Search - The Insatiable on DVD

A quirky but generally enjoyable film

P. Mann | Los Angeles | 09/25/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am not a great connoisseur of vampire lore, and perhaps that fact helped me enjoy this film. What helped more, though, were three of the actors: Sean Patrick Flanery as the improbable vampire hunter, Charlotte Ayanna as the vampire, and Michael Biehn as the veteran of too many encounters with vampires. These three carry the movie and make any scene with two of them in it worth watching.



The plot: Harry Balbo works at a flange company and lives in an apartment building, of which he is the super (in exchange for a rent reduction). He seems to have no social life, which explains why he must listen to a coworker (Jon Huertas) brag incessantly about his sexual prowess and conquests. One night, Balbo witnesses a vampire attack. Before long, he finds himself marked by the vampire and seeks help online. This leads him to Strickland (Biehl), who tells him to kill the vampire. The problem, though, is that Balbo finds himself unable to kill her. Instead, he lures her into a trap.



The bulk of the movie involves Balbo and the vampire in a bizarre sort of relationship--always assuming, of course, that a relationship in which one of the pair is caged constitutes your definition of bizarre. Here, the film succeeds. Ayanna is wonderful as the vampire with a soul, and Flanery admirably conveys a man completely out of his depth. Somehow, they establish a rapport that made me want to keep watching.



"The Insatiable" is a low-budget film, to be certain, but it makes good use of its few locations and is not as completely derivative as its bigger-budget contemporaries. At the heart of the film is the relationship between Balbo and the vampire, and we are never quite sure what to make of this relationship. Of course, she is a vampire and therefore a killer (as she helpfully reminds him), but Ayanna conveys a tenderness and vulnerability that made me root for the relationship in spite of that problem.



"The Insatiable" is not a great film, but it is fun to watch for the most part.

"

Caged Heat

Sky | New York | 09/26/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When I first started reading a lot of books in the Horror genre, the top authors (King, Koontz, etc.) couldn't keep up with my demand. So I'd peruse the shelves in the Horror section of my local bookstore in search of alternatives, and there'd be a ton of paperback titles and authors to choose from.



The alternatives all had cool looking images on their covers, and the back covers always made the stories sound like just what I was looking for in a Horror title...but you know what they say about judging books by their covers. And that old axiom rang true 90% of the time.



Same thing with movies. You get these solicitations to try this DVD or that DVD "based on your past purchases", but you wonder why you've never heard of them before the solicitation. So along comes The Insatiable.



So I'm like: Hmmm...has a good cover. Plus The Insatiable has Michael Biehn it ( The Terminator & Aliens )...ohhh...but he was in those a long time ago. Plus The Insatiable has Sean Patrick Flanery in it...oops I thought Sean Patrick Flanery was Seann William Scott (not that Scott's a real draw either). Oh well.



So I approached THINKFilm's The Insatiable with the same wariness of one of those mass-produced, unknown author, paperback titles with the forward by some famous author. And I was pleasantly surprised by The Insatiable. The movie was pretty good...unlike the too-many-to-count pulp disappointments that I was rewarded with for judging a book by its cover.



But The Insatiable isn't scary. It's more of an interesting take on a vampire story with some dark (sometimes not dark) humor. Have you seen 2007's excellent sleeper Black Snake Moan Black Snake Moan ? The Insatiable has a similar plot: Hold a Young Girl Against Her Will in Order to Make Her a Better Person. Well, in The Insatiable's case...make a young girl a better vampire.



THINKFilm's direct to DVD empire was recently acquired by Time Warner. I have no idea whether or not that had anything to do with the delayed US release of 2006's The Insatiable, but it seems that a lot of THINKFilm's thriller/chillers are all coming out on Direct-to-DVD: .45 , The Killing Floor , Gag , Bloodlines . They all look good, and some even have actors that you'll know (just like The Insatiable), but something tells me that judging these THINKFilm movies by their...ummm...Direct-to-DVD covers will reward you with average at best experiences (just like The Insatiable).

"

A succubus you can't trust

Michael E. Weihn | Las Vegas, NV | 09/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okay I watched the film & I'm not going to get real specific because I

don't want to give away too much.



Pros: Cast. Lead by Sean Patrick Flanery whom I've liked since Powder.

He's great in this playing an introverted Superintendent and his

apartment complex. That's only his part time job though. His day job is

at some sort of steel parts office/warehouse. Michael of course adds

grit & depth as a paraplegic Vampire hunter. Brad Rowe has a small but

memorable part as a convenience store clerk.



Plot. I like the direction of the storyline. I wasn't sure at first but

it takes unexpected turns & with a pleasant surprise sort of ending-it

rounds out things nicely. If you mesh Hellraiser, Bram Stoker's

Dracula, and Grease 2, here's what you would have. (no it's not a

musical) but there are elements from these 3 movies that I found here.



Cons: The size of Michael's role. After Michael joins the film at about

25 minutes-it seems he's going to have a huge part but doesn't.

Although I enjoy the plot turns of the film-it kind of prevents

Michael's part from being bigger.



Acting. Not real happy with the female vampire's acting or Harry's

(Sean Patrick Flanery) mean co-worker. Although I think she improved as

the movie developed, I don't think his got better.



All in all it was enjoyable, I'm happy with the result, and I'm glad I

finally own it. It's not one of Michael's best nor is it one of his

worst films. It would fall somewhere in the middle. As far as movies go

it's a 10/10 because I'm biased but within only Michael's movies for a

rating I'd say 6/10."

Finally...

Adam B. Krenn | Las Vegas, NV United States | 07/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...a vampire film that doesn't suck (ok, pun intended). If you have read the wonderful (yet hard to find) Vampire novel; The Vampire Tapestry, then this film will seem very familiar. What is important to note is this movie is free of the Made for TV cheese and the Hyper Goth/Romanti-Erotic BS so common in most modern Vampire stories. Without giving too much away, it is the perceived and then logically deduced relationship of the human regarding his Vampire captive that truly make this movie above even most higher budget Vampire films. Sure, the production value is weak at times and gaps in the character's logic (well, one character named Javi, anyway) but I have to applaud the writer/director's desire to show a vampire as a cold and calculating hunter with a shadow of it's once human life. The leads are both actually quite good as is Michael Biehn in the only really good supporting role in the film. Great stuff!"