BloodRayne DVD, 2006

This action-horror film is set in ancient Romania and stars Kristianna Loken (TERMINATOR 3) as Rayne, a half-human/half-vampire sworn to kill her evil tyrant vampire father (Ben Kingsley). Michael Madsen, Michelle Rodriguez, and Matthew Davis play a trio of vampire hunters who ally themselves with Rayne. Based on a video game, this film offers a lot more blood, gore, and nudity--and less CGI effects--than most of its modern vamp contemporaries. With all its swords, chained breasts, gushing arteries, and severed heads, BLOODRAYNE seems more like a welcome throwback to early 1980s sword and sorcery films. In between the slashing and gouging there are torch-lit castles, nefarious booby traps, blurry flashbacks, and aerial camera shots that swoop down through the gorgeous Carpathian landscapes. There's a number of name actors in bit parts, including Meat Loaf (as a vamp surrounded by nubile naked concubines), Geraldine Chaplin (as a fortune teller), and--clearly having the most fun--Billy Zane as a bored vampire king plotting to take over the kingdom. BLOODRAYNE is directed by Uwe Boll, the man who gave us the video game adaptations of HOUSE OF THE DEAD and ALONE IN THE DARK.