Abe's Tomb
Directed by Carl M. Merrit
Brain Damage Films

That old saying if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all is going through my head while I'm writing this review. Abe's Tomb is a film that I tried to enjoy, but it ultimately is a terrible film in so many ways. With low budget film an essential ingredient for it to work is fun. Abes Tomb is a film that takes itself completely seriously, and when the production values are this low it just doesnt work. Everything from the fake vampire teeth to the guns used, the props are extremely cheap looking and in all honesty it would have been forgivable if there were a sense of campy fun to the film, but light hearted moments are few and far between.

The film tells the story of a small town that becomes infested with vampires. The story begins after the infestation with the sheriff of the town dictating the story to the town reporter. A great deal of the film is spent with the sheriff supplying voiceovers while the characters interact underneath. It gets old quite quickly and as the movie goes on they seem to do it much more often. The main problem is that the person playing the Sheriff really isnt a good actor. So it is very easy to tell that he is just reading a script. The remainder of the cast is of the same skill level and it really gives the film an amateur feel, almost like a student film.

The writing honestly doesn't fare much better than the acting. There are a number of scenes that show the police just firing into the forest. We never see what they are shooting at, sure it is implied that they are shooting at vampires, but a shot showing one getting hit with a bullet now and again might have helped. Another noodle scratching moments is when they are waiting for the vampires to huddle together in a group in the middle of a field so they can shoot them and blow up those still standing. I've never been under the impression that vampires huddled together, these aren't zombies after all. Throwing out the vampires can only come out at night myth also seemed to be more of a way to keep the movie set during the day because I have a feeling their camera might not have been able to handle low lighting.

I think that the makers of this movie had good intentions but didn't quite have the budget or skill to achieve their goals. The basic premise of the movie was well put together, but the acting and microscopic budget make this a movie that never quite comes together.