"The Forsaken" Lacks Horror, Stakes and Entertainment Value

Screen Gems' "The Forsaken" takes the grittiness of Quentin Tarantino's "From Dusk Til Dawn" and puts a modern day twist to the mythological facts behind vampires. In "The Forsaken," there are no fangs, no garlic and no stakes-- and consequently, no suspense.

"The Forsaken" focuses on two WB stars, "Dawson's Creek"'s Kerr Smith as Sean and "Roswell"'s Brendan Fehr as Nick, as they travel cross-country to Sean's sister's wedding... or at least that is what Sean thinks.

What Sean doesn't know is that Nick isn't just an innocent hitchhiker Sean picked during the road trip, Nick is a hunter (think chosen one "Buffy" fans) out for the blood of the vampire who bit him awhile back. By taking a certain pill, Nick is able to postpone his transformation from human to vampire, but with time the pills power weakens. In order to remain human, Nick must kill the vampire who bit him before the pills stop working. Now, it's the good vampire against the bad ones with Sean trapped in the middle-- will he be able to help Nick out or will he be the next bloodshed?

As bland and unoriginal as the plotline is, the acting is even worse. Smith is practically unemotional during his scenes, despite the fact that he should be an emotional wreck. His performance, alongside an equally weak performance by Fehr, brings little suspense to the film, and actually makes viewers want to cheer for the villains since the only enjoyable performances come from Jonathon Schaech and Simon Rex's characters.

Jonathon Schaech and Simon Rex show audiences that they have come along way since their days working on "Poison Ivy 2" and MTV. Schaech is absolutely creepy as the leader of the vampire gang Kit, yet still maintains enough human qualities that one can easily see why so many teenaged girls fall under his spell. Granted he is no Dracula, but Schaech does the best with the script he was given and demonstrates a lot of hidden talent in the process. Rex, on the other hand, provides the comic relief needed in the film marvelously and entertains viewers to the best he can. Besides being just the comedic sidekick, however, Rex also plays the only human member of Kit's vampire gang, offering viewers just enough emotional distress that they can understand why he is submitting himself to Kit's demands. Rex shows the audience how far one will go to be accepted in a group of any sort, and his character is the only one in the film audiences may be able to relate to.

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