She Lives By Night

Rating:
Summary: She Lives By Night Packs a Punch
Review: I saw this video and am tempted to put the film in the same class as other great budget-horror classics like "Night of the Living Dead," "Carnival of Souls," "Dementia 13," "Martin," "Repulsion," etc.

Though, you won't find blood and gore galore in this flick. This movie seeks a more unique path, instead focusing on its two lead characters and delivering a compelling, romantic story that borderlines on claustrophobic but packs some clever black humor.

This movie has a Gen-X sensibility to it (though w/o the usual irritating angst/irony fodder) and develops more in the classic tradition of an Alfred Hitchcock film rather than a stupid teenage slasher flick.

The film moves at its own casual pace, but make no mistake, it builds to an ending that packs a punch. You likely won't forget it easily . . . which is why I'm tempted to include it among the esteemed ranks of the classic flicks mentioned above in the first graph.

Highly recommended! (But don't bother buying this film if your intellect is on the level of a 13-year-old expecting Jason to pop out. Purchase Friday the 13th: XXXVII instead and leave intelligent film-going to the grown-ups.)

Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable Hitchcock-type remantic thriller!
Review: She Lives By Night is like a vampire movie meets a Hitchcock movie.

I liken She Lives By Night to neo-Hitchcock. It has dark romantic tension ala Hitchcock's better films (e.g. Vertigo) but it has something you won't ever find in a Hitchcock film - a vampire, which gives this movie its unique hook. From that standpoint, this movie is lighter and has some great B-movie charm. It also contains subtle black comedy, which you often find in Hitchcock movies.

The movie contains a bizzare hook that's actually quite clever: a vampire who gets amnesia. This vampire, who dosen't know she's a vampire, begins a new relationship with a young man. This secretly addresses a concept to which anyone in a relationship can relate: do we REALLY know who we're involved with - and would we truly accept everything about that person if they didn't keep a few things hidden? In this case, it's the fact that she is a vampire who must eventually feed.

Like the people who wrote the other reviews, I too felt the ending was particularly strong. So often vampire movies similar to this have really stupid endings, but this movie doesn't take the easy way out - and the ending stays with you. There aren't a lot of good movies coming out of Salt Lake City, Utah, which also makes this movie stand out. This movie is an independant gem, and I would seek it out. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Fun romantic horror and suspense!
Review: This is really quite a fun film. A vampire (Angela) gets amnesia after being struck by a car. The driver (Roger, a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy) tries to help her and feeling sorry for her takes her back to his place. She eventually discovers (to her horror)that she needs to feed to survive. She starts to fall in love with Roger and therefore can't feed on him, so she turns to his friends for sustinence. This film has some great dialogue. There are some clever bits such as her immediate attraction to red wine; after tasting it she spits it out and says, "It doesn't taste right!" It has a great ending and the musical score is excellent; reminiscent of Bernard Hermann. This is a great indie film.