The Forsaken (2001)

 I looked at this on my Letterboxd and in its initial form went long, so I'll add it in its entirety here:

It isn’t that I don’t have fun with this shot-in-Yuma “desert road vampire adventure” – this was one of the Movie Gallery shelf filler rentals that would have my fingerprints on the box due to dust collecting – it is just that The Forsaken doesn’t have an original bone in its entire skeletal frame.  Brendan Fehr’s Nick needs to find “an original vampire” turned by Abaddon (angel from the bottomless pit) in order to free himself of a curse he keeps at bay through medication in order to hitch and move during the day. He steals the wallet of LA film editor, Sean (Kerr Smith), taking a sweet ride to Miami. A blown tire is absolutely the worst thing to happen to Sean as this causes an eventual encounter with Nick, who drags him into the mess with original vampire, Kit (Schaech) and his gang (which includes “Okey dokey” doof, Pen (Rex, actually rather amusing and not as obnoxious to me as he normally was), and lover Cym (Oruche)). Also along for the ride is the very sick, Megan (Miko, showering the blood off her naked body as the credits role, remaining mostly mute and in and out of consciousness throughout the film), sought in connection with an “Arizona Bloodbath” thanks to Kit’s brood, leaving behind his “mark” on her. Trying to keep Megan from screaming while going through a “rough spell” in a bathtub of cold water and ice in this dingy off-road motel, she bites into Sean’s hand, infecting him. So Nick and Megan need to find and kill Kit. Eventually that sweet ride Sean was driving is not in the greatest of shape due to car chases, games of chicken, and narrow spaces between motor vehicles (oh, and gunshots). The trio do locate the residence of heat-packing Carrie Snodgrass with a house located on a blessed Spanish graveyard “just off the highway”.

This really doesn’t tread any fresh turf, staying in its lane and veering off just slightly by changing some of the vampire lore. Added to the story is this link through the vampire bite that allows Kit to “follow” those he bites…when you bleed, you lead. There’s a point where Kit sings lyrics from Metallica as he moves up the stairs while Nick goes on a monologue about how different the 2000s are from the 60s:

Take a look at the world we inherited. We're a bunch of fast-food munching MTV freaks humping the great Amercian Dream. The generation before us sold their innocence for 200 digitally enhanced satellite stations, and it's been downhill ever since. They had Mickey Mouse, Easy Rider and The Beatles. Alright? We got South Park, The Blair Bitch and Ricky Martin. Alright? They had "Be here now!". We got "Shit Happens!". If that doesn't put thinks in perspective, i dunno what does. I mean, we're just Microsoft Neanderthals addicted to surfing netland, still shitting in our nests. And every time i think about giving a rat's ass, i picture Monica making millions from sucking Bill's little red rooster. Just rockets me right back into reality.

I’ll say this: a head is blown apart by a shotgun blast, one vampire burns alive and explodes, and another vampire gets hit by the sun and really goes Kaboom in grand fashion. A throat is slit and the neck a vampire feast. Even a heart is plucked from the chest of a partying goof just asking for it when he shakes and pops beer in the face of Kit. One major disappointment: a group of dune buggy desert racers jugging beers and being silly antagonize Kit through their asshole behavior. That’s it in a nutshell. It is even more “flash-cutty” than the bonfire attack on the beach in The Lost Boys. There are just so many victims to really bury the fangs into and let that sweet blood gush. One scene I did find rather neat is when Kit opens the mouth of a rattler and presses its fangs into his arm.