Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (DVD)

I'd heard of Sundown — one of those lauded and legendary cult classics with an all-star cast that's somehow escaped the DVD deluxe treatment for years — but I'd never actually seen it. Now that I have, I can't say my life's enriched in any way, but it's not a bad flick.

The low-budget yet carefully crafted parable boasts such stars David Carradine, Bruce Campbell, M Emmet Walsh, John Ireland and Deborah Foreman as vampires and humans trying to coexist in a tiny, dusty desert town called Purgatory. Even though vampires still don't like catching rays, a new super-strength sun blocking formula has allowed them to  withstand the light. Slathered in the stuff and bundled up in long sleeves, floppy hats, and carrying umbrellas, these bloodsuckers really know how to (un)live.

They don't even have to kill to survive anymore — there's a great new synthetic blood on the market. (Are fans of HBO's new series True Blood perking their pointy ears up yet?) However, when a warm-bodied mortal family comes to town, the temptation is too much and some of the fanged ones begin a "right to bite" campaign.

At first, the hapless Harrison family has no idea what's going down come sundown. They used to live in Purgatory, before all the bad stuff happened, but now they've had their fill of the city and are ready to get back to their sandy country roots. Dad David (Jim Metzler) is happy to have a new job; his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) thinks about rekindling an old flame from her high school days not knowing he's now sporting fangs; and their young daughters Juliet (Erin Gourlay) and Grewdolyn (Vanessa Pierson), are thrilled by all the new secret passages and dark basements to explore. It's in a basement that the little girls find Count Dracula's (Carradine) coffin… and him, inside!

I must confess it's difficult for me to grasp who Sundown's audience would be. Much as I felt with Monster Squad — which I knew was an 80s fan fave, but that I myself never saw till decades later when I reviewed it — my guess is Sundown must be great from the rose colored glasses of nostalgia. It's fun and cheesy, but so very dated.

And from my perspective, it came off a bit too violent for the family audience (it's rated R), yet there was so much about Juliet and Grewdolyn it seems as though children would like it. So, I guess, in short: I'm not nodding or negging… you probably already know if you're going to like Sundown or not.

The DVD extras include:

• Commentary Track with director Anthony Hickox and director of photography Levie Isaacks
• New Featurettes: Memories Of Moab, A Vampire Reformed, and The Making Of Sundown

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Waveringly Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson