Review of The Deaths of Ian Stone (2008) by Amy H — 22 Jan 2013

An effective film for about the first 20 minutes, it plays overall like an inferior mashup of Anne Rice vampire stories, "Jacob's Ladder" and "Dark City". The talented and attractive cast give it their all, but they aren't quite able to erase that "been there, seen that" feel.

The pitch probably sounded less derivative than the movie is. The villains of the piece remain nicely obscured until the reveal in the middle of the film, but they really are just cliquish vampires by another name.

The motivation for the antagonists' scheme seems inequal to the effort required to pull it off, requiring a bit more suspension of disbelief than the script deserves (or perhaps suggesting some fundamental questions about this fictional reality that the film doesn't bother to answer).

The look and feel of the film is very grimy and desaturated, perfect for evoking the intended mood of an above average post-modern horror B-flick, but once the borrowed set pieces become recognizable, it's difficult to avoid comparing the film negatively to the films that obviously inspired it.

I'd love to see this cast together in just about anything else, as there is some nice chemistry onscreen, but this particular film isn't a "must-see".