Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)
1989’s Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat is a title I’m pretty surprised hasn’t earned a Blu-ray release somewhere in the world. It’s gained a pretty large cult following over the years, although I’ve gotten in discussions with a few people that don’t like it at all, but the kicker for me is the cast. The cast includes David Carradine, Bruce Campbell, Deborah Foreman, M. Emmet Walsh and Maxwell Caulfield. That’s a pretty impressive cast, so this not being released is a missed opportunity to me. Plus it was directed by Anthony Hickox who has a pretty impressive resume with Waxwork, Waxwork II: Lost in Time and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.
Once you get into the plot this all becomes more of a head scratcher. The film is essential a modern western with vampires. Vampires and westerns are both pretty in right now. How is no one capitalizing on this?!
I love this movie. It’s a bit silly, but that really plays into Campbell’s strengths. He plays Van Helsing and it’s terrific. I can guarantee you’ve never seen Van Helsing like this before. Seriously, you probably haven’t seen it because the film hasn’t received a proper release. Yeah, it’s been released on a DVD tossed together with 5 other films, but that’s hardly proper. This is a movie that deserves a Blu-ray release and if we’re lucky we’ll get it someday!
I couldn’t find a good trailer for the film online, but I did find a great clip of a scene from early on in the movie. Give it a watch and don’t worry, this scene spoils nothing!
Synopsis:
Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sun cream to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.
