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Strange Things Happen at Sundown
R2 - United Kingdom - Film 2000 Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (4th January 2015). |
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The Film
 ***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** SEE... Big Haired Guidettes devoured by vampires! SEE... Skulls scrushed in by baseball bats! SEE... Woman telepathically brought to orgasm! SEE... Spandex clad vampirs who still listen to Poison! SEE... How a guy who wears a cloak makes a living in the year 2004! SEE... Virgin girls sacrificed to blood sucking demons! SEE... Orthodontically challenged vampires! SEE... Pot smoking co-eds turned into drooling flesh-eating zombies! SEE... More writhing women then in any other movie...EVER! Strange Things Happen at Sundown is the story of vampires run amuck in New York City. There's a group of low level mobsters with fangs, there's an age-old vampire who does mob hits for money, there's apair of vampire lovers on the run. Throw in a born again Christian trying to bring one of the vampires over to her side, and Italian girl from Brooklyn bitten by vampires and left to endure an agonising three-day turn and a psychotic four-hundred year old blood-sucking housewife with a fetish for cleanliness and virgin girls. All of them are being hunted by a nefarious vinyl clad woman whose intentions are mysterious and powers are unmatched...
Video
Independent British distributor Film 2000 have released the low budget horror movie "Strange Things Happen at Sundown" as part of their Shock Horror Collection. They present the film in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and in PAL format. Now, as with many low budget horror movies, I think it is safe to say that anyone expecting stunning cinematography and a high quality transfer using top of the range equipment is setting their expectation levels too high. As with many similar movies in the genre, the transfer here is a victim of the low-end equipment and amateur crew. Many scenes are of VHS quality, with one particular scene at the start suffering from horizontal stretching running throughout the centre of the screen every few seconds. Lighting on-set is often poor, and so scenes set in darkened locations lose out on shadow details and are not particularly clean. Details in lighter scenes can look okay but never look better than average, often having a blocky and fuzzy appearance. One additional unfortunate thing with this transfer is that it is also NTSC->PAL and so gets the usual resultant problems with interlacing. It isn't too obvious due to the other quality issues that are prevalent in the print, but is noticeable. The feature is uncut and runs 138:38.
Audio
Film 2000 have included a single audio track here; English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. This track is apparently the original mix, but the channel separation isn't very noticeable and feels extremely basic. Dialogue is clear at all times, but there is an awful lot of screaming (and I mean a lot) here which often sounds strained and tinny and can become incredibly tiresome and overbearing. Sound effects sound flat throughout, not making much of an impact where required, whilst the score by Marc Fratto and Frank Garfi, is as formulaic as they come, not adding much to the atmosphere or tone. Overall, the track is passable for the sub-genre and the budget, but a lot of improvements could be made without too much effort. No subtitles are included.
Extras
Bonus Trailers: - "Lich" (1:02) - "The Killer Within Me" (1:22) - "Vampire Resurrection" (1:23) - "Delta Delta Die" (1:53)
Overall
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