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THE BREED

Bokeem Woodbine holds Adrian Paul and Zen Gesner at bay
© 2001 Screen Gems

If your tastes in horror/fantasy include a fondness for stories that mix respectable gore content with twisty plotting and genuinely sweet characters, THE BREED may prove almost sinfully enjoyable. Director Michael Oblowitz gives his unnamed near-future city (the shooting location is actually Budapest) the look of Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL environs and plays with both Hong Kong-style action and Hammer-esque visuals in a tale of the thorniest integration problem since ALIEN NATION's Newcomers hit L.A.

In THE BREED, police detective Steven Grant (Bokeem Woodbine) finds out that there are vampires in the general population the hard way when, in the course of a murder investigation, he sees his partner killed by a fanged stranger. This is tough enough for Grant to accept, but it's nothing compared to his astonishment when his superiors tell him that the 4,000-strong vampire community has revealed its existence to the government about a year ago and are hoping for peaceful coexistence. A marauding bloodsucker on the loose is bad for détente, so Grant (much against his will) is teamed with one of "them," Aaron Gray (Adrian Paul) a Polish Jew who was turned during WWII. Naturally, there's much more going on than meets the eye and every person human or vampire the duo encounters seems to have a private agenda.

The script by Christos N. Gage and Ruth C. Fletcher (with a reported uncredited assist from Larry Gross of 48 HRS. fame) comes up with a few very smart plot twists, including a novel take on the reason for all the mayhem, and there are enjoyable grace notes with supporting characters. There's nothing new in the idea of pairing a hotshot mainstream cop with an ultra-polite partner who's compensating for the bad-ass reputation of his specific minority group, but THE BREED simply illustrates that if a theme is familiar, chances are that it works well enough to bear repeated use. We don't doubt that the cranky Grant is eventually going to come to trust his solemn colleague with the conspicuous overbite, but it's fun getting there nonetheless (although there are moments when Gray's verbal naïveté stretches credibility don't vampires at least watch TV?).

Adrian Paul and director Michael Oblowitz on the set of THE BREED

© 2001 Screen Gems

Woodbine exudes leading man assurance with an engaging touch of youthful bravado, while Paul conveys a strong sense of a man doing everything he can to be sociable while in a state of constant emotional turmoil. It's a credit to the actor and the filmmakers that Gray doesn't seem reminiscent of either Nick Knight or George Francisco (his two nearest thematic relatives), but is instead his own character, troubled but anxious to bond.

Some aspects of THE BREED are laudably eye-popping. It's worth it to tune in just to see some of the outfits Vasseva has designed for Bai Ling, whose 1,200-year-old seductress has a fashion sense and naughtiness that give new meaning to the term "vamp." Peter Halasz, as a vampire elder statesman in the NOSFERATU mold, looks as though he belongs directly on the borderline between folklore and nightmare. The action comes in kinetic bursts that keep the pace jumping, with enough blood to maintain the movie's horror credentials (although there are disappointingly few jump scares).

Oblowitz actually pulls off the unspoken absurdity of the '50s retro-future without turning the film into camp. While the movie's inspirations are readily obvious, THE BREED optically and narratively creates its own screwy, tense little universe and it turns out to be a great place to visit.

THE BREED premieres July 19, 10 p.m. ET/PT on Starz! Cable channel.