slayrrr666 "Desert of Blood" is a really problematic, if decent at times entry.**SPOILERS**Discovered in the Mexican desert, Luis Diego, (Justin Quinn) buried for several decades, awakes as a vampire and joins with Carlos, (Mike Dusi) a small-time criminal, to set out on a quest for vengeance. When he begins, Maricela, (Brenda Romero) and her friends Heather, (Natalie J. Horton) and Samantha, (Tori White) decide to come down to help out her family, and upon both groups meeting up with each other, decide to become friends over his stories about a past friendship with the family. As they stay to help out and more and more bodies around the town turn up missing, they start to question who he really is, and as soon as local Cris, (Naim Thomas) helps them to realize he is a vampire and that his quest is still going on, they all race to stop it from being completed.The Good News: There was a couple of things here that worked. One of the best points is that the few vampire encounters on display are somewhat enjoyable. There's not a whole lot of them, but they are really good and some of the only times when the film has any sort of momentum going forward. The encounter in the garage is really nice, where the reversal of whether the expected attack was going to occur then or not was really well-done and made for an exciting time, and the bar encounter is really fun and enjoyable. Also really nice is the first scenes out and about roaming the countryside, which manages to feature some pretty nice kills and a lot of vampiric action taking place to a great time overall. There's also the fight with the renegade vampire in the brothel, which is short but really good. The big part, though, is the finale where it's all brought out, and with all the different elements brought in, from the vampire's tactics to their defenses and combined with a great setting that plays a part of everything mixes together into an exciting, full-on interesting and exciting encounter that certainly ends the film on a bright note. The last good part to this one is that the few times it's actually gory on-screen it's all worthwhile. There's a couple bloody bits to the neck with splatter shooting out onto the surroundings, burnt skin through exposure to crosses or sunlight, a cross impaled in the chest and an impaling with a pool cue through the chest, even though none of them are truly spectacular. Along with an atmospheric opening, these here are the film's best parts.The Bad News: There was some really big problems with this one. One of the film's biggest problems is that there's really just a lot of scenes that go on-and-on for no reason, making this one awfully dull. There's a couple different reasons for that, none more important than the romance angle. There's been a ton of them in the genre before, so it's no surprise it features one as well, but this one is just so hastily built together and haphazardly organized that it doesn't feel in the slightest bit logical or realistic, and just not believable. Having been saved from a potential rape, the only thing that's learned during the whole romance is each other's name, and yet that's enough for a deep commitment and difficulty in believing and accepting the vampiric tendencies of him later comes as a complete surprise, which doesn't make sense since nothing is given as to why that would be so. It's incredibly distracting and takes the viewer right out of it. There's also the fact that, besides featuring a clichéd angle lamely, there's a ton of time devoted to the family and the friendship between everyone, which is just over-developed to the point of it taking up a ton of screen-time. These elements here just make the film last to long that it doesn't have much of an opportunity to get many vampire scenes in, even though he's there but not in action. That may just be as well, since this is one of the most physically underwhelming vampires in the genre. There's nothing about him that gives off any kind of intimidating presence, there's barely anything that really screams as though he's going to be doing anything that will be difficult to overcome or prove dangerous to those going up against him, and beyond the mere fact that he's a vampire, really doesn't do much of anything to really make him intimidating. The last flaw to this one is the fact that there's a lot of off-screen kills that really tone down the amount of gore potentially could've been used. There's about an even amount of physically on-screen and off-screen, which is pretty bad and should've been favored more to one-side. These here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: While not one of the worst entries in the genre, it doesn't have a whole lot to really recommend about it either. Really only worthwhile for the most hardcore vampire-film completist, while those who are looking for more rewarding fare or not a fan of the genre should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity and a clothed Sex Scene

Kaylen I thought the premise was really neat - being trapped underground for 35 years before waking up to the world that's changed so much, and the whole trying to be good thing and not knowing where to fit in, it seemed reminiscent of souled vampires in the slayer-verse or even some Anne Rice characters. I'm not saying this was Buffy or Vampire Chronicles caliber - it was def b-movie indie, but I liked it. I don't know if it was the setting or the writing/acting, but I got a total telenovela vibe from this, which made the movie really fun to watch. The gore wasn't excessive, and for the guys, there was the obligatory hot-topless-chick. My fave part was Justin Quinn (absolutely yummy!), who could give Stuart Townsend's Lestat a run for his money.8/10 A fun, kind of camp vamp movie

meg67-1 I would give his film an 8.5 out of 10, it is not an Oscar caliber movie but i do not know how many horror films are. I enjoyed watching it. I laughed at some funny parts and enjoyed the different outlook on the undead. The movie never came out and said that they were vampires and it also deals with a complicated question, Can a vampire be good even though he needs blood to survive?I found that my friends and I were discussing this question long after the film was over. Which all this the film was still suspenseful and scary. I would not recommend watching this movie at night when you are alone.

donfischi this film is a total waste of time. first of all the story is totally uninspired. it's like put together from a few random vampire books and contains absolutely no surprises or suspense or what you might else expect from a vampire story. well OK there is a simple romance thing but that too is not very well executed imho. the characters are also not even two dimensional, but simple and boring like a line in the dust. that said, the acting is as bad as the script. it feels like quite bad soap opera style acting. the only excuse for the actors is imho that it might be really hard to deliver a good performance with such a lousy script.finally there is not even close enough blood and stuff to provide even a little fun in a kind of old school splatter b movie style.