Fire and brimstone collide with sharp overbites and sweat-slicked stripper poles in this odd, uneven mix of drama and horror. The commanding presence of William Forsythe as the Reverend Enoch Pitt is one of the few (and I do mean few) reasons to watch the otherwise slow-as-molasses Southern Gothic from beginning to end.
Pitt starts off as a preacher-man who's wrestling with being both preacher and man when he finds himself repulsed and yet attracted to sexy Starla (Nicole DuPort), a new, nubile exotic dancer at the club where the Rev spouts his sermons to anyone within earshot. His performance is just that: theatrical and flourish-fraught, while everyone else plays it so low-key as to be more zombie-like than vampiric.
So this is the conceit: The judgmental man of God finds himself once-bitten, twice died — and then resurrected, just like his personal lord and savior. What a pickle! As he starts to come into his power, though, Pitt finds that he's dead and loving it: "Everybody offers everlasting life, but only I deliver it!" is his murderous motto.
There's some fairly complex mythology hinted at here and there, but not much is made of it. It's sort of Gothic, but not very Southern. The flick's got bits and pieces and elements of this and that, but there's nothing concrete to glom onto. If you asked me exactly what the movie is about or what genre it is, I'd probably say, "Ermmmm… William Forsythe is cool!"
Unfortunately, Southern Gothic simply did not hold my interest. It's a pretty stand-issue blood-n-boobies vampire flick — but with one notable exception. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful. The carefully-composed shots are certainly self-aware in their artiness, but you know what? I like that. I also enjoyed the Dutch tilts, images in reflection, the neon-saturated color-splashes, and the use of shadow to add drama is lovely. Big ups to DP Gregg Easterbrook.
The DVD extras offer themselves up in the way of one special effects featurette.
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