Reign in Blood

An interruption from the De Palma material to mention today's straight-to-DVD release of Uwe Boll's first-ever (but not last) sequel: BloodRayne 2: Deliverance. A semantic query: can a movie be considered a director's cut if it hasn't had a previous release?

BloodRayne 2 is a sequel to the first film, not an adaptation of the sequel to the original videogame source. Come to think of it, it may not be particularly related to either; the cast is replaced (Natassia Malthe takes the title role) and the setting, rather than 18th century Romania, is now the Old West. Michael Paré and Zack Ward join Malthe as, respectively, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

2005's BloodRayne was the third consecutive video game adaptation from Boll, based on a relatively high-profile 2002 actioner (the character appeared topless in Playboy) about a sexy knife- (and gun-) wielding vampire fighting an occult Nazi splinter group. After the universal distaste for House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, it's hard to conceive of Boll being able to hook either famous or talented cast, but check the roster for BloodRayne: Kristanna Loken, Michael Madsen, Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Meatloaf, Billy Zane, Michelle Rodriguez, Sir Ben Kingsley.

Loken wasn't exactly a star, but coming off Terminator 3 in 2003, was certainly at her prime moment of casting-director awareness.

Additionally unexpected: a script by the respectable Guinevere Turner, who came to notice in 1994 with Go Fish and again with the American Psycho script.

BloodRayne cost an estimated $25 million. It tanked, grossing about a tenth of that in the U.S. and about 3.6 mil worldwide, though DVD rental and sales would help out. BloodRayne 2: Deliverance came in at about $8.5 mil.
BloodRayne 3: Warhammer is in the early stages.


From Time's 10 Questions segment:
TIME: What were you thinking when you accepted a role in BloodRayne?
BEN KINGSLEY: I don't know whether to be upset or flattered by that question. To be honest, I have always wanted to play a vampire, with the teeth and the long black cape. Let's say that my motives were somewhat immature for doing it.

I kind of like him even more now.