There's a place between the living and the dead... and it is open 24 hours.
First and foremost, let us state the obvious: the taxi driver talks like a "constipated Christopher Walken", in the words of my girlfriend. And that is unfortunately annoying, but not annoying enough to distract from an otherwise good film. The lead actor is pretty good and rivals Johnny Depp's performance in "Edward Scissorhands". These films share the same sensibility in many respects, but go off is quite different directions.
Even David Cronenberg showcases his acting, which is just as remarkable as his directing (he is also excellent in "Nightbreed"). His bowling shoes analogy could have sounded asinine from someone else's lips, but Cronenberg makes it sound profound.
I loved the parallel with heroin addiction, which was particularly topical for a mid-1990s film, as the grunge was literally dying from the drug. I do not know if this was intentional, but i certainly felt like there was some inspiration there. While it is hard to call any vampire film "fresh", this one has some aspects that make the old genre seem new.
The worst thing about this movie? The title. What has kept me away from this movie for almost twenty years is that terrible name, which gives the impression of an even lower budget film than it is. In fact, it is not a bad movie at all and at least as good as the average 1990s horror film. More people should really give it a chance.
