After the success of Interview with the Vampire in 1994, there were a number of attempts to modernise the common vampire legend; and a number of failures, which included the likes of The Wisdom of Crocodiles and The Addiction. Razor Blade Smile is another attempt to do the same; and while there are certainly a lot of things wrong with it, I actually found myself liking the film more and more as it went along and director Jake West has to be credited with a really good attempt at doing what the earlier films attempted. Initially I thought this film would be a rip off of Blade; but actually it has its own style. The film begins in the 19th century and we see a young woman turned into a vampire. Fast forward to present day and the woman is Lilith Silver, and she's putting her vampire abilities to good use with a job as a hired killer. She gets given jobs to pick off various businessmen who all form a group known as 'The Illuminati" and she gets some police attention too, before finding that the conspiracy goes much deeper.
The film was independently made and does not benefit from good cinematography. Actually the film is rather horrific on the eyes; and that's a shame really. The action scenes are fast and entertaining and more than do their job, but the main draw of this film is the way that the screenplay handles the vampire legend. The film directly addresses most of the common elements of the vampire legend; some are in keeping with the classics while others are glossed over or changed and the film handles its own mythology very well. The way that vampire story is mixed with modern day is good and the lead character's dress sense and associated with the 'vampire' subculture is amusing. Eileen Daly takes the lead role and never really convinces with it; she looks the part but the delivery of her lines is often very awkward, although obviously the screenplay has to shoulder much of the blame for that. The film also boils down to a very good twist at the end, which makes more sense the more you think about it. Overall, this is a long way from perfect; but it's a fun film to watch and the flaws are easy to forgive.
The film was independently made and does not benefit from good cinematography. Actually the film is rather horrific on the eyes; and that's a shame really. The action scenes are fast and entertaining and more than do their job, but the main draw of this film is the way that the screenplay handles the vampire legend. The film directly addresses most of the common elements of the vampire legend; some are in keeping with the classics while others are glossed over or changed and the film handles its own mythology very well. The way that vampire story is mixed with modern day is good and the lead character's dress sense and associated with the 'vampire' subculture is amusing. Eileen Daly takes the lead role and never really convinces with it; she looks the part but the delivery of her lines is often very awkward, although obviously the screenplay has to shoulder much of the blame for that. The film also boils down to a very good twist at the end, which makes more sense the more you think about it. Overall, this is a long way from perfect; but it's a fun film to watch and the flaws are easy to forgive.