a film by Jason Davitt 2011 | 122 mins | UK ›› Vampires: Brighter in Darkness vampires with a gay bite. Adapted Synopsis:- After a disastrous relationship, Toby Brighter finds himself set up on a blind date by his sister Charlotte. Lucky for him or perhaps not, his date turns out to be everything that he could ever wish for, except for one thing - Lucas Delmore is a 1500-year-old vampire! Dave Says:- Released in the UK on Peccadillo Pictures "Bad Cat" label, you kind of know what to expect here and sure enough, this feature is the very definition of a B-movie, and then some. Thankfully sandwiched between the layers of its supernatural narrative and here cue the like of witches, demons and more vampires than you can shake a stake at, lies a film that rejoices in the homosexuality of its characters, with newcomers Rhys Howells as Lucas and Dan Briggs as vampire in training Toby, taking love bites to the extreme. And whilst the whole production has the charm of a home movie feel to it, credit has to be given to Davitt for sexually going where many a vampire inspired work has feared to tread, even by Twilight. Indeed and for all of its imperfections, including an overused "ghost blurring" for speed running, there's equally no denying that this is a work of love from its producer, writer, director, editor et al Jason Davitt. As too, it has to be said that Davitt has done wonders to make a feature on such a limited, if nonexistent budget. Only the result and by no surprise, is hardly the latest Hollywood styled supernatural blockbuster, or anything even resembling the gay comic horror element of the like of Bruce Ornstein's Vamperifica. That however is not to say that the cast of fresh faces are not determined to put on a show. Indeed and to be fair, there's some nice moments of gay love and Hammer fashioned horror here, with Davitt clearly relishing in the architectural splendour of Chester City, together with the 13th Century fortifications of Ewloe Castle, North Wales. Yet for every positive, there's one too many negatives, not least being the constraints of its episodic format, having originally been broadcast on Sky channel 201 as a television series and duly re-edited for film distribution. And therein lies more issues, given Lucas' words of devotion for Toby are too clichéd for their own good, let alone the cinematic envelope of the piece longing to be pushed that bit further. Well, a lot actually. Still for those who delight in Davitt's work and obviously many do given that a sequel Vampires: Lucas Rising is on the cards, then this is something to get your teeth into; namely a production big on TLC, if all too low on budget and frankly, it shows. Gay Visibility - overt.  Nudity - bare-arsed cheek.  Overall - file under ... 1+ stars.  ›› Available to buy from Amazon.co.uk. ›› Available to buy from Amazon.com. available on DVD as part of the Peccadillo Pictures "Bad Cat" catalogue: 22.October.2012 / UK. principal players: Dan Briggs / Toby Brighter, Rhys Howells / Lucas Delmore, Rebecca Eastwood / Charlotte Brighter, James McCorkindale / Anthony Mortis, Abigail Law-Briggs / Lilith, Tim Benge / Paul Michaels, Sandro Squillace / SemachKa and Kyle Chester as Marcus (Elder). official website: www.witchward.co.uk Copyright 2012 David Hall - www.gaycelluloid.com. archive reference #530 ›› previous page | back to top | print me ‹‹