Entertainment in a Glance

Director:Richard Crudo
Writer:Mathew Klickstein (written by)
Release Date:10 February 2009 (USA)
Genre:Action | Horror | Thriller

The world has ended, or at the very least come very close to its end in Steven Seagal’s latest film, Against the Dark. A bizarre infection has turned the majority of the world’s population into vampire like creatures; leaving small pockets of the world’s population behind to fend for themselves.

One of these small pockets of people have just entered into a hospital, via a broken window, in search of supplies, and who are inexplicably unable to exit through the same entrance. Apparently trapped within the hospital, the group of friends crosses path with another couple who have taken refuge in the hospital.

This couple announces that the hospital generator is dying and that they will all be trapped inside unless they can get to the hospital’s main exit before the generator is completely dead.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the rag tag group of survivors, a team of hunters has begun their sweep through the hospital, led by Commander Tao (Steven Seagal), a katana sword wielding, leather clad martial arts expert. This crew of hunters is in contact with a distant military presence that has decided that it was finally time to carpet bomb the infected area.

Now the motley crew of people must travel through the bowels of the hospital with infected flesh eating vampire like monsters behind every turn and hidden within every shadow so they can make it through alive.

Against the Dark is an interesting and entertaining new rendition of the classic vampire story. The film is beautifully shot with a liberal use of shadow and low light while it often employs a sickly green overtone. The plot is also fairly strong, it certainly has the ticking clock appeal and the tense moments are carried by the cinematography and the creation of the dark, voids and shadows.

In fact, the film is quite satisfactory in many, many ways. The film’s only real shortcomings come into play in the editing, which uses bizarre flash jump transitions for no apparent reason, at moments that would have otherwise been fine without the obnoxious editing. There is also a lack of use of Steven Seagal, whose fan base would ordinarily make a film successful and ultimately will help this film out as well, but most will be disappointed with how little he is actually used. Lastly, the film is weakened by some of the direction. The biggest complaint is not so much in performance, which can be mediocre at times, but a budget certainly precludes against hiring a lot of big name talent. The biggest complaint is really the way that these vampires are sort of scattered about the hospital, lying in wait for the off chance that a human, i.e. food will cross their path. In one instance, a woman is hiding in the men’s restroom, while other times the vampires simply emerge from the shadows.