Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Sep 22, 2008, 14:53 GMT

Bruce Campbell co-stars with David Carradine in a terrifying tale of bloodthirsty horror. The townsfolk of Purgatory are mean and ornery for one very good reason-they\'re vampires! Hidden away in their secret community, the come out at night and feast with gusto! Now the Harrisons, an unsuspecting family from "outside" have ventured into Purgatory. Count Margulak, the ruler of the vampires, has ended their tradition of human bloodletting. Now the ...more

Director Anthony Hickox was riding high after the success of Waxwork.  He decided to follow it with this modern day Vampire western.  Fate had other plans in store as Vestron went under and it put a stake in the film’s heart.  Home video rediscovered it but in horrible pan and scan copies, but this DVD presents it in all its widescreen glory.

David Harrison (Jim Metzler) and his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) along with their two daughters are on their way to the small western town of Purgatory.  David has invented a machine that produces artificial blood.  His old lab assistant Shane (Maxwell Caulfield) is having trouble keeping the machine working so he’s called David in to diagnosis the problem. 

The town is lorded over by Count Mardulak (David Carradine) who owns it.  Why would such a small, isolated town need a machine that produced artificial plasma?  The town is populated with vampires, unknown to David’s family.  Mardulak brought them all together so that they could integrate and coexist with humanity and drinking artificial blood is one of the trade offs.

However, not all of the vampires are happy with the artificial stuff and want to go back to their bloodthirsty ways.  Ethan Jefferson (John Ireland) is secretly staging a coup to overthrown Mardulak and the Harrison’s are caught in the middle of a war.  Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell), a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, also saunters into town looking for a certain vampire king.  What David doesn’t know is that Shane has ulterior motives for getting Sarah into Purgatory.  

Anthony Hickox had a hit on home video with his wacky genre tribute Waxwork.  High hopes were had for his follow-up feature.  Hickox decided to head out to Moab, Utah to shoot this tale of vampires trying to reconnect with their humanity.  The problem was that the company that was going to distribute the film went belly up and the film got an extremely limited release. 

The film did make it to home video, but it was basically butchered in pan and scan.  In the commentary, they basically say it was even haphazardly panned and scanned.  Usually the image will move from one side or the other as characters talk, but the VHS release was basically locked in the middle and in some scenes you had two noses talking to each other. 

This new DVD finally rectifies the VHS atrocity.  Hickox knows how to work a low budget and he’s made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  Not that some of the sets don’t seem like they’ll fall down at the lightest touch mind you.  It’s with the actors that he excels.  John Ireland seems to be having a grand old time as well as Campbell, Carradine, M. Emmet Walsh, and a host of character actors.  

Sundown is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include a commentary with director Anthony Hickox, director of photography Levie Isaacks with DVD producer Michael Felscher moderating.  Next is the 13-minute “A Vampire Reformed” which is an interview with star David Carradine. 

The 13-minute “Memories of Moab” sits down with Bruce Campbell and the 11-minute “A True Character” talks with M. Emmett Walsh.  There’s also a 6-minute photo gallery (with music from the film) and previews of other Lionsgate films.  

One of the joys of DVD has been the ability for some long forgotten or well-loved genre films to finally get a modicum of respect.  Sundown gets its due and has some excellent special features and finally gets to be seen as the director intended.  No talking noses this time.  

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.