Blood Ransom

Blood Ransom often feels older than it is. Sure, many of the effects are CGI, but the film's setup hearkens back to when the properties of vampirism had room to shimmer under the eye -- when the creatures were less predictable, instead of codified for video-game precision. The bloodsuckers here live by different rules, the broad strokes of which a title card covers at the outset but which are nonetheless never quite clear. Crystal (Philippines star Anne Curtis) has recently turned vampire, which means she has seven days to kill a human or else she'll die in agony. But the human she's meant to kill, Jeremiah (Alexander Dreymon), has liberated her from her vampire master, and they plan to run away together -- him unaware of her condition.

Pursuing them are the vampire's henchman, Bill (Jamie Harris, great as the implacable, unreadable villain), and Jeremiah's friend Oliver (Dion Basco), a cop. But while the portentous glances and oblique dialogue of the undead evoke stylish '70s Euro-vampires -- as do the trippy cuts and fade-outs -- Oliver's manhunt feels more like a low-budget '80s potboiler. Fewer cops and more full-tilt vampire batshittery might not have resulted in a more coherent movie, necessarily, but almost certainly would've made for a more captivating one.