The Temptress - 2003
Directed by Jeff Kirkendall
Jennifer Birn...
James Carolus...
Timothy Jay Hatch...
Mary Kay Hilko...
Jennifer Lescovich...
Amy Naple...

Rating
Tagline:

Plot

The movie follows the exploits of Karen, Rachael and Tina, three vamps living a relatively subdued suburban existence. Their peaceful nights quickly come to an end when the evil and powerful vampire Angelique pays the girls a visit. With the help of her followers she soon forces a confrontation between the two groups as the past comes to life and secrets are revealed.

My Opinion

"The Temptress" is a low budget, independent project filmed in upstate New York and produced entirely by writer/director Jeff Kirkendall and his partner James Carolus . When coming into a movie like this, one has to be able to understand the context in which they are viewing the movie. You're not about to see the next "Halloween", but that doesn't mean it has to suck either. This movie is an example of how an independent director, with a little bit of creativity, and a good amount of blood, can keep an audience entertained.

I really enjoyed this film on the level of shot composition. One thing you've got to do in a production like this is go crazy with the camera. It serves two purposes, it adds a kinetic energy to your film, and it hides some of the production values that may be lacking because of the budget. Jeff uses slow motion, distorted shots, and the occasional high style camera angle to engage his audience during some of the more intense sequences. He also throws a decent amount of blood around, and tryed his hands at some FX sequences as well. For the most part, I was impressed with the FX, but as a connoisseur of sorts of gore, I managed to pick out a few flaws along the way. More than anything that's just me being picky. On the whole, I felt he worked well with his budget.

There is a campy level of enjoyment to this film that I'm not sure was intentional, but worked nonetheless. Some of the acting was a bit off, and induced a chuckle or two from the audience...but personally I felt it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If you're audience is laughing, remember one thing...at least they're not bored. And to Jeff's credit, I was never bored during this film. It had it's eerie moments, and it had it's funny moments, but never did I find myself yawning...kudos for that.

While it may not be fair to pick apart the acting of an independent production like this, I think I'm going to anyway. Actually, there were two moments where the acting in this flick was shockingly good. One was a sequence in which the character named "Karen" began crying that really caught my attention. I've seen big budget Hollywood actresses who couldn't cry that convincingly, so I must say I was impressed. The other moment found the character of "Rob" acting drunk. Something tells me that he's thrown back a few in his day...it was research I swear. The rest of the acting was well...what you'd expect. Like I said, the audience chuckled at the occasionally unconvincing line, but it wasn't unbearable. As I mentioned earlier, bad acting in a movie like this simply adds a level of "camp" that can't be achieved otherwise.

If I can mount one true criticism against "The Temptress", it would be that it didn't go far enough. I mean that in two respects. For starters, I would have liked to see a bit more style out of Jeff. There were scenes in this movie that showed real potential. These scenes showed that "kinetic energy" that I was speaking of before. While this occasional dose of style was extremely effective, and even creepy, I don't feel that there was enough of it. It's especially noticable during some of the fight sequences. Some of those scenes looked very fake and were not very exciting. If the camera had maybe been cutting faster, or maybe offered up some more creative angles, it would have added some major punch to those scenes. The second area I don't feel he went far enough in was the gore. Maybe I'm just not satisfied unless there's guts flying from the walls, but I think some of these scenes could use a bit more of the red stuff. Especially in a production like this, sometimes you've got to go over the top to engage your audience.

I was especially impressed with the ending of the film. An ending sequence featuring a "vampire hunter" of sorts was expertly done. This is a time when the kinetic energy and the gore mentioned above were both present. There's a very memorable shot during this part that involves a stake being driven through a heart, and a lot of blood being spit out of a mouth that really caught my eye as a viewer. The ending really sealed the deal for me.

I have a great respect for independent filmmakers. I understand their films are not for everybody, but if you like this sort of thing I would definitely recommend picking up a copy when it's available. This being Jeff's feature debut I'm confident that he will do great things in the future. In the end, "The Temptress" is a low budget film that offers up a campy vibe, an interesting story, and the promise that it will never bore you. For what he was working with, and what he accomplished, I give it a 2 and 1/2.

Did You Know?

Visit the official website of Very Scary Productions, the company behind "The Temptress"

"The Temptress" was inspired by the 1998 short film "3 TO MURDER". That movie was similar in that it followed the exploits of 3 female vampires

Writer/Director Jeff Kirkendall makes a cameo as a bloody corpse found in the woods

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Posted 2/2/03