User reviews

Sat down to watched this tonight and was very excited at both the premise and, the both Guy Pierce and Pettyfur were starring.

While production is decent, acting is very good (with some dialogue & scenes being excellent) - this is Guy Pierce, after all, even great acting cannot salvage what is ultimately an extremely boring movie overall.

The title of the movie is also very confusing not to mention the story itself. There are a number of plot holes which leave the viewer asking obvious questions, for which, there are no answers in the themes nor in the dialogue to explain.

All of this while trying not to fall asleep at what are some extremely long, completely unnecessary & repetitive scenes. Excruciatingly long camera pans of objects such as a chain, wind up just being utterly boring instead of building tension or fear

Outside of Pierce's acting or a desire to take a nap, I would skip this one entirely tbh. 5/10 for the acting & cinematography.

Let me start off by saying that the only thing this movie has going for it is the acting. That's it. Nothing else about it will be acclaimed, thought of fondly, or even remembered a few months from now. It's one of those movies that you're not sure why it even exists. It says it's a horror movie, but was it really? I am fully convinced that this movie started off as a slow burn drama, some executive read the script and said, "You know what this movie needs? Vampires!". That's the only plausible explanation I can think of for such a thoroughly unremarkable film.

I felt absolutely no fear or even the slightest inkling of it during its entire runtime, and some segments felt like an afterthought, as if the film was finished when someone else came in with their asinine ideas and decided to make this movie something other than what it originally was. As a slow burn, small town drama, this might have worked. The acting was PHENOMENAL, so much so that, had it not been as good, I would have turned the movie off 20 minutes in. But every single actor played their role perfectly, and kept me invested in what little story there was to be invested in.

Whoever decided to turn this movie from a drama to a supernatural horror film really ruined what little this movie had going for it. They decided to include a vampire, but this vampire can walk in the sun, has no super strength or speed, is brooding in an unlikable sort of way, and just doesn't do anything that could be considered vampire-like aside from drinking chicken blood. It's really a shame that this film couldn't decide what it wanted to be from the onset, and picking the more fleshed out genre could have made something out this mess. What we do get, however, is ideas that appear shoe-horned and out of place, to the detriment of the entire picture.

I gave this movie 3 stars for the acting alone, because the talent of the actors in this film is undeniable. But with such a shoddy script, no real horror elements, and some really sophomoric looking special effects, the film has absolutely nothing else going for it. It's truly a shame to see such talent squandered by the bad decisions of a few talking heads. Next time, try to pick a genre that makes sense, without trying to fit a square peg in the round hole of ideas for a movie.

Avoid this film. If you must watch it, do so for the acting. But be warned that nothing else about it will leave even a lasting impression.

The story is a bit of a riff on the classic vampire tail with some Stephen King elements thrown in. Racist small town terrorizes newcomer Asian family. A stranger crosses paths with this family. He may be friend or foe. His status is not exactly made clear through the film. What is clear is that the direction is awful. What is clear is that script is thin and threadbare but there is enough to make a decent movie with if you have a good director and acting talent. The direction is terrible. At times the film seems to try to have David Lynch moments. What you are left with is a series of shots of dear throughout the film that only add more confusion.

The lead actor is also beyond wooden. He walks around the entire film with a dead stare, which you could argue is part of his character. Except he also acts that way during a scene with someone close to him in which great emotion is expected. Guy Pearce (the reason I saw the film) is his usual great. But he does a lot while given very little and in the end can't carry the entire film or make up for it's shortcomings.

In the end, I'm not going to say not to watch the film, especially if you like Guy Pearce, but do not expect it to be a good one.

In a sea of brooding trench coat and hillbullies, Guy Pierce's acting shines like a beacon of hope. Sadly, the monsters seem to be on a coffee break, leaving us pondering life's mysteries instead. The revenge plot? About as thrilling as watching paint dry. With more loose ends than a cat's yarn ball, the film's potential fizzles faster than a vampire in sunlight. And don't get me started on the broodiness - it's like waiting for a magician to pull a rabbit out of an empty hat, mystical but ultimately disappointing.

In a world saturated with vampire tales, you'd think we'd see the bloodsuckers coming from a mile away. But no, we're left scratching our heads as the supposed monster - more like a vampire with an identity crisis - requires guns, gasoline, and fire to inflict any damage. Talk about a plot twist as predictable as a sunrise. I rest my case.

"Sunrise" aspires to be a slow-burning suspense thriller, but unfortunately, the meticulously built tension fails to ignite in a satisfying way. While the film boasts ok performances, the pacing and underwhelming climax leave you feeling like you sat through a long build-up with nothing to show for it.

The film takes its sweet time revealing its secrets, and the suspense starts to wane with each passing scene. You find yourself yearning for some payoff, a jolt of horror, or even a significant plot development.

Unfortunately, the payoff never quite arrives. The big reveal, when it finally comes, feels underwhelming and will leave you feeling frustrated and shortchanged.

This subversive garbage from Northern Ireland, UK is not a vampire horror movie and has little to do with the US Pacific Northwest. It's tedious race-baiting that has very little to do with reality.

The sort of backward small American town depicted here does not exist. At least not that I've ever seen and I've lived all over the US including throughout the Pacific Northwest which has a huge disperse Asian population. This film is also insulting toward small town Northern Irish.

The character played by Alex Pettyfer is empty with no depth, although I'm guessing that's how it was directed and I'm beginning to wonder if Guy Pearce isn't overrated. He's played this type of role before in Brimstone, a better film then this one but not by much.

This is a badly produced film that is terribly written and poorly directed.

I was expecting to see a vampire horror film not a social science project with a political agenda.

Based on some of the reviews here, I'm not sure if anyone actually watch the movie all the way through.

The subtleties of the theme and the nuances of the subject were spot on. Racism at its finest and the hero that chooses to step up and put himself in front of it.

Was it mistakenly put in the wrong thematic category? Yes. This was not horror in the slightest. This was more drama thriller.

Who cares if the writers chose to use a vampire as the hero. It's the writers prerogative to make their hero anyone they would like. They chose a vampire and took that subject into a different direction.

Guy Pearce and Alex Pettyfer were phenomenal as their characters, taking all the liberties with their characters and adding the depth of the subject and making it worth watching.

The flashbacks provided the understanding to Pettyfer's character and his reasoning for being the hero for this family. Just because they didn't focus on the strength and speed at every turn of the character doesn't mean that you didn't see it. It was there but it wasn't the main focus and that is why it made so fulfilling to see it when it did happen.

I was a bit confused by the ending but that was it. Overall, good atmospheric film. And no I don't have anything to do with the film, so my review is 100% my opinion.

For such a slow paced atmospheric movie, it was very short. The story is simple, yet brutal. A psychopathic redneck and his crazy mother rule a small American town with an iron fist, killing, blackmailing and generally doing bad stuff. The redneck has a particular issue with non-whites, so he goes out of his way to scare them off, run them off or just off them. Guy Pierce was great for the role. And here comes a mysterious stranger - who is not a stranger - back to seek revenge, that being Alex Pettyfer.

There is nothing more than that. The rest is just brooding people, angry people, stupid redneck people and weird creepy soundtrack. Like a very short, slow paced, low budget The Crow.

I don't know why this film is rated so low. Just because people expected action and got "this too shall pass"? Or because people were systematically abused and they didn't seem to be able to do anything about it, which made most watcher feel sick to their stomachs?

Bottom line: Not a masterpiece, but a film worth watching. The IMDb rating is just wrong.

For some reason I decided to watch this movie without even looking at the IMDB rating beforehand which I rarely do. Man did I mess up and waste my time.

Guy Pearce was wasted on this film but I hope at least he got a decent paycheck out of it because he did try to carry the movie; but....that was too much weight to carry sorry. The rest of the cast was pretty forgettable and I can tell some of them tried but just weren't convincing.

Now for the plot and the pacing.....yeesh...I would attribute it to taking a M. Night Shyamalan movie with no twist or eeriness and combining it with a shoddy origin antihero story like Morbius or Kraven The Hunter. It felt weird and forced. It was boring at the best of times and wacky writing any of the other times.

Don't even watch this if you are bored; that's all.

Where to begin. Okay, let's start with the fact that the actors are not to blame for this debacle. The acting was fine. Although they must have had doubts at times with where the story was heading.

The real failure here must lie with the Director, or perhaps the producers who turned the work of the talented cast into a woke pile of refuse.

If it deserves an award, it would have to be for "most commercial b-roll footage". And it wasn't even symbolically relevant. I was expecting lead credits to be Getty images. Just to add filler imagery to make this film look artistic. Perhaps this was secretly an experiment to see what an AI directed film would look like. Because that is how I felt watching it. This film has absolutely no soul.

The only thing I found slightly compelling was the sympathetic depiction of "both sides" of an issue that really should be settled by now.

So much of the film didn't make sense, that I'm convinced someone either gave up on it or we just witnessed an experiment in AI generated production/editing/directing.

In the end, I walked away feeling empty, angry, and disappointed. For all the wrong reasons.

I was lucky enough to watch this film in the perfect setting a small cinema in Los Angeles. The film looks and sounds great, really nicely shot with performances that leave you feeling challenged. The music is an original composition and works so incredibly well with the narrative, it somehow imbeds itself and sets the perfect tone for the film. Because the acting is so good the darker scenes seem all the more dark. I really give the director credit for creating one world that's familiar and believable but also shocking and relatable all at the same time.

Alex Pettyfer and Guy Pearce hold the film together well, their characters are deep and somber which adds to the menace of the film.

A score here on IMDb of 4.3 at the moment I write this review is really a bit too harsh. This movie is definitely well acted, the cinematography is fine, and there's a dark and ominous atmosphere that gives it a very intense feel, helped by a strong eerie score.

Biggest problem however is the ambiguous premise. On the one hand it's a very serious and cynical account of a hardworking Asian immigrant mother and son being bullied, harassed and intimidated to the extreme by a relentless, arrogant strongman of a little village and his boneless sycophants. On the other hand it's a lame creature-feature with some voodoo and bloody vampire-aspects. The two simply don't match, and to be honest: the first could easily have done without the other, the movie and its message would have been exactly the same (probably much better!) if Alex Pettyfer's character had come back after 10 years to take revenge on his former tormentors on his own account, so without all the supernatural help and humbug.

Guy Pierce is absolutely great as the raving, bigoted brute. I was equally impressed by Crystal Yu and William Gao as the exasperated besieged mother and son. It's almost hard to believe that the latter played in the series "Heartstopper" the endearing and slightly goofy Tao; here he is a completely different person as the firm protector of his mother. Pettyfer has the disadvantage of playing a taciturn, brooding hero, so his acting consists mainly of looking grim and uttering monosyllabic lines. He looks great however, which is worth something too.