Who was gonna tell me there was a Lucy Liu vampire movie I had never seen?! I recently found the 2007 film Rise: Blood Hunter on Tubi and knew I had to check it out and give my review. The film follows Lucy Liu’s character Sadie as she investigates an underground cult in Los Angeles. However, Sadie gets too close to finding out the truth about the vampires and in turn is killed and turned into a vampire herself.
The scene of Sadie waking up in the morgue and having to break out of her little box gave me chills. Additionally, Lucy Lui does a phenomenal job of acting with her whole body during the film while not saying very much. There are a few flashback scenes that require her to convey a lot of emotion on her face as these images flash through her mind. Once Sadie wakes up from her transition and realizes what she is she initially tries to complete suicide by jumping off an overpass into traffic. When that doesn't work she is taken in by Arturo who lets her heal and trains her on how to kill vampires.
The last two-thirds of the film follows Sadie as she goes on her revenge tour, tracking down everyone who has a hand in this ring of vampires and subsequently giving them the final death. Without spoiling too much I will say this was a really fun cat-and-mouse thriller with some horror aspects sprinkled throughout. The film also follows the sexually charged theme of movies that were popular from 2000-2010.
Rise: Blood Hunter has a good amount of gore and has some good violence sequences. The cast is also stacked with Carla Gugino, James D’Arcy, and Michael Chiklis - to name a few. While the film doesn't attempt to do anything new in the world of vampire films I do think it's worth a watch for fans of the vampire monster genre. Who doesn't want to see Lucy Liu go full vampire slayer?
Overall, for fans of Lucy Liu or vampire media, this one is a must-watch. The tone of the film is very dark and brooding lending a hand to the horror/gothic vibes. I love a good revenge movie and while Rise: Blood Hunter didn't break new ground, it did lend to consistency and provided a solid storyline for an under 2-hour movie.
7 out of 10 Screams
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