The Forsaken

THE FORSAKEN (2001)


Summary and commentary below by Cory Hanaway (2006).


Notes: 90 minutes.
Starring Kerr Smith, Brendan Fehr, Izabella Miko, Johnathon Schaech.
Directed: J.S. Cardone


Summary: Sean is driving from California to Florida to make it to his sister’s wedding. While on the way there he picks up a hitchhiking vampire hunter named Nick. Nick is tracking one of the Forsaken, one of the original eight vampires, in an effort to kill him and regain his humanity. The duo picks up Megan on the way and find out that she is turning into a vampire and has a telepathic link to the Forsaken that Nick is tracking. Using Megan as a homing beacon to draw Vic, the Forsaken, to them they make a desperate run to hallowed ground, the only place that you can kill a vampire. After a fight scene that leaves Vic with the upper hand, Sean pins him down with a car and lets the morning light do the rest.


Commentary:
A modern vampire movie that brings both science and myth into one unit. Vampirism is portrayed as a virus that is transmitted by the biting of a person. One can hold off turning into a vampire with a drug cocktail that modern medicine has given us. This if left alone would make the vampire a biological anomaly that is not as horrifying. However, in this movie it is also coupled with the special abilities that the Forsaken have and pass down to there gang of vampires. The telepathic abilities allow the Forsaken to communicate with his vampires and home in on where they are. They also have superhuman strength in there arsenal. Furthermore during a monolog by Nick we find out that the eight Forsaken were men who made a deal with the devil to become vampires. This link with the devil is symbolized in the movie when Vic uses a live rattle snake’s venom to shoot-up as if it were a drug.

While these vampires all have these special abilities they don’t shy away from using modern conveniences to help them in there rampage. They spend the movie chasing Sean and Nick in a car and will use guns to kill a victim if it suits them. This is a link to Bram Stoker’s Dracula when Dracula is looking at train schedules. They both are a representation of vampires learning how to move around more easily so that they can feed on a wider range of people.

The Forsaken is a good blend of myth with science to bring us a vampire movie that has the right amount of dialogue, action, and blood.


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