The Breed (2001)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The Breed is one those strange grey area films where you either like all of it, like some of it or hate it for taking up film. Me, I am sort of on the middle ground.If you are a fan of the romantic vampire stuff, this film is not really for you. But if you like vampire stories with a strange sci-fi edge, you might get a kick out of it, especially if you are into vampire and sci-fi literature. They use a lot of name dropping of famous vamps from literature and it has an over all Gothic-steam punk feel to it and pays homage to 1984 and the old film Nosferatu, rather than Dracula.It also serves as a buddy film/cop film as well an odd couple fish out of water sort of story. Adrian Paul and Bookem Woodbine are really strange casting choices but considering how weird the film really is, it works for me.This film also echoes another dystopian film called Perfect Creature and goes a step further with a sort of campy over top art house vibe. Take a look at this film with an open mind. It is not a great vampire film and it is not a great sci-fi film but it is entertaining if you just relax and let it be what it is: Weirdly Satisfying.

It's a great movie. Bai Ling and Adrian Paul deserve huge amounts of credit for maintaining their roles and carrying the miasma of authoritarian Gothic goodness while that idiot Bokeem Woodbine savages every line he has, fails to even swear in an appropriate or at least believable manner and basically attempts to single-handedly ruin the movie. His performance is atrocious.That said, the movie is quite good. It has a cold war/Eastern Bloc/orwellian vibe with hints of art deco and the 40s thrown in as well. the plot is interesting and fairly innovative.Anyone who is a fan of films like blade runner, citizen X, etc would do well to check this out as well as any mainstream horror fans. Don't let Bokeem get in the way its definitely worth a view. For an extra treat rent or buy the DVD and check out the audio commentaries.

Sometimes with cheap budget films, you can see what they might have been- and that can be both good and bad. Bad, because you can see that more money = better special effects/ more actor motivation. Good, because you can see some qualities in the film, that while rather charming in this version, would be crap in a big budget film. The Breed falls into this section.The acting is about what you'd expect, and the storyline the same, but what really, really made me actually enjoy this film for the time I watched it, was the sets. They were incredibly reminiscent of the Second World War- the propaganda posters on the walls, the typewriters, the big grey buildings all of it combined to make an atmosphere which managed to meld times totally.Definitely worth the time spent watching it- it doesn't pretend to be a masterpiece, and it's all the the better for it.

I found it to be very Kim Newman-esquire in its approach to vampirism. It was likable, despite the painfully wooden acting. The scenery and costumes were heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and the Dr. Strangelove/1984 atmosphere was incredibly cool. However I still have to wonder how the main girl vampire managed to run around with those whacking great collars on her...And exactly what the heating bill was on her Gothic Mansion (tm). And I did love the fact that they used Buda-Pesth as their setting...The club was also cool, and slightly more fetish-y than other vampire movies like Blade...The dynamic between vamp cop and meat cop was quite good, still the same people from opposite sides aiming for the same goal while not quite trusting each other thing, but it made for some passable character development. And did I mention the supersharp 40s-style suit that the vamp cop gets to wear? Like I said, the costumes were gorgeous and well put together. The dialogue was a scream, but I'm sure it wasn't meant to be. "Cut the Anne Rice act!" From the lips of a vampire girl who I'm sure I've seen in gaming books, in fact, most of the main vamp characters seem to be based in the Masquerade vamp-style, running from fetish cyberpunk to nosferatu. The random acts of vampire motion were misplaced too. Stopping during a chase and twitching madly may look cool, but most viewers are going to be wondering WTF is going on. And the actor vamp is just the funniest thing alive...Or not quite so, as the case may be. And the handgrenade made me laugh, but that may just be my sense of humour.