It was only a matter of time before someone tried something new with the vampire mythos, and Strange Things ambitiously goes for the jugular by combining mobsters with bloodsuckers.  The result plays a bit like Mean Streets with vampires, and for the most part it’s an entertaining way to spend two hours.

Mobster Jimmy Fangs has a plan to roll out a new drug that will turn the users into his undead slaves.  But he’s got a few problems:  a low level hood just robbed him of a hundred large, and is on the run with his girlfriend and a hostage.  There’s also the matter of someone picking off members of his gang one by one.  Can an assassin he’s just hired help fix things despite the nagging from his insane wife?  Or will it end in even more bloodshed?

Weaving together a tapestry of storylines, Strange Things keeps things moving when it’s not lingering too long on one particular storyline.  There are really three movies intertwined here–a vampire hitwoman out for revenge, the gangsters marking their territory with a new drug, and the two-bit hood and his girlfriend holding a born-again woman hostage.  For the most part the three storylines work well together, and the ending makes a good effort at bringing it all together.

Unfortunately, the biggest weakness for me as a viewer was not really caring about any of the characters.  None are all that appealing, and any time one character comes close to being redeemable they go and do something even more horrific.  It makes things more real, but it also kept me from enjoying the movie more.

Another minor complaint:  here’s yet another vampire movie that throws out any vampire rules if they’re inconvenient.  Here vampires don’t care about crosses and have reflections and can go out in broad daylight.  But a knife through the heart (not a wooden stake) will kill them, and they like to feed on blood.  I’ve never really understood the need lately to rewrite the rules, but on a micro-budget I can understand making the changes.  It just would be nice to see some consistency and some actual logic behind why the changes were made instead of just announcing them at one point.

Technically Strange Things is consistently solid.  The lighting is a bit dark at times (it’s hard to tell in the early scenes that we’re actually seeing a vampire attack; at first it just looks like mobsters gnawing at their victims), but overall it’s done well enough to stand alongside anything else on the video shelves.  There are some nice attempts at stylish shots at well, especially when we first meet the vampire hitwoman.

The actors are in full mobster mode here, with thick accents and some acting just a bit over the top, but it works in the context of the story.  Very little is played for scares; instead it’s more like a drama played out with vampires, instead of a horror flick.

One thing I noticed–there is a whole lot of writhing and moaning in this movie.  I mean, if it was cut out this would be closer to 90 minutes than two hours.  The standard gear for women in the script is a tight t-shirt and panties, and before too long they’re all on the ground writhing around in blood while moaning.  It’s everywhere in the movie, from a dream sequence/flashback to a montage near the end.  I’m not really complaining, although I wonder if the movie would have moved a little quicker if there hadn’t been so much of it.

In the end Strange Things is an interesting concept, and for the most part it’s executed well.  While I would have preferred at least one character worth caring about, it’s a good entry in the vampire genre.