Main Cast: Kristanna Loken, Michelle Rodriguez, Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Matthew Davis, Billy Zane
Release Year: 2006
Country: CA/DE
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The war against the forces of darkness becomes a family affair in this cinematic prequel to the popular video game Bloodrayne. In 16th century Europe, Lord Kagan (Ben Kingsley) is an evil ruler who holds more power than any man alive, but he still dreams of having more, and when he's told of three magic talismans who, when united, will give him intense supernatural strength and the gift of immortality, he will stop at nothing to attain them. However, three warriors who have learned how to battle the forces of darkness -- Vladimir (Michael Madsen), Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez), and Sebastian (Matt Davis) -- have formed the Brimstone Society, with the goal of stripping Kagan of his power and restoring justice to their land. They can't accomplish this on their own, though, so they enlist the aid of Rayne (Kristanna Loken), a half-human, half-vampire who can approach Kagan's sinister gifts while having a desire to do good. However, Rayne is torn about signing on with the Brimstone Society, and for a good reason -- Kagan is her father. Scripted by actress, screenwriter, and video-game enthusiast Guinevere Turner, BloodRayne also stars Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Billy Zane, Michael Paré, and Meat Loaf Aday. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Schlock master Uwe Boll strikes again with another hunk of junk video game adaptation in BloodRayne, a flick so steeped in no-budget sword and sorcery land that it might as well be a Deathstalker film. This time out, the famously maligned filmmaker managed to gather up actual actors to make a fool of themselves, with such talent as Sir Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, and Billy Zane offering up the most downright asinine performances of their careers (Titanic and A Sound of Thunder excluded!). In the title role is T3's Kristanna Loken, who proves here that she's better as a robot mute than as a raspy half-human vampire minx. The men in the audience will no doubt appreciate how committed she was to showing how -- err -- passionate vampires can be, though it's highly unlikely that anyone will be impressed by her lackadaisical fighting style and laughable accent. In fact, were it not for the gore, the flick would basically devolve into a comedy George Lucas-style of who can read their lines worse than the rest of the cast. With obvious nods to Raiders of the Lost Ark along with the Castlevania games, Bloodrayne has a definite "been there, done that" kind of feel to it that only makes Uwe Boll seem like even more of a hack than he was before. Video game devotees won't find much to crow about here, as the character's story line has been severely changed to more resemble a medieval prequel rather than a WWII Nazi bloodsucking adventure. The uncut version features wall-to-wall gore and an amazing gore montage recap at the end of the flick that will leave whomever is brave enough to watch it in punishing stitches. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
United States:
October 23, 2005
(Austin Film Festival)
December 9, 2005
(Splatterday Night Fever)
January 4, 2006
(Los Angeles, California)
(Premiere)
January 5, 2006
(Dallas, Texas)
(Premiere)
January 6, 2006
(Wide)
The film was the third video game movie adaptation by Uwe Boll who previously made the movies based on House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark. The film was critically panned upon its release, did poorly at the box office and was somewhat heavily disliked by co-star Michael Madsen (along with his other film Species 2). It developed a very small cult following.
Loosely based on the video game of the same name, the film centers on the character of Rayne (Kristanna Loken), an unholy breed of human and vampire called a Dhampir. Dhampir are unaffected by crucifixes and do not thirst for human blood. She is the daughter of the Vampire King Kagan (Ben Kingsley) who has gathered an army of thralls, both vampire and human, in order to annihilate the human race. She was conceived when Kagan raped her mother, and she later witnessed him killing her.
Sebastian (Matthew Davis), Vladimir (Michael Madsen), and Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez) are three members of the Brimstone Society, who fight vampires. When they hear of the Dhampir, Vladimir plans to recruit her in order to kill Kagan. A great portion of the story concerns the three body-parts of an ancient vampire that can make a vampire free of the basic weaknesses: holy water (the eye), the cross (the rib), and the sun (the heart). As Kagan wants all these parts, it becomes the heroes' mission to stop him.
On January 6, 2006, the film opened in 985 theaters across the US. It was originally to have played at up to 2,500 theaters, but that number dropped to 1,600 and ended up lower due to prints being shipped to theaters that had not licensed the film.[1][2]
In its opening, the film only made $1,550,000 USD.[3] The film ended up grossing $3,591,980 USD (June 2006).[3]
Critical response
BloodRayne was universally panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of only 4%, meaning that out of 46 reviews only 2 were positive. [4] It was ranked 48th in Rotten Tomatoes's 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s.
Star Michael Madsen had sharply divided feelings about the film. While he strongly despised the film's final cut and production and has called BloodRayne "a horrifying and preposterous movie", he enjoyed working with Boll despite him causing Madsen so much trouble and that he would certainly work with director Uwe Boll again if asked.[5]
Laura Bailey, who was the voice of Rayne in the BloodRayne games, was asked at her panel at Anime Boston 2007 what her thoughts were on the BloodRayne movie and said "Oh God, that movie sucked. And that movie was so bad. I saw it on The Movie Channel and I couldn't even get through 20 minutes of it! It was so bad and it was kinda sad that they took that because I really liked the games."[6]
Critics ridiculed director Boll for hiring actual prostitutes instead of actors for a scene featuring Meat Loaf in order to save on production costs.[7][8] They were allegedly only paid €150.
In 2009, Time listed the film #6 on their list of top ten worst video games movies.[10]
The film was number one on Gametrailers countdown of the worst video game movies ever. The reviewers from Gametrailers said that "every actor is miscast, every wig is too fake, every sex scene is too inappropriate, and every action scene is too improvised."[11]
Home media
Next to the R-Rated version which was shown in cinemas, a more violent Unrated Director's cut was published on DVD. Overall the unrated version includes three extended violent scenes as well as an extended ending.[12]
