Gorehounds Unite!

Rebecca is brought back from the brink of death by top secret agency 'Project 571'. She is trained as a lethal assassin and sent on missions to kill that which she has become, a vampire. When Project 571 is destroyed by a gang of vampires, Rebecca is thrown into a quest for an ancient book powerful enough to raise the dead. Rebecca joins two priests on a journey to kill the master vampire Hugo Renoir before he can unleash the grotesque souls of the damned into our dimension. If Hugo is allowed to perform the ancient ceremony the earth shall forever pass into the realm of darkness. Along the way Rebecca must utilise her training to face Vampires, Demons and Witches all vying for the book and its awesome power.

 The Witches Hammer is the new film written and directed by James Eaves (Sanitarium,Hellbreeder) and starring the beautiful Claudia Caulter in the leading role of the ass kicking vampiress! Ill start by saying if your looking for a overly gory film this isnt gonna be your first choice, While it has its beheadings and scenes with the good old red stuff, The majority of the killings are the exploding into sparks deaths used recently in vampire flicks. Its the return of the classic british vampire films but witha shot af adrenaline running through its veins. I for one welcome them back with open arms.....

 This film blends the best parts of Buffy The vampire Slayer/Charmed/Blade with a slight dash of Blade and mixes them into a mixed but suprisingly decent film in a guilty pleasure kind of way. The film is filled with camp which for the most part works but I think the comedic relief is used a little too much in a hit or miss fashion. And as far as the acting goes it ranges from great to subpar as alot of these films do. All the leads are great but some of the supporting cast can be wooden at times.

 The film has a distinct sci-fi channel feel to it in that it has great production values and a heavy reliance on CGI and digital imagery which is in contrast to the beautiful shot on 35mm look. The film is beautiful to look at with great locations and the female lead is really easy on the eyes as well......And she can actually act!

This brings us to the lead actress, Claudia Caulter.....here we have an actress who is incredibly beautiful and can act but is also extremely athletic as her fight scenes are convincing and you actually believe shes this bad ass vampire who can kick some major ass unlike Buffy and some of the other female leads of this type. I'd like to see her involved in more films in the near future and hope she gets the respect she deserves for her performance in this film.

 As far as the fight scenes go they are well done and convincing if not a little overrehearsed, They are all exciting and my personal favorite was the fight between the lead and a weird ninja type character. The action is where this film succeeds. Whenever the film starts to lag, there is a fight scene thrown in which keeps the movie well paced and exciting. If I had to give the film a title as far as genre goes Id have to say Action/Horror.

 Id actually enjoy seeing this film get a sequel and flesh out some of the main characters as you dont get to know alot of them as well as youd like. As far as the story goes I was impressed with the fact that they tried to create a backstory/mythology that the film does a great job of fleshing out and staying with for most of the film.

 The film isnt trying to be high art and thats another place it succeeds. The witches hammer doesnt try to be too ambitious and thats where its strengths lie.....This film was made for a specific audience and it is successful in doing so as fans of Blade/Buffy/Charmed/B-Movies will have a blast with this explosive high charged film!

 Visit the website and order this film at:  http://www.amberpictures.co.uk/

Or visit the official Amber Pictures myspace page at:  http://www.myspace.com/amberpictures

 Keep an eye on Amber Pictures....I watcheed the trailer for the upcoming film "Bane" and I have to say that just from my first viewing of the trailer this movie will kick some major ass!

Rating:

3 out of 5 severed heads