Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this Lucy Liu-starring vampire movie is extremely violent and gory. It's packed with bloody scenes and brutal murders (courtesy of guns, stakes, a crossbow, and more). Both men and women are depicted as deranged savages who will stop at nothing to satisfy their bloodlust, and naked, vulnerable females are treated as sex objects and victims in scene after scene (breasts are frequently visible). Language includes "f--k" and "s--t," and there's some drinking and smoking. But, really, the main concern here is the nonstop violence, from vampire blood-sucking to a severed head in a trash bag.
Families can talk about pop culture's fascination with vampires, from movies to books to TV shows. Why are vampires so often associated with sex? What are their other typical traits when they show up in the media? What's their role in folklore? Families can also discuss who the movie's target audience is and what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish. What do you think the main goal is? Is it achieved? Why or why not?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Renee Schonfeld
It's difficult to find anything positive to say about RISE: BLOOD HUNTER, a gory vampire/revenge movie that never lets up on the blood and violence. How many times can the clueless heroine go into a dark, forbidding building? How much over-acting is just too much? How often will the age-old vampire legend be manipulated to meet the needs of the ridiculous plot?
Speaking of which... Lucy Liu stars as Sadie Blake, an investigative reporter working on a story about a Los Angeles cult. She ventures too close to the vampires at the center of the evil gang and becomes one of their victims. But she's not dead -- instead, she rises from her drawer in the morgue to discover that she, too, has become a blood-sucker.
Filled with self-loathing and disgust at what she must now do to survive, Sadie is determined to stay alive long enough to rid the world of the hideous creatures at work in her city. So, using the traditional tools of the vampire-killer, she exacts her revenge on them one by one. Her only ally is Clyde Rawlins (Michael Chiklis), a troubled policeman consumed with grief over his daughter's death at the hands of the cult.
Unfortunately, even if you can get past the vast amounts of blood spattered in nearly every frame; the gratuitous nudity; the graphic, violence-laced sexuality; and the over-the-top brutality, all you'll find a humorless, illogical story, unsympathetic characters, and amateurish production values. The movie is directed without any effective tension or suspense, the music is obvious and corny, and the special effects are far from special -- a supposedly decapitated head in a plastic bag is quite clearly set up at the edge of a table with the rest of the actor hidden in blackness off camera.
Even Ed Wood, master of wonderfully bad movies, would be embarrassed. But perhaps the saddest thing about Rise: Blood Hunter is that it was the final film for Mako, a fine character actor who delivered many wonderful performances over the years.
Vampire fans will do far better with Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview With the Vampire, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentPartial female nudity throughout, with breasts fully visible in many scenes. Hanging nude bodies (male and female) serve as background in several scenes. All sexual behavior leads to vampire bloodlust and, usually, death. |
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ViolenceExtreme violence, bloodletting, gore, stabbings. An early scene shows a naked female alive, hanging by her feet and screaming for mercy. Frequent vampire blood-sucking; bodies hanging from meat hooks; killing and maiming with guns, crossbow, stakes; severed head in trash bag. |
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LanguageFrequent strong swearing, including "f--k" and "s--t." |
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Social BehaviorThe main character is depicted as a good person forced to perform murderous acts to survive. She sacrifices her moral code to destroy the evil around her. Women are portrayed as victims of sexual predators and torturers and become sexual predators themselves. Many characters have succumbed to bloodlust and relish the mayhem. One of the vampires is disabled and meets a savage end. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoDrinking in bar scenes; visible evidence that a grieving policeman is an alcoholic; some smoking. |
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