“This is no life for a vampire!”
After years of living peacefully deep in the American West, a group of reformed vampires find themselves in a fight for their immortal lives when a rebellion rises that threatens to endanger not only the peaceful town of Purgatory, but of all humanity. This sets the stage for 1989’s vampire western comedy, Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat. The film’s cast is loaded with a litany of amazing character actors including M. Emmet Walsh, Jim Metzler, Sunshine Parker, Bert Remsen, Buck Flower, and John Ireland. It stars David Carradine, Morgan Brittany, Bruce Campbell, Deborah Foreman, and Maxwell Caulfield. Carradine portrays Mardulak, the leader of the Purgatory community and Ireland plays Ethan, who heads up a vampire rebellion hoping to return to feasting upon humans. Thrown into the mix is the human Harrison family and Robert Van Helsing, who happen to be in the town when the rebellion begins.
The film does a wonderful job of blending comedy, action, and horror. It also features amazing cinematography, utilizing the beauty of locations such as Arches National Park to perfection. The film does get a tad silly at times but, overall, it’s a really enjoyable flick. The quality of the cast and the cult appeal of actors like Bruce Campbell and David Carradine almost guarantee that certain audiences will flock to this film, but it deserves a much larger audience.
If you enjoy westerns, vampire horror, comedy, or some mixture of these genres, you’ll love this film. I really enjoyed watching it and I wish that I would have discovered it earlier. It’s currently available on a number of subscription streaming services and October is the perfect month to check it out as we get closer to Halloween.
Ken's Alternate Universe! 