Night Owl

Movie shot in b&w and takes place in NYC in 1984 (for no reason I could see). Jake (James Raftery) is 19. He's handsome and popular but there's one problem--he's a vampire (none of his friends know). One night he brings home Zohra (Karen Wexler) and, after some rough sex, drinks her blood. He stuffs her body in a trash bag and throws it away. Her hot-headed brother Angel (John Leguizamo) is looking for her and won't give up. Also Jake falls in love with Anne (Ali Thomas)--but can he control his blood lust?

I'm going to be nice to this movie. It was made on an ultra low budget and though it doesn't succeed it has plenty of moments. First--the bad. I found the soundtrack VERY loud and obnoxious. It's punk rock and I don't like it. The script is kind of hard to follow and a lot of things just don't make sense. Also there's no real ending. The movie just sort of stops. But--I still like it in some strange way. For one thing the acting is good. Raftery is handsome and intense in the lead role. He expertly portrays his character's anguish at having to drink people's blood and his struggle to suppress it. Also he has multiple nude scenes and does have a nice body. Leguizamo is also good (if a little TOO hot-headed) as Angel. Actually no one is really bad. Also there's some nice directorial touches from director Jeffrey Arsenault. I LOVE one scene where all you see is Jake's eyes as he's watching Anne. Also there's an interview with the fabulous Caroline Munro about vampires. It's in b&w but on the DVD they have the full interview in color. So--this is far from perfect but I really like something about it. It was a labor of love for the director and it shows. I give it a 6.