Review of “Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat” (1989)

Plot:

Vampires have been hunting humans for centuries, but times change. Under the leadership of Count Mardulak (David Carridine) a group of vampires has set up shop in a town called Purgatory somewhere in the desert of the American West. They will learn to co-exist with humans, with the help of sunblock, sunglasses, and artificial blood.

The plant that makes the artificial blood has been having trouble. A call goes out to the human engineer who designed it, David Harrison (Jim Metzler). David brings his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) and their two young daughters, Juliet (Erin Gourlay) and Gwen (Vanessa Pierson) along for a vacation.

Almost everyone in town is looking out for David’s arrival. When a stranger stops at a gas station, the Bisby brothers (Sunshine Parker, Bert Remsen and M. Emmet Walsh), vampires, in overalls, wrap-around sunglasses, and straw hats are expecting David. Unfortunately, the mouthy stranger (Philip Esposito) with an off-roader admits he isn’t David but some jerk named Tom Pryor. Mort (M. Emmet Walsh) finally has enough of the stranger’s sass and knocks his head off.

His brothers are annoyed and tell him he has to go see Jefferson (John Ireland) about his violation while they clean up. Camping in the hills are the mouthy stranger’s friends, Jack (Dana Ashbrook) and Alice (Elizabeth Gracen). They’ve watched the whole thing through binoculars (really?) and decide to come into town and report their friend’s murder to the police.

The Harrison family arrives and finds the town—friendly. Sarah buys all the fixins’ for a spaghetti dinner but can’t find garlic anywhere.

The next day, David goes to work and meets with the guy in charge of the artificial blood plant, Shane (Maxwell Caulfield), whom he knows from grad school. Shane and Sarah also have history, so David makes a point of showing Shane what a rookie mistake he’s made. The conversation is quite vulgar. Shane gets pissed and throws David around.

In the meantime, Gwen and Juliet have discovered a secret passage in the house they’re staying in that leads to a coffin.

Another stranger (Bruce Campbell) shows up in town. He’s a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, and he’s out to stake him some vampires. But his car breaks down.

Thoughts:

What the film lacks subtlety it makes up for it in sheer silliness. Goofy visuals made me chuckle more than the plot or any particular line. The sight of the three Bisby brothers wearing overalls and sunglasses sitting in on a shaded swing outside the gas station was just funny without anyone saying a word.

At one point in the action, Sarah tells her daughters to hide from real danger. They duck into the secret passage. She can’t find them. They open the coffin lid and say, “Hi, Mommy.”

However, this is not a flick for the kiddies.

Bruce Campbell’s Van Helsing would have his great-great grandpa slapping his forehead, though he does manage a strategic use of holy water.

However, the ending doesn’t work for me. I guess it was one way to end the inevitable war between factions of vampires, but it just made no sense, unless you needed a happy ending more than a sensible one.

Oddly, the only public screenings of the movie were at film festivals. After that, it was released onto VHS in 1991 and DVD in 2008. According to Justwatch, it’s available with a subscription on Stars and for $3.99 with a subscription on Apple TV. We watched it on Amazon Prime.

Or you can go the easy route and watch the movie on YouTube: (Spanish subtitles)

edited to add:
P.S. The dearly beloved and I just had a discussion about this movie. He and I agreed on a couple of points: 1) the plotting was a little off. I suggested a different starting point that would do away with the opening narration. 2) We liked a lot of the sight gags and 3) the title didn’t really make any sense.

Title: Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)

Directed by
Anthony Hickox

Writing Credits
John Burgess…(written by) and
Anthony Hickox…(written by)
John Burgess…(story)

Cast (in credits order)
David Carradine…Mardulak
Morgan Brittany…Sarah
Bruce Campbell…Van Helsing
Jim Metzler…David
Maxwell Caulfield…Shane
Deborah Foreman…Sandy

Released: 1989
Length: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated: R