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“Vampire Time Travelers” Now Available on Blu-ray!

Sue Anne Marie hopes to live up to her big sister’s time as a sorority sister of Alpha Omega but first she must go through an initiation with three other pledges, a test of revenge, key, fulfillment, and overcoming conducted by gothic-cladded sister Vaughn who provides strange, cryptic hints that befuddle the pledges. Simultaneously, Lorilei also pledges but this awakened vampire, imprisoned inside a coffin for years, pledges a more vindictive path, seeking retribution for the death of her big sister Natalia at the hand of Buffy, Sue Anne’s big sister. Weak from her captivity, the only way to become strong enough against the blood of a vampire killer is to drink the blood others but her feeble state can’t withstand a neck bite. Instead, Lorilei must fang the softest parts of the butt to turn Sue Anne’s fellow pledges into doing her vampiric bidding. As Sue Anne unravels the mystery surrounding her initiation test, she must evade her fellow pledges, Lorilei, a secret order of werewolves and evoke a time alternating spell in order to becomes an Alpha Omega sister!

What a romp of the night! “Vampire Time Travelers” is as zany as it sounds! The SOV horror-comedy from 1998 with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” gags and a spoof material is absurd, frenzied fun from writer-director Les Sekely (“I Know What You Did in English Class,” “The No-So-Grim Reaper”) and was originally intended to be a direct sequel to another 1998 vampire comedy, the discounted “Sorority House Vampire” by director Geoffrey De Valois. Instead, Sekely took the reigns and steered in another direction in an attempt for a more standalone narrative that only brings back a couple of characters in mostly a spirit sense, fashioning a tale that retains the “Sorority House Vampire” plot but blossoms a follow up to be its own entity in Sekely’s own style and comedic tastes. “Sorority House Vampire” producers Raymond Storti and Steve Jarvis develop the not-so-sequel under the coproduction of Scarborough Films and Secret’s Out Productions.

Considering miniscule budget, the inexperienced director, and the unheard-of cast, for the final product to be this cheeky-fun and hilariously bizarre is criminal. “Vampire Time Travelers” is that type of film, although through farce means, that caters to the hot, cheerleader girl vampire slayer narrative made popular by the 1992 film with Kristy Swanson, Rutger Hauer, Donald Sutherland and Paul Reubens and then revamped for television in 1997 with Sarah Michelle Gellar. By 1998, “Vampire Time Travelers” piggybacks onto the gravy train with J.J. Rodgers (“Sisters of Sin”) in the blonde babe role who’s thrusted into danger and has battle dark forces to survive. As a pledge looking to get in by legacy, surrounding the urban legend of her sister Buffy, nonetheless, who destroyed a vampire coven attacking the Alpha Omegas, she’s joined by three co-pledges who are well defined characters in their own personality right with individualized stereotypes in the nerdy (Ali Elk, “I Know What You Did in English Class”), the aspiring musician Zoe (Kat Facchino, “Vampire Night”), and the beautiful but aggressive lesbian Michele (Lori Morrissey, “Emmanuelle in Space”). Vaughn (Lynn Baker) has a sinister mien about her while also being darkly beautiful as the Sorority’s pledge task master, popping in and out of each character’s provided pledge undertaking with ambiguous and mysterious hints to test them. Another darkly beautiful character, but more bumbling in nature, is the vindictive vampire Lorilei (Jillien Weisz) as she tries to figure out how to be a vampire again before pursuing vengeance on Buffy. “Vampire Time Travelers” rounds out the cast with hilarious characters with JC Grigg (“The Not-So-Grim Reaper”) as the man in the closet, J. Adam Young (“Legal Briefs”) as the Lord of Darkness who instructs Lorilei to bite the butt, and Jimmy Jerman (“Merchants of Death”) as 90’s porn-esque repair man known as The Light Man.

Any film with a music video titled Bite Her in the Butt in the middle of story should find its way on on a must-see list for everybody with a broad sense of humor. There’s nothing quite like Les Sekely’s film with it’s fast-pace editing and pacing, cross-cutting with character concordant interactions, and plenty of gags to be had inside tributing horror tropes. With a story revolving around college girls versus sexy female vampires and remarks about Biting her in the Butt are essentially the film’s prominent tagline, one would think this partly horror, mostly comedy romp would be laced with nudity galore and sexual themes up the wazoo but the nudity is zero and the sexual themes are reduced to a tasteful moment to keep the film more of a comedy than a sidebar of distraction, a sexploitation with fangs. Yet, nudity isn’t required for “Vampire Time Travelers’” story, though there’s suggestion there may have been nudity with evidence in the film and has been censored or omitted from the final cut, as the story is entertaining, mischievous, and light at times while Sekely’s niche humor is bred out of dad jokes and are from the parodical storage locker of “Nake Gun’s” David Zucker.

Visual Vengeance releases a new, director approved SD master from the original tape elements for a new Blu-ray with an AVC encoded BD50 displaying a1080p resolution that makes this interlacing SOV picture look the best it’s ever been. Presented in a pillar box 1.33:1 aspect ratio, there are all the hallmarks for a SOV video, such as interlacing lines and warm color coding and magnetic tape oxidation, and exhibits in a 480i detail that’s about as enhanced as it can be. It’s rumored that Visual Vengeance copy is actually censored with nudity removed and replaced with crude sketches and while I can’t confirm if there is an uncensored release, I will say there are scenes involving the possibility of nudity that look blown up in order to edit out the private skin. There’s plenty of complicated edits markers without visual effects that make this film really impressive to behold, especially with director of photography Dennis Devines’ swift camera movements mixed with odd angles. The English dual channel stereo offers distinct dialgoue and ambient/action tracks. Dialogue’s not as robust but meets the standard of being perceived and has plenty of clarity without concern. The ambient/action meet the same standard with on cue and in synchresis quality, never disjointed. Optional English subtitles are available. There is no shortage of special features with any Visual Vengeance release and “Vampire Time Travelers” contains commentary with director Les Sekely, a director interview with Sekely, an interview with actress JJ Rodgers, an interview with Angelia Scott, interviews with director of photography Dennis Devine and assistant director Steve Jarvis, Sekely short film “No-So-Grim Reaper,” and bonus Sekely feature film “I Know What You Did In English Class” from 2000 which comes with it’s own set of special features, including a Les Sekely commentary track, a Sekely interview, cinematographer Russ Lindsay interview, direct of photography and assistant director interview with Dennis Devine and Steve Jarvis, actor interview with Russell Towne, and trailers for each feature plus other Visual Vengeance release previews. Joylon Yates gloriously sexy illustration of two half naked women showcasing the Bite the Butt mantra turns up the thirst volume on this release. Primary sleeve art on the clear Amaray case also features additional Yates artwork that’s more fun it’s in cosmic composition. The reverse side has new artwork for the second feature “I Know What You Did in English Class.” A one-sided mini folded poster and retro sticker sheet are stuck in the interior insert. The region free, 70-minute horror-comedy is unrated.

Last Rites: “Vampire Time Travelers” is a tongue-and-cheeky horror too good to pass up. Visual Vengeance sweetens the deal with a superb, bonus-laden Blu-ray release. There’s no way to lose with this total package.

“Vampire Time Travelers” Now Available on Blu-ray!

In the small rural community of Devil’s Gate, Oregon, a boy and his mother disappear without a trace. FBI Special Agent Daria Francis spearheads the investigating to atone for a regretful previous child disappearance case. She’s accompanied by a local deputy, Colt Salter, to assist her. During her brief investigation upon arriving at Devil’s Gate, Agent Francis comes to the determination that Jackson Pritchard, the father and husband of the missing boy and mother, is directly involved in their sudden disappearance. The investigation turns from a seemingly straight forward, open and shut case to a colossal mystery that’s beyond their comprehension when arriving at the religious dogmatist’s boarded up and disturbing cladded farm house where unearthly forces lay claim to the Pritchard family home for sinister reasons. With one of the beings caged in his basement, the desperate Pritchard seeks an exchange with the creatures he labels as the fallen angels in attempt to regain his wife and son, but as the night falls, trapping Agent Francis and Deputy Salter with Prichard inside the residence, they become surrounded by the fire in the sky creatures aimed to reap not only the world, but their souls.

Like an enigmatic report straight from the non-redacted portions of a nail-biting X-Files case, “Devil’s Gate” is a we are not alone sci-fi horror film from 2017 under the apocalyptic eye of director Clay Staub and co-written by video game plot scriber, Peter Aperlo. The considerably financed project is the first feature film for both filmmakers in their respective roles with Staub having served as an assistant director on other paranormal plotted projects like Zack Snyder’s heavily praised remake of George Romero’s flesh-eating zombie classic, “Dawn of the Dead,” and Matthijs van Heijningen’s underrated “The Thing,” a prequel to John Carpenter’s film of the same title. One quality that we can all can be pleased about is that Staub carries over from his previous experience as a genre filmmaker participate is the use of gore in the “Devil’s Gate” because, honestly just by looking at the cover and reading the plot, the bloodletting expectation was low on the totem pole. Staub doesn’t unload a gratuitous splatterfest of alien and human entrails, but subtly sanctions the right amount of extrasensory chest bursting and finger snapping goo that plays an ill-fated role of circular or motivational circumstances for the characters.

Putting the pieces of the Pritchard mystery together is Agent Francis who is a to the point and tough national law enforcement officer with a bleeding heart complex after her very first assigned case went tragically sour that looms an unexplainable root cause cloud over her straight blonde hair. Desperate to cure her past, Agent Francis rushes into Devil’s Gate, bypassing the notable chicken fried steak meal offered by Deputy Salter upon her tarmac arrival and defying the local Sheriff’s heed to not interview husband Jackson Pritchard, that sorely causes her to land in the virtually the same predicament of just trying to get the right thing done no matter the unclear ancillary evidence. “12 Monkey’s” television star Amanda Schull spearheads the character with the characteristics aforementioned with drab appeal, lacking the emotion and the intensity her character is supposed to be exhibit when trying to solve a case of personal redemption as well as the fear from an higher ominous power that can shoot lightning down from the sky and flash velociraptor toe-claw sized fangs. Colt Salter might be a small time, Podunk deputy, but the born and raised Devil’s Gate officer can match wit with his FBI counterpart. Salter strikes me as a character who doesn’t stray far from home, mentioning various times, in various ways, his parallel path to high school friend Jackson Pritchard. Shawn Ashmore, from Joe Lynch’s “Frozen,” opposites his costar Schull like Mulder and Scully type as well as an all-around good guy who happens to stray from his protocol path once Agent Francis puts her federal fingers into his already investigated investigation. Like his performance in “Frozen,” “X-Men” franchise, and even in FOX’s television thriller “The Following,” Ashmore is a pretty solid actor, showing a range of emotion that transcends him from easygoing deputy to mortality fearing when mankind’s on the verge of extinction comes into the equation. An equally solid performance by Milo Ventimiglia, who recently starred in “Creed II,” really sells the crazy portray by Jackson Pritchard, a God-fearing man with a long lineage of misunderstood family heritage that leads him to the uncanny bombshell that has been bestowed upon his family farm. Ventimiglia, in his roughest, toughest country twang, creates such an anxiety-riddled and frantic character that unravelling his fate is not too clear which is refreshing to be able to retain mystery to a role as we can kind of figure out how Agent Francis and Deputy Salter when fair in the end game. Rounding out the cast is Bridget Regan (“John Wick”), Javier Botet (“Slender Man”), and “Star Trek: The Next Genergation’s” Jonathan Frakes, still sporting that iconic beard even if it has grayed, as the town Sheriff.

In spite of some really cool visuals, especially of the man underneath the mask, Javier Botet, inside a ghoulishly white extraterrestrial suit that only his elongated and thin body (and perhaps also Doug Jones’) could snuggly fit into, “Devil’s Gate” tells a narrative that hails from a lot of re-spun material. Whether intentional or not, viewers more than likely won’t be able to help themselves as they’ll eagerly point to the television screen and say, ““Independence Day” did that first,” or exclaim, “didn’t Donald Sutherland star in the same kind of thing???” I know I did. However, Staub and Aperlo don’t completely ape the concepts that surely haven’t inspiring them, making the effort more endearing, and visually crafted a well-blended plot into an enjoyable and captivating story; a story that has been mostly devoid of underlining messages and symbolism other than the themes of religious zealots are extremely bad for the world and living with past regrets can be hazardous for your health if not properly accessed. “Devil’s Gate” focuses more directly on just entertaining another version of visitors from another world and how those no-so-little-green-men play an assimilating role into humanity.

Umbrella Entertainment releases “Devil’s Gate” onto a region 4 DVD presented in widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The vast Midwestern landscape with the foreboding rolling clouds stretches from top to bottom with an exact sharpness and crisp from the digital picture. The textures in the broad, yet barren-esque fields look especially detailed, more so with the wind and brownish-yellow color. Speaking of color, the hue is a filter of shadowed purple and on a sepia side that works the dread atmosphere. The English 5.1 Dolby audio track has ample range and depth. Lightning strikes boom equally from the five channels, alien shrieks trembles through, and the dialogue is not obstructed. Surprisingly, there are no bonus features with this release as the Stateside counterpart even has a trailer in the extras. There isn’t a static menu either as the film goes right into play feature mode. c