
Image // R // July 11, 2006
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
Low-budget direct-to-video horror movies are a dime a dozen and while I don't have any hard data to back up this next statement, based on what I see in the video store, many of these are vampire movies. Over the last two decades, vampires have risen in popularity, partly due to the success of the Anne Rice novels. This has seemingly inspired anyone with a video camera to take a stab at creating their own vampire mythology. The results are usually films which resemble every one before it, such as The Damned.
While driving home from traffic school, Tom (Brian Velthoen) has car trouble and is forced to walk home. As he's going to be walking in a questionable neighborhood, Tom takes a baseball bat with him. On the way, he sees two men attacking two other men. When one of the attackers approaches Tom, he hits him with the bat, which breaks. The man then falls on the broken bat and turns to dust. Tom runs home to tell his roommates. Nacho (Daniel Landeros), a blue-collar mechanic, doesn't believe Tom, but Danny (Raul Martinez), a horror movie fan, does. It appears that a group of vampires, led by Marco (Jose Rosete) and Antonio (Victor Zaragoza), have moved in down the street from Tom and his friends. Detective Vance (Chris Angelo) begins to investigate the recent murders in the area, and when the baseball bat is discovered, Tom becomes a suspect. Rick (Todd Bridges) and Dennis (James Logan), who have been trailing the vampires, arrive on the scene and offer to help Tom. Knowing that Tom has killed one of their own, the vampires plan to slaughter Tom and his friends.
The Damned was written, produced, and directed by Jose and Eduardo Quiroz (also known as The Quiroz Bros.) who, according to IMDB.com, have made a string of direct-to-video movies with titles such as Drug Lordz, Hood of the Living Dead, and my favorite, San Franpsycho. They have made at least 9 movies in the past four years. (And they appear to use the same cast over and over.) And yet, all of this experience has apparently gone to waste, as The Damned isn't a very good movie.
While some low-budget pictures can rise above their short-comings and produce a polished product, The Damned simply looks cheap and homemade. The movie was shot on...well, I'm not going to label it "low-end" video, but it's certainly not HD. The movie uses existing locations, ie: a friend's house or office. The acting is amateur-level at best and there are many moments where the dialogue stops and starts in fits. (Although it must be said that the poor man's Joe Mantegna who plays the head vampire is pretty good.) The vampire effects consist of white contact lenses and fangs and the gore effects are restrained.
So the movie's cheap. That doesn't limit the writer's imagination, does it? Well, apparently, it can because the storyline is simply a retread of Fright Night combined with some other vampire cliches. The only new idea (well, new to me at least) idea in the film is that a vampire's body retains the blood of everyone they've ever killed. That's a neat idea, but it doesn't propel this movie out of the basement. As with most low-budget films, there is much more talking then there is action and the debate over whether or not there are really vampires gets old very fast.
I never question anyone's creative drive, but The Damned is one of those movies where one can't help but wonder why it was made. It brings (practically) nothing new to the genre and its budgetary constraints keep it from being anything special.
Video
The Damned bites the neck of DVD courtesy of Image Entertainment. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.85:1, but the transfer is not enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. As the production was shot on video, the transfer shows the limitations of that medium. Bright lights create a "sunburst" effect and shadows are harsh and distinct. The nighttime scenes are often too dark. The colors are OK, but often muted. The image does remain stable throughout and video noise is kept to a minimum.
Audio
The DVD offers a Dolby stereo audio track. The dialogue is somewhat clear, but does sound distorted and muffled at times. Also, the track isn't well-balanced at times, as sound effects, such as a window breaking, can be much louder than the dialogue. The in-film rock music score is always louder than the dialogue. The stereo effects are OK, but they don't come into play often enough.
Extras
The Damned DVD only has a few extras. There is a reel of OUTTAKES (8 minutes). The DVD includes a TRAILER for the movie, letterboxed at 1.78:1, but again, not 16 x 9. The final extras are four PHOTO GALLERIES, one of which is general with the other three focusing on specific actors.
The word "damned" can refer to someone who has been condemned to hell or someone who is in danger of being condemned to hell. As someone who has seen way too many low-budget vampire movies, when referring to The Damned, I use the vernacular of my father and say, "I'm never watching that damned movie again!"
Low-budget direct-to-video horror movies are a dime a dozen and while I don't have any hard data to back up this next statement, based on what I see in the video store, many of these are vampire movies. Over the last two decades, vampires have risen in popularity, partly due to the success of the Anne Rice novels. This has seemingly inspired anyone with a video camera to take a stab at creating their own vampire mythology. The results are usually films which resemble every one before it, such as The Damned.
While driving home from traffic school, Tom (Brian Velthoen) has car trouble and is forced to walk home. As he's going to be walking in a questionable neighborhood, Tom takes a baseball bat with him. On the way, he sees two men attacking two other men. When one of the attackers approaches Tom, he hits him with the bat, which breaks. The man then falls on the broken bat and turns to dust. Tom runs home to tell his roommates. Nacho (Daniel Landeros), a blue-collar mechanic, doesn't believe Tom, but Danny (Raul Martinez), a horror movie fan, does. It appears that a group of vampires, led by Marco (Jose Rosete) and Antonio (Victor Zaragoza), have moved in down the street from Tom and his friends. Detective Vance (Chris Angelo) begins to investigate the recent murders in the area, and when the baseball bat is discovered, Tom becomes a suspect. Rick (Todd Bridges) and Dennis (James Logan), who have been trailing the vampires, arrive on the scene and offer to help Tom. Knowing that Tom has killed one of their own, the vampires plan to slaughter Tom and his friends.
The Damned was written, produced, and directed by Jose and Eduardo Quiroz (also known as The Quiroz Bros.) who, according to IMDB.com, have made a string of direct-to-video movies with titles such as Drug Lordz, Hood of the Living Dead, and my favorite, San Franpsycho. They have made at least 9 movies in the past four years. (And they appear to use the same cast over and over.) And yet, all of this experience has apparently gone to waste, as The Damned isn't a very good movie.
While some low-budget pictures can rise above their short-comings and produce a polished product, The Damned simply looks cheap and homemade. The movie was shot on...well, I'm not going to label it "low-end" video, but it's certainly not HD. The movie uses existing locations, ie: a friend's house or office. The acting is amateur-level at best and there are many moments where the dialogue stops and starts in fits. (Although it must be said that the poor man's Joe Mantegna who plays the head vampire is pretty good.) The vampire effects consist of white contact lenses and fangs and the gore effects are restrained.
So the movie's cheap. That doesn't limit the writer's imagination, does it? Well, apparently, it can because the storyline is simply a retread of Fright Night combined with some other vampire cliches. The only new idea (well, new to me at least) idea in the film is that a vampire's body retains the blood of everyone they've ever killed. That's a neat idea, but it doesn't propel this movie out of the basement. As with most low-budget films, there is much more talking then there is action and the debate over whether or not there are really vampires gets old very fast.
I never question anyone's creative drive, but The Damned is one of those movies where one can't help but wonder why it was made. It brings (practically) nothing new to the genre and its budgetary constraints keep it from being anything special.
Video
The Damned bites the neck of DVD courtesy of Image Entertainment. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.85:1, but the transfer is not enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. As the production was shot on video, the transfer shows the limitations of that medium. Bright lights create a "sunburst" effect and shadows are harsh and distinct. The nighttime scenes are often too dark. The colors are OK, but often muted. The image does remain stable throughout and video noise is kept to a minimum.
Audio
The DVD offers a Dolby stereo audio track. The dialogue is somewhat clear, but does sound distorted and muffled at times. Also, the track isn't well-balanced at times, as sound effects, such as a window breaking, can be much louder than the dialogue. The in-film rock music score is always louder than the dialogue. The stereo effects are OK, but they don't come into play often enough.
Extras
The Damned DVD only has a few extras. There is a reel of OUTTAKES (8 minutes). The DVD includes a TRAILER for the movie, letterboxed at 1.78:1, but again, not 16 x 9. The final extras are four PHOTO GALLERIES, one of which is general with the other three focusing on specific actors.
The word "damned" can refer to someone who has been condemned to hell or someone who is in danger of being condemned to hell. As someone who has seen way too many low-budget vampire movies, when referring to The Damned, I use the vernacular of my father and say, "I'm never watching that damned movie again!"
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