I’ve long had a rather dismissive attitude towards 1989 movie Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, a film that never struck me as a wildly attractive proposition. I’d managed to miss it as festival screenings and although I thought that I had subsequently seen it, rewatching the film proved otherwise (God only knows what film I’ve been confusing it with…). It’s not the most attractive proposition on paper – a comedy-horror-western with a title that is best described as ‘clumsy’ isn’t something that I’d go out of my way to see and I was even reluctant to check out the new Blu-ray.
So inevitably, Sundown turned out to be a LOT better than I could’ve possibly expected. I’m not going to say that this is a lost classic or unsung masterpiece because clearly, that’s not the case – but it’s a lot better than you might expect and while ultimately a bit of fluff rather than a memorable work of substance, Anthony Hickox’s film is unexpectedly great fun.
Sundown takes place in the town of Purgatory, a small community in the middle of the desert that is entirely populated by vampires. Under the leadership of Count Mardulak (David Carradine), they are attempting to assimilate themselves into the real world – factor 100 sunblock and UV lighting, artificial blood and the façade of normality has given the persecuted bloodsuckers a degree of safety as they prepare to re-enter society and live alongside the humans. But habits and addictions die hard and a disgruntled rebellion, led by Ethan Jefferson (John Ireland) is plotting to overthrow Mardulak and return to the old ways. Into this tense world comes a steady stream of outsiders – the designer of their artificial blood plant and his family, some passing tourists and Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell), who is carrying on the family tradition of hunting down vampires. In the case of the latter, his mission is somewhat complicated by the romantic attentions of vampire waitress Sandy (Deborah Foreman), while for David Harrison (Jim Metzler) and family, his seemingly simple task of fixing the synthetic blood machine is complicated by the presence of Shane Dennis (Maxwell Caulfield), a former love and work rival who is intent on winning back David’s wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) by vampirising her.
It sounds like a lot is going on in Sundown, and indeed there are several plot strands at work. But everything ties together nicely within the main ‘vampire civil war’ plot, each individual strand connecting with the main narrative. A lot of films with multiple sub-plots struggle to both balance the various characters and finally connect the stories – how often do we see films where seemingly important side stories simply fizzle out? That’s not the case here and everything reaches a satisfactory climax where no characters are simply forgotten about. Similarly, the film manages – just about – to balance its varying styles. This is, after all, a modern day western, a vampire movie, an action film and a comedy, and making those things mesh together is a tall order. The film is helped by its contemporary setting – there’s a long tradition of the vampire western but it is not a particularly noble one, having more misses than hits. Sundown works because it isn’t restricted by the tropes of the western – it can pick and choose which elements to play with and generally, Hickox and co-writer John Burgess make the right choices. Most significantly, this includes a remarkable and epic score by Richard Stone that very much plays on the great western movie tradition and makes the film seem much bigger than it otherwise might. This, and the vast landscapes that form a backdrop to the story which Hickox uses to great effect give this film a grand scale that is unusual in a horror movie. This is one of the few vampire films to take place primarily in the daytime and it works well.
As you’ve probably already noticed, the film has a cast dripping with cult icons – alongside Carradine, Campbell and Scream Queen Foreman, there are appearances from M. Emmett Walsh, Dana Ashbrook from Twin Peaks and Thundercrack’s Marion Eaton. Performances vary – Campbell is a bit too broadly comic at times for my taste, his Van Helsing being a goofy buffoon who seems a bit much. Carradine – who by all accounts was drunk throughout – offers a restrained but oddly effective performance as the vampire leader (whose true identity you will guess immediately) and Caulfield is impressively slimy and loathsome as the smug Shane – you will judge Sarah somewhat for having ever slept with him, because he was no doubt just as awful when human.
The film is unexpectedly light on gore – an early beheading and a few blood squibs are about the height of it and that actually feels like a good thing – the overall lightness of the film does not demand excessive splatter. There are some hilariously cheesy talking bats – both stop-motion and puppets – that would have scuppered a more serious film but here seem part of the fun. In fact, the film positively revels in featuring vampire movie cliches and while it pokes fun, it at least does so from a place of affection.
Again – I’m not suggesting that Sundown is essential viewing. But the 104 minute film flew by – I genuinely thought I’d been watching for about an hour when the film moved into its climactic scenes, and that was so refreshing – so many films now feel as though they are twice as long as the actual running time. This is solid, old-school entertainment that, even in its weaker moments, has a genuine charm about it, filled with characters that we actually like and it’s never dull for a moment.
Actually, you know what? I’m think I’m going to say that Sundown IS essential viewing. God knows, we all need a bit of disposable fun in our lives. If you simply want entertainment, you’ll be well served here – and in the current climate where genre films increasingly seem intent on hammering home The Message and favour half-baked mumblecore self-indulgence at the expense of actually being fun, movies like this feel all the more vital. I’ll take this over a dozen Shudder Originals any day.
Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat is available on Blu-ray via Vestron Video.