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The Last Sect DVD Review
Review Written by Daniel Benson
Released by Momentum Pictures
Directed by Jonathan Dueck
Written by David Robbeson
2006, Region 2 (PAL), 85 minutes, Rated 15 (UK)
DVD Released on October 15th, 2007
Starring:
David Carradine as Van Helsing
Natalie Brown as Sydney St. James
Deborah Odell as Anna
Julian Richings as Karpov
Sebastien Roberts as Sam
Review:
Since the Blade and Underworld franchises rose to popularity, your standard vampire hunter can’t be content with a bottle of holy water and a couple of wooden stakes as his arsenal. He also needs some high-kicking shenanigans to ensure the vamps are taken out, not only with efficiency, but with style. It’s a shame then, that no-one in The Last Sect breaks out the whoop-ass until two-thirds of the movie is over.
David Carradine brings the martial arts influence as Abraham Van Helsing, while Natalie Brown is Sydney, a writer doing a piece on the mysterious Anna Stasia, head of the Artemis dating agency. While Van Helsing spends his time plotting to find undiscovered covens of vampires, Sydney has walked right into the centre of one; Artemis is simply a cover to lure young men into becoming fang-fodder for the bloodsucking bitches.
All sounds pretty good, yet absolutely nothing of interest happens for the first hour of this movie. Van Helsing stays put in his apartment and pontificates over strategy with his assistant, while Sydney has numerous soft-focus lesbian fantasies about Anna. It eventually kicks off when Van Helsing enlists the help of Karpov, who looks more kiddie-fiddler than vampire slayer, to take on the coven. Five minutes of chop-socky action later and we’re all done.
The whole movie is a huge waste of resources. Across the board, the acting and production values are polished and could have been utilised on a much better script. My advice: watch the trailer. It’s got all the good bits and is 83 minutes less painful than this debacle.
Video and Audio:
No complaints in this department, the 1.85:1 presentation is clear and without any noticeable flaws. Shot almost entirely at night, or in shadowy locations, there’s no hint of pixellation anywhere.
A pointless 5.1 track accompanies the movie. Pointless because the movie is mostly waffle and no action, so the speakers don’t get any kind of a workout. Dialogue is clear and easily audible.
Special Features:
A 25 minute ‘Behind the Scenes’ featurette turns out to be narration-free on-set footage. It’s less interesting than the movie itself and gives no insight into the movie-making process at all. There’s also a trailer for the movie, which is by far the most entertaining thing on the disc.
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