The Durr household often enjoys a good vampire flic to warm the candlelight around the old HDTV (hey, shouldn’t I be writing this for the 31 days of October delight?). The taste of blood, the price of your soul, nothing can prepare you for the demons that are right outside your door. Sure, they can promise you sexual pleasure and immortality but that blood is really hard to get out of your clothes. This evening we explore the title We Are the Night featuring four ghoulish women on the cover. Will they sate our palette for blood or perhaps share with us grooming tips? Let’s find out.
We open up to a plane on auto-pilot that is witness to a horrifying display of murder and blood letting. Three girls, Louise, Charlotte, and Nora (played by Nina Hoss, Jennifer Ulrich, and Anna Fischer respectively) survey the damage. Unfortunately, none of them really know how to fly a plane, but that’s what they get for killing the pilot. They get ready for their departure but Louise hears one more voice from the back of the cabin. She finds a stewardess and looks deep into her eyes before snapping her neck. The three women soon depart for the ground below.
Meanwhile, in Berlin a young girl named Lena (played by Karoline Herfurth) plans a rather simple heist in the form of a stolen ATM card. However, upon her theft, it seems that she broke up a crucial sting operation with a pimp who employs under-aged women. A local cop, Tom (played by Max Riemelt) takes after her. He chases her through a supermarket where Lena steals some clothes and makes her getaway to a local bridge.
Lena changes into her stolen clothes and Tom spots her but does not think that Lena is the criminal because he was pursuing what he thought was a man in a hooded sweatshirt. He sits down next to her and chats her up for a spell. All of the sudden, he sees Lena’s wound and tries to arrest her. He gets hit in the face for his efforts and Lena soon jumps off the bridge on to a nearby boat. Later, she does try to get some money from the ATM card but finds no funds can be withdrawn.
Disappointed, she decides to attend a local rave which is being held behind an old amusement park. As Lena walks in, she is being watched on camera by no other than Louise who sees something in her eyes. Lena soon walks onto the dance floor and Louise is soon there to join her in a dance and perhaps a drink after. But Lena is a bit shy and resists Louise’s advances. She departs to leave for the bathroom but Louise follows her and proceeds to bite her in the shoulder. Lena runs back to her house, but her pain and story is just beginning. The tale of one girl with the three women of the night.
The film continues along the arc of what happens to the girl and the relationship she forms with these other three women. It is an interesting story but I do feel as if bits and pieces of the movie are ripped from other popular films. It has a good dose of action and the four main women do a particularly good job especially the likes of Nina Hoss and Anna Fischer. Even Max Riemelt does a good job with his small but important part. But there is simply not enough here to wet our appetite whether it be for blood or for something else promised on the cover.
The cover and description state in quite a few places that there is sexiness or possibly a racy appeal to the movie. In reality, there is not much that I would describe as sexy. Sure, the four women included are pretty nice to look at (especially Anna Fischer and Jennifer Ulrich) but for the most part they play the role of a savage or repressed vampire, not of one who wants to play into the whole sexy bisexual vampire mythos. There a few winks to be had, but for what the cover (or trailer) seems to imply, the viewer will be sorely disappointed.
Video
The video is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. The movie tends to have a ton of dark shots due to the nature of the film. Thankfully, the feature does quite well at showing detail despite the obvious difficulty in proper lighting. Colors, especially those of the darker palette are done well here. There is much variety in the four vampires and they don’t blend together because of the well-chosen dress and costumes. I wouldn’t call it amazing, but it is definitely a cut above the average.
Audio
For the audio portion, we get a 5.1 Dolby Digital in German and English dub. This is one area where I was very pleasantly surprised. German dialog is strong and the subs are not confusing at all. One almost forgets that this is a foreign language film at all. The soundtrack is amazing and my wife actually is looking for a copy (check Amazon under its German name, Wir Sind Die Nacht). Surrounds are also frequent and make good use of the rear speakers. Subtitles are included for English, English SDH and Spanish.
Special Features
- Automatic Trailers: Choose, Wrecked, The Silent House and The Countess
- Trailer 2:13: The trailer, again it gives a different picture of the film in my opinion.
- Interviews 17:36: These are short snippets (and cut terribly) of talks with Karoline Herfurth, Nina Hoss, Anna Fischer, Jennifer Ulrich, Max Riemelt and a couple of crew members (I assume maybe a director and perhaps a producer but they never say).
- Behind the Scenes 6:59: A few scenes are shown from the view of the director such as the Rave and the Supermarket chase scene.
Final Thoughts
In the end, We Are the Night fails to separate itself from the slew of vampire movies that we find ourselves watching those faithful nights in October (and many other months of the year depending on your movie taste). It is certainly not a bad film, it just never gets to the point where we say wow, that’s a great movie. It is an average one and never quite develops the way we hoped it would. There are a few notable performances but nothing that truly stands out.
The disc package starts off well with some decent video and great audio but rounds out with a mostly disappointing extras section that feels more thrown in there than anything else. It also gets a clear dvd case which I have special place in my heart for. I can neither recommend nor say to the viewer to stay away from this one. It is really hard to place in either category. So I guess if there is a night where you have watched Dracula or Interview with a Vampire for the 37th time and want something different, then We Are the Night might be what you are in the mood for.
