"Twilight", headed by director Catherine Hardwicke ("the Nativity Story", "Thirteen"), had a generally low budget, was picked up by a barely-known production studio (Summit) and had a cast of mainly dark horse actors. It's story is based on the best-selling novel, in which a teenage girl falls in love with a vampire.

Plot

    The plot of "Twilight" is a bit heavy to handle. The audience is met with a whole new way of seeing vampires (no more garlic and coffins). Most of the specifics are too quickly explained in the film to be understood by those new to the series, so I would suggest going with someone who is familiar with the story.

The storyline moves at an incredibly slow pace, a great development tool that has sadly been neglected by modern cinema. The exposition is shot much like a normal movie, so that it doesn't even seem as though you're watching a fantasy tale. Once the vampires are introduced, the story then steadily begins to evolve.

Acting

    Kristen Stewart ("Into the Wild") plays Bella Swan, the heroine and narrator of the story. Stewart does well in depicting this level-headed, yet clumsy teenage girl. Unlike many of today's actresses, she knows how to be modest, smart, and yet somehow humanly flawed at the same time. She is a true insight to the modern teenager in the midst of a thousand incorrect stereotypes.

    Robert Pattinson ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") does an excellent job in displaying the dark, confused soul of Edward Cullen. As much of the film was based on close-ups, it was important that his facial expressions properly showed what he was thinking. He gives a great performance of one who is lusting to kill, yet is struggling against his instincts to protect the one he loves. Where Pattinson lacks, however, is in his ability to do action work. The faster-paced sequences near the end seemed someone unnatural and forced. This aspect could have been improved, perhaps, with more training for these scenes.

    More notable performances include Billy Burke, who is perfect as Bella's lonesome, police chief father, as well as Tyler Lautner as Jacob Black, an optimistic teen from the nearby reservation who has some secrets to share. Peter Facinelli fits into the role of Dr. Carslile Cullen, Edward's concerned, yet charismatic father.

Editing

    Editing was spectacular, especially when juggling so many close-up shots among establishing and movement shots. The credits also add a great end to the film, collaging the film's best moments in an artistic manner.

Special Effects

    The special effects were adequate at best. Some of the tree-jumping and quickened running didn't look realistic at all. The baseball scene, however, managed to push away most of these problems with a much clearer arrangement of shots. The film's climax is well-coordinated as well, and it seems as though most of the film's special effects budget was saved for this one scene. These shots would also seem more difficult to film, since it takes place in a room full of mirrors. It would be very difficult to avoid getting your own camera's reflection in a shot.

What makes it unique

    The most important aspect of this film is that it gives an honest, un-"Hollywood"ized look at the American teenager in the form of modest Bella Swan. It also concentrates on the idea of the battle against one's inner demons, which is always a fascinating subject to observe. Look deep enough, and you can find a lot of psychology in this film.

Overall

    Though "Twilight" is far from a perfect movie, it should be appreciated for its artful storytelling and intriguing characters. It should not be dismissed as an average teenage film, or a 'chick-flick'... in fact, it's a very difficult film to place in any particular genre. See it, and you'll understand.

Two major clues in writing any horror film, have suspence and more importantly have characters that you can believe in. The three men are traveling form one HOSTEL to another and they all did a great job in acting, I least they knew how to act. It started to fall apart as soon the main villian came in.

Rule number three, never ever show the killers face. It ruins the plot and the film, I noticed it right off the bat when the creep touched the youths lap. He got a charge out of it and that's what he wanted to happen.

When the three got to the last Hostel, things started to pick up even more. The faceless man, that looked like Dr. Giggles and you can tell it was about torture. Torture in my eye doesn't even go down to horror level, it's just plain wrong and sick but you could tell that it was fake looking all at the same time.

The guy that had a  daughter disappears from sight which was a good thing. The second of the group is taken and tortured to death which was entertaining but unnessary, you don't even need to see blood and guts to watch a horror unless your into gore horror.

The last guy is finally taken and he learns that his friends were killed by people that used to be doctors or never made it passed the bar. which was a dead give away. I can say for one thing, it had least had a good climate but the horror or thriller aspect was lasking.

In the next installment since I found out last month that there is suspose to be a sequel. Play it right and make sure it's up to spar before it's released. On the front of the cover it says it's the scariest movie in a decade. Untrue but at least I watched a good film that I did like, Eli just make sure there's the thriller aspect in there next time.

Starring:  Vincent Price

Running Time: 86 minutes

Release Date:  March 8, 1964

Based on the novel, I am Legend that was hereafter adapted into two other films by the name of Omega Man starring Charlton Heston and the more familiar, I am Legend starring Will Smith as Robert Neville.  The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price, is entertaining for a number of reasons.  These also serve as reasons why the film is... not very good.  First and foremost, a synopsis:

Robert Neville is a lonely man, and as far as he knows, he is the last human man left.  He begins his day preparing large wooden stakes that he then uses to plunge through the hearts of those who are "infected."  The infected cannot withstand the rays of the sun, and although they also display aversions to garlic and their reflection in the mirror, these are said to be merely psychological.  Lastly, they must drink fresh blood.  According to Wikipedia, this is the first time a film has attempted to use scientific reasons for vampirism.

For whatever reason, Robert Neville--our antihero--has not been affected by the disease.  What did he do that was different?  Wifeless and childless, Robert Neville has lost most of his hope for mankind--and most of his sanity.  This is until he happens upon a lone woman walking around during the day.

Alright, the downsides of this movie...  Vincent Price does well in roles that have a mysterious air about them.  He does not, however, do very well traipsing around plunging stakes into the hearts of vampires.  He just isn't... manly enough.  His movements throughout the film are vaguely effeminate and thus, unconvincing.  Every night, he waits for the vampires to come to his door.  They throw things at his house, hoping to break his fortress and charge inside--they even yell things at him:  "We're gonna get you," they say menacingly...  Needless to say, these vampires aren't very charismatic.

Nosferatu: Symphony of Horrors (1922)

This was the first vampire film I ever saw, and as a teen, it creeped me out. The film is a classic as far as vampire movies go. Nosferatu is a Slavonic word meaning plague carrier. By all accounts, this film uses the terminology as a reference to Count Orlok, the vampire of the film. Played by Max Schreck, Nosferatu is a haunting figure. While he is to be reviled, at times one can't help but to feel pity. Unlike the handsome, charismatic portrayals of most men in vampire movies, Schrek's Nosferatu is the kind of vampire you'd want to cower in front of. It is a must see if you're an avid vampire lover.

Dracula (1931)

Bela Lugosi. Enough said. He paved the way for future vampires, and he did a splendid job. The movie was originally based on the Broadway play adapted from Bram Stoker's book. Lugosi is charming, whilst eerie at the same time. The use of shadows helps to set the mood of the film. Also, the characterization of Renfield is sublime. Dwight Frye who plays Renfield puts the crazy in his character. While the film is campy at times, there are those moments that are quite creepy.

The Lost Boys (1987)

One of my favorites as a kid. Put a bunch of good looking guys in a movie, and you have my undivided attention. Two teenage sons move to California with their divorced mom, only to find vampires inhabit the city. You have to love Corey Feldman's trash-talking character. Kiefer Sutherland plays a remarkable , charismatic vampire, that is a trademark signature for these kind of roles. The movie is smart and funny as far as vampire movies go, and has easily become a cult classic.

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

While this movie is epic in the portrayal of vampire characters, I must say Kirsten Dunst's portrayal is what did it for me. A child vampire throwing a tantrum is quite a site to behold. With Louis and Lestat acting as father figures for the perpetual child-like Claudia, they put the dysfunction in dysfunctional. The story is told through Louis, recounting 200 years of love, death, betrayal, and the curse that it is to be a vampire.

30 Days of Night

I must admit, the acting was hard to get into. But it's a horror movie, so what can you expect? It's the idea of the plot that plays psychologically with your mind. Imagine being trapped in the middle of nowhere (Barrow, Alaska) during a period where the sun will not emerge from darkness for 30 days. Throw in some psychotic vampires, and you have what nightmares are made of. The vampire dialogue is hilarious when listening to their guttural discourse, and the gore is just out there. Nevertheless, it is entertaining at times.

Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)

I love anime. And as far as anime goes, this film is awesome. Saya, who herself is a vampire, is the last of her kind. Trapped in the everlasting body of a 16 year-old, she's a sword-wielding, demon-killer who works for the U.S. government. Nothing is said of her background (why she became a vampire), but it doesn't matter because the viewer becomes enraptured with the quality of techniques used in this animation film.

Near Dark (1987)

Oh the dilemma of becoming a vampire. Caleb is young man who is seduced by the “gentle” vampire Mae. Of course she bites him, and then Caleb is forced to learn how to kill, yet he can't find will to do it. And Bill Pullman's performance as Severen is notable. The film revolves around Caleb's transformation, and his choice of living with the undead or his family.

Don't get me wrong, I can be brave when I have to. But lately, well, I just haven't been able to sleep. At every little creak, every little bump, I sit up in terror, fearing the worst (hordes of the undead perhaps, or maybe just a maniac wielding a chainsaw). Sometimes it can take me until 3am to drop off, clutching a baseball bat tightly and hiding under the covers.

I suppose, if I was a kid, this kind of behaviour would be perfectly normal. And I'm not a kid, but it is perfectly normal- for someone who watches far too many horror films. When I was little, my mother, knowing my somewhat jittery disposition, didn't allow me to see any films remotely scary. So I didn't even watch "Drop Dead Fred" until I was 15!. That was a film that my peers were all obsessed with at the time: it involved an irritating imaginary friend causing havoc for the girl who imagined him. Luckily, I never had a malignant ginger doll, like Chucky, in "Child"s Play.

Most evenings, I'll be sitting in a darkened room, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. There'll be a horror movie in the DVD player, and even the odd shriek if there's a shocking moment. A couple of days ago, I watched "Audition", in which a lonely widower takes on more than he bargained for when picking up women via an audition system. The girl he succeeds in pulling is beautiful and cute, so it comes as a terrible shock when we realise she's a deranged murderer, and what she keeps in that sack. That night, I dreamt of rolling sacks.

At the time, I enjoy the thrills and the scares, and climb up to bed contented that I've watched a good film. But not long after I've switched off the light and closed my eyes, I start to imagine I can hear the moaning of a ghost, the groaning of a zombie or the harsh scream of a chainsaw, (I really did hear a chainsaw the other night, and I'm not quite sure why someone was chopping up bodies- ahem, I mean trees, at 2am, but there you go).

Currently, one of the main horrific foes I fear is the zombie. This is because I have recently been rectifying a deficit in my life of zombie films, and have been watching all the classics, sometimes several a night. At first, I lay curled in bed at night, wondering how on earth I would be able to stave off the zombs, but soon, I started formulating plans, and weighing them up in my mind: should I hide in the house, but destroy the stairs so they couldn't climb up to me? Or just find a shack in the woods? Shacks always seem to prove fatal, though (see "Evil Dead", and "Night of the Living Dead".) Or should I move in to the nearest supermarket or shopping centre? At least there would be plenty of food for me to eat, but it could all go horribly wrong when the looters arrived on their motorbikes ('Dawn of the Dead'). A better option might be to find a well-defended castle and hole up in there. I'd just have to hope the zombies would eventually fall to bits.

Of course, in the event of a virus that causes widespread anger-management problems, like in "28 Days Later", the zombies wouldn't be the only ones with serious issues. Fast moving monsters like these would surely be too quick for me. Similarly, the creatures in the remake of "Day of the Dead" are just too fast for their own good. At least with the traditional shambling undead, if I just walked at a fast pace, I could still leave them behind.

 

Even when sprinting, at least zombies aren't too bright. Even a 2 year old could outwit most examples. Vampires are a far more dangerous form of the undead, with the intelligence to hunt their victims down.

It seems that whichever horrible monster attacks me, I won't know what to do. There doesn't really seem to be a solution, so here I wait, at the top of the stairs, clutching my broken chair leg. Waiting for them to come.

The film is based on the graphic novel written by Steven Niles and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, which some say helped revive the horror comics genre. Set in the town of Barrow, Alaska, the story takes place when the area is entering the time of year where, due to their location, the sun sets and is not seen again for thirty days straight. But right before that final sunset, a series of bizarre crimes occur satellite phones are found destroyed, and dogs are found slaughtered. And a bizarre stranger causing trouble is arrested, spouting words of doom that seem like crazy talk. But it turns out to be anything but talk, as a group of vampires descend upon Barrow to take advantage of the month-long period of night to feast on the blood of the remaining inhabitants. Now a small group of survivors, including Sheriff Eben Oleson and his estranged wife, Stella, must struggle to hide and survive until the sun comes back up.

This has to be, without a doubt, one of the most original ideas for a vampire story ever done. Why wouldn't a group of bloodsuckers take advantage of not only a small town's far-out-of-the-way location, but also of the month-long period of darkness where they can run free and kill without having to watch for sunrise? You could say its one of those stories where you're surprised no one else thought of it before. Original writer Niles pulled it off quite well in his original comic, and manages to do it again for the screen version. All the great elements of horror are there, from the emotional drama of the surviving humans trying to hide and survive to the shock moments when the vampires show up when you least expect them.

One great new twist is the relationship between Eben and Stella, played by Josh Hartnett and Melissa George, respectively. The film has them separated and forced to be in the same place together when Stella misses her flight out of town before the sun sets. This helps add to the dramatic tension, as they go from not willing to speak to each other to realizing how much they still for one another as things start going to hell. Every good story, horror or otherwise, needs an element like this, and 30 Days of Night pulls it off quite well.

But probably the best element of the movie is, of course, the vampires. These guys aren't the suave, sophisticated types you'd find in Dracula or an Anne Rice novel. These guys are real monsters, killing without remorse and even toying with the townsfolk at certain points. They don't even bother to look human, being all pale with their fangs and claws out for all to see and even letting their faces remaining covered with blood after feasting. They don't even bother speaking in English throughout the whole film, which is clever as it shows their contempt for humanity. Differences from classic vamps aside, there is a reference to Dracula in terms of the stranger who appears and, no surprise, turns to be helping the vampires in hopes of being rewarded, but what good vampire tale doesn't have an homage or two to the greatest one of them all?

All in all, this is a great film, one to enjoy for both comic fans and horror fans. And if you're both like me, all the more better.

I've always had a curiosity about the world of fantasy and I was always deeply immersed in watching TV shows and movies about the undead as well as the upbeat side of the world of the superhero.

But for some strange reason I never understood, even though I had over 1,500 comic books, I never built up a single superhero model, even though they existed, and I only built up models of monsters, like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. This cycle was only broken a short time ago, when I bought a model of Captain America, a famous Marvel Comics© superhero.

One of my favorite monster magazines was Famous Monsters of Filmland. Famous Monsters featured reviews and commentary on many monster movies and I drooled over the magazine every time I could find an issue of the magazine, as distribution where I grew up in Long Island, NY was very sporadic. It was a very slick publication and had really great photographs and lucid reviews.

Famous Monsters introduced me to the world behind the production of the movies too. How creative teams worked on the movies, and who did the special effects makeup - like Jack Pierce (Frankenstein) and the Westmore family (The Creature from the Black Lagoon by Bud and Star Trek, The Munsters and Star Trek by Mike) and similar topics were explored in the pieces in the magazine.

The magazines I read and the movies I watched motivated me to stage a Frankenstein play when I was very young boy, between 6 to 8 years old, while I was living in Canarsie, Brooklyn, NY and that was over 40 years ago. I wanted to play the monster but they made me the good doctor and I was murdered. It sort of is the story of my life.

At this point in time I bought Collosus Rex who was one of the Colorforms© aliens. He was muscular outer space man from the planet Jupiter and this presaged my becoming a weightlifter later on. In addition to this, I also bought the Scorpio action figure from the Major Matt Mason © astronaut series.

Since then I have delved into horror and science fiction books, magazines and movies with a passion for understanding what makes a quality media piece in that genre. Generally speaking, I think that the older movies and shows were better than the recent offerings.

I know a number of independent movie producers like Warren Disbrow and Brian Coposky. I actually hired them to do molds and make masks for me as well as hiring Mark Alfrey as mentioned later on in this piece.

To be sure, Famous Monsters was not the only horror magazine I ever read. I also read The Monster Times and saw issues of Monster World, and I remember picking a magazine off a street one day when I was a little boy that featured Hammer Films© versions of Dracula and The Daughter of Dracula. I was horrified by the overt portrayal of blood sucking demons, killing weak human beings in their quest for a perverted form of eternal life.

I had a love/hate relationship with these magazines. I was both repulsed by and attracted to these movies and shows. I couldn't understand my feelings towards this genre of literature and media. I had friends who were also involved with these movies and we all shared a common interest in understanding what made our attraction to these magazines tick, so to speak in the common vernacular.

Psychologists and psychiatrists claim that people who engage in watching these movies are usually children who are trying to work out the issue of their mortality. Watching shows in this genre help children to cope with the idea that one day they will pass on and there's a heavy concentration on the idea that death is not final. In that regard, these shows have a sort of cult, religious type of orientation.

For example, psychologists claim that the radioactive, fire-breathing dragon, a mutant tyrannosaurus, stegosaurus hybrid, Godzilla, is actually a psychological attempt by the Japanese to deal with the after effects of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The carnage those bombs produced became incarnate flesh and blood in a nigh invincible entity, an engine of devastation that was eventually killed by a weapon called the oxygen destroyer. Needless to say, the A-bombs did their damage to Japan and were not stopped by that country.

Godzilla never really died because based on the second series, there was a second Godzilla (aka, Gigantis the Fire Monster) who had a run in over 20 movies after the first Godzilla was killed. And I make rubber masks for a hobby and Godzilla is one of my favorite topics to sculpt. I made him for my nephew years ago.

The monsters fascinated me because, just like superheroes, they were physically superior and stronger than normal mortals. In fact, in one Godzilla comic book produced by Marvel Comics©, the Norse God of Thunder, Thor fought the monster Godzilla and prevailed calling upon his Godly might. Thor prevented Godzilla from knocking over a skyscraper with only one hand.

As per the monsters, Dracula supposedly had the strength of 10 men according to one review I read in Famous Monsters years ago and similarly Frankenstein had double that strength and Frankenstein fought the Wolfman in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.

I always enjoyed watching the monsters fight each other more than just watching humans fight them. Humans can't battle monsters and demons using physical strength. The humans have to call upon spiritual might to battle the monsters or at least good detective work and good weapons coupled with a lot of resolve to survive. The Dracula

and Terminator movies portray the latter very well.

Of all the monsters, the one I identified with the most was the Wolfman, played by Lon Chaney Jr., and it was a Universal Studios©, from Hollywood, CA movie. The very first mask I ever made was a werewolf mask. The Wolfman movie featured a cursed man, named Larry Talbot, who killed a werewolf. The werewolf Larry Talbot fought bit him and infected him with the werewolf curse.

There was a poem in the Wolfman movie that went like this:

Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night,

Can become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

My own life wasn't easy even as a child. I was in conflict with many of my classmates over certain religious differences and I was one of the weakest children in the grade because my family stressed scholarship and not physical prowess.

One of my early fantasies was that I owned Godzilla as pet and he defended me against my bullies. There is actually a movie called Godzilla's Revenge wherein a little boy named Ichiro befriends the Son of Godzilla, aka Minya, Tadzilla or Minira. It's too bad I'm not Japanese because my fantasy actually predated that movie or was invented around the time of that movie.

Eventually, when I was 10, I took up weight lifting and in a few years I became one of the strongest children in my grade. I tried to become like my favorite superheroes.

Still, it's worthy to note monster models were my fascination and I built up models made by Aurora. Back in the late 1960's and early 1970's I had all 12 of the Aurora monster models. I even remember all of the monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, King Kong, Godzilla, the Forgotten Prisoner of Castlemare, the Witch, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Aurora discontinued their Bride of Frankenstein kit at the time I was collecting these kits, but I'm currently looking for it as it was reissued recently. I'll probably build it up and give it away. In the old days, I used to horde all my possessions but in my old age I just do it for the fun of it and try to give the joy to other people.

Back over 30 years ago the kits came with two sets of heads and hands. The first set was the regular type of part and the second was glow in the dark. I used the glow parts on my models.

I used to do something really crazy with the Godzilla heads. The glow head I'd put on the built up model but I'd shoot underarm deodorant through the neck of the regular head and I'd light the deodorant after it came out of the mouth, simulating the monster's fire-breathing, radioactive breath. I'm lucky I didn't blow myself up! It's not funny, I could have.

As a side note, my bedroom used to glow in the dark for about an hour after I turned my lights out at night due to all the glow parts on those monster models. I really used to get a kick out of all of this.

One day, my mother got tired of all of these aberrations of nature and demons from the fire pits of Hell. She threw them all out without warning. It's too bad because they are actually worth a pretty penny these days.

One of my friends from my elementary school days and I used to play Dracula vs. Dr. Van Helsing all the time. My friend and I used to switch off which roles we'd play. We used to always argue as to whether or not flashlights warded off Dracula. It was slanted. If I had the flashlight it worked and if my friend had the flashlight it didn't.

In the movies the good doctor and his descendents were the sworn enemies of the demon, Dracula, and they killed him every time he was resurrected and became undead again. But it is hard to keep a good demon down.

We also used to watch Dark Shadows and read Dark Shadows books, which were about a vampire named Barnabas Collins who lived in England, and the show featured werewolves, vampires and witches and other assorted types of monsters. My friend gave me a whole bunch of Dark Shadows books. All of this was back in the 1960's.

One day, my family adopted our German shepherd as a watchdog. His name was Zeus and he eventually became very large and powerful. The weekend we adopted him, on Friday night, there was a monster movie time slot called ”Fright Night” and they played Daughter of Dracula. There were wolves howling in the movie and my little puppy Zeus was howling right along with them. It was very comical.

My family used to also watch The Munsters, which featured a family of monster parodies. Herman was the Frankenstein Monster, Grandpa was Dracula, Lilly was Dracula's daughter and Eddie was the wolf boy. I always got a kick out of the show and its gallows humor. As a side note, I was at a car show some years ago that had the Munster Coach vehicle in the show. It was kept in good condition many years later.

One year around 1990, I bought a horror/sci-fi magazine called Fangoria and I saw an ad by David Ayres (he worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind) about learning how to make rubber masks as I mentioned earlier in this piece. I started learning this craft but it became obvious to me that I would never attain the skill to make a top-notch mask.

I went to a horror convention called Chiller Theatre, named after the old horror movie time slot of many years ago, around 1992 and met Warren Disbrow, John Dods and Brian Coposky and I contracted with Brian to do a life cast of my head. Brian dragged his friend Mark Alfrey into the deal and Mark led the life casting session.

Later on, I went to Mark's apartment in John's complex (I bought some items from John - he worked on Beauty and the Beast, Cats and the Monsters TV show) and saw all the fantastic sculpts that he did and I decided to have him design a line of masks for me.

I called the line, The Twilight Delights Legion of the Undead and my favorite mask, a werewolf skull, was named after my beloved dog Princess.

One of my former therapists noted that I had been dealing with the other side for a long period of time. He seemed to have a respect for my involvement with the dark side. And I wanted to capitalize on it. I found a struggling and starving artist in Mark Alfrey and I wanted to become a patron of this art and craft. I'm still working on it.

If you see Mark's Website you will see how he sculpted demons, vampires, aliens, mutants and similar themes for TV shows like Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Babylon 5, etc. Just look at the amazing talent of this man and recently he “graduated” from horror and is working doing bronze sculptures.

More recently, I have watched shows like Hercules, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed all of which featured a variety of monsters and supernatural beings like witches. I never lost my fascination with this genre and I'm not the only one. It seems that quite a few baby boomers watch these shows too.

So to wrap up, I'd like to say that watching monster movies and TV shows is healthy for people of all ages, and I still have a few Godzilla movies in my apartment. I find all of this to be relevant, even in my old age and I hope I adequately covered why people watch these types of shows.

Based on Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko's novel of the same name, the film only tells a small part of that original story, but director Timur Bekmambetov takes this small part and does amazing things with it. The movie is a true epic.

The Light Other and Dark Others, humans who possess all manner of supernatural abilities, maintain a centuries old stalemate for the sole reason that both sides are too equally matched. The two groups met in battle once before and it nearly resulted in the total destruction of all those of the Light and the Dark. Gesser, Lord of Light and Zavulon, Lord of Dark realized that the only way to preserve the lives of all Others was to create the Truce, which abides to this day and age.

As per the agreement, if a person should discover that they wield the powers of the Other they cannot be forced to choose Good or Evil. They must come to this decision of their own free will. This is how the central and pivotal character of Anton Gorodetsky is introduced.

Back in 1992 young Anton pays a visit to an old woman who is a witch. A woman he had been seeing and who is now pregnant has recently left him for another man. Anton asks the witch to enact a spell that will kill the developing fetus in the young lady's womb and induce her to leave this new man. The old woman appeals to him to consider the implications of what he wants but he tells her to go ahead with it anyway. But before she can complete the spell a team of Light Others intercedes and arrests her.

In the ensuing struggle a strange thing happens to Anton. He seems to slip into another dimension where he witnesses the Light Others engaged in supernatural combat with the witch. The stress of the situation has activated the powers of the Other in Anton.

Jumping forward to 2004, Anton is now a pitiful drunk living in a small, filthy apartment and working for the Light Side as a tracker. He receives a call to locate a young boy who has been psychically lured away from a public pool by a pair of vampires. He manages to find and rescue the boy, Yegor, but one of the vampires is killed in the process. And from this one simple incident Anton sets in motion events that will lead to a catastrophic confrontation between Light and Dark once again.

There is a prophesy that has existed since the precepts of the Truce were laid down that day will come when an Other more powerful than any before will appear and, should this one choose Light or Dark, will shift the balance of power forever.

There are many brilliant camera and visual effects throughout the film, such as some neat tricks done with subtitles and there are very good-looking and plentiful, but not excessive, CG effects. Some of the most interesting effects sequences in the movie feature the Gloom, another realm that the Others are able to slip in and out of at will which allows them to vanish seemingly into thin air and pas through walls and locked doors. This is the place into which Anton shifted when he became an Other. The Gloom is a living thing that can consume those who spend too much time within it.

Even in the midst of all of these outlandish and occasionally gruesome proceedings there is an important message to be found. The original novel and, by extension, the film are very concerned about the nature and quality of Good and Evil and ask the viewer to keep in mind that those who are quick to rally to the side of so-called Good are not always as moral as they claim, nor are those who are labeled Evil always as corrupt as they seem.