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Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat

Comedy · Horror · 1991

Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sunscreen to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.

Movie details

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat

“There's two kinds of folks in the town of purgatory. Vampires and lunch.”

1991 Comedy · Horror 1h 44m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sunscreen to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Vampire's Kiss

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Anthony Hickox

Written by

Anthony Hickox · John Burgess

David Carradine

David Carradine

Mardulak

Morgan Brittany

Morgan Brittany

Sarah

Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell

Van Helsing

Deborah Foreman

Deborah Foreman

Sandy

Jim Metzler

Jim Metzler

David

Maxwell Caulfield

Maxwell Caulfield

Shane

M. Emmet Walsh

M. Emmet Walsh

Mort

Court is in session

Put Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.