Temptation – movie review

Wow am I over the vampire trend. Now, to be completely honest I have been ‘over’ it for a while, but jeepers, we are definitely in the doldrums of it now. I mean, we have all had to suffer through some terrible vampire films over the years, just as we suffered through bad slashers and the rest but man, you’d think there’d be more originality than there is but, alas, not so much.  Which brings me to Temptation another in a long line of lipstick lesbian vampire films that feign at being feminist but are just more of the same.

After a rough night with her boyfriend an attractive young woman is far too drunk to be wandering the streets but is doing just that when she is picked up by what appears to be a well intentioned stranger who wants to make sure she gets home safe. Unfortunately for her, he’s more interested in getting her away from any prying eyes so he can force himself on her. Unable to fight back in the state she’s in it’s only through the dark miracle of a vampire that sweeps in and brutally murders the man that she is saved. But in saving her, the vampire, an exotic red-headed woman, turns her into a vampire as well, thus changing her life forever. Unsure what is happening, the young woman begins to feel different and is more and more drawn to the night life. With her sudden abhorrence of sunlight she starts to lust for blood. At night her dreams are filled of places she has never been, and things she has never done and over and over again of the woman that saved her from her attacker. When she turns on her estranged boyfriend and nearly makes a meal of him she sees what really is and stops before it’s too late. Her benefactor though is not as kind and makes sure her other protégés make quick work of the man. And so the young woman finds herself drawn into a life she abhors but which she is drawn to as she is drawn to the charismatic and strange woman who mothered her into this new world. She must make the decision whether to end her life and find peace in death or embrace the darkness and what she has suddenly become.

Almost plot-less I found myself waiting for what I thought would be the inevitable abundance of sex scenes and found few. Temptation loves playing the lesbian vampire angle and plays up the sexuality but never goes further than hinting at it. Ok, fine. Good for them. Yet, there is no other substance here outside of that. There’s no real sisterhood. No real sense of bond between the female vampires. They serve as a sort of vampire’s coven and their ‘queen’ runs the road. The films hints at the leader having an interesting background story but that story is brought up and concluded in one flashback that barely skims the surface.

The movie is well shot, is almost well edited, and though the acting isn’t ‘good’ it isn’t ‘bad’ either. It’s merely decent. The writing is terrible though, as are the representations of men on hand as either tools or jerks. What is crazy is that for a vampire film, it’s more about people posing as vampires than it is about being vampires. This is a teen melodrama version of what it’s like to be a vampire and little else. It’s watchable but terribly boring. Director Taylor is a slick director and knows how to shoot scenes but needs better material to work with and needs to focus on less atmosphere and more story. The leads are all attractive but the film is a mess and for a film less than ninety minutes long I found myself desperate for the end to come even quicker than it did.

The movie will do ok on video because of the vampires and the misleading idea that this is a sleazy movie (which it really isn’t at all) but that’s about all the business it will get. I wish I could be kinder as this isn’t a ‘bad’ movie so much as it’s a terribly mediocre film, but as such, it still isn’t worth recommending.

3.5 out of 10