TEMPTATION

(A.k.a. BLACK TOWER TEMPTATION)

"London, England". Isabel (Caroline Haines) frets with herself, trying to muster the courage to throw herself off a bridge and to her death.

We rewind to "Two Days Earlier" to discover the reason why. This finds Isabel out on the piss with a bunch of girl friends, but leaving the pub early on her own because she's feeling nauseous. A middle-aged taxi driver (Jim Ford) spies the pretty blonde vomiting on the roadside and stops to offer her a lift. Unfortunately, his sympathy is false and Isabel winds up being raped by him in a darkened alley.

So, is it good fortune or not when a sultry flame-haired vamp notices the altercation - stepping in to kill the taxi driver and proffer Isabel a mouthful of her immortal blood?

Confused and distressed by all that has happened, Isabel returns home and jumps into the bathtub to clean herself of blood and tears. Her younger sister, the sexily blonde Kylie (Laura Evans) tries to console her, but Isabel is far too mortified to have anyone near her. Besides, what is that strange urge that she feels when Kylie gets close enough for her to smell ...?

The following day, Isabel is wearing shades in daylight and suffering from violent flashbacks of the night before. It doesn't help that her mother is an unsympathetic witch who believes her condition is down to a self-inflicted hangover.

Come the evening time, much to Kylie's consternation, Isabel discards her bloodied robes from the night before and heads out on the pull. A red scarf is now tied around her neck.

By the time she meets with caddish boyfriend Simon (Alexander D'Andrea) outside a strip joint, the audience is already able to identify and empathise with her. Meanwhile the cops are investigating a spate of blood-draining murders in the area, and there are strange things going down at a curious red-hued club called Temptation ...

Sexy female vampires, rich visuals and an acute sound design: TEMPTATION is a cut above your average DTV British horror film. In fact, compared to the last two I've watched - DEAD CERT and Hammer's very own BEYOND THE RAVE - this is a minor masterpiece. Even if the acting is a little suspect at times. Virtually every scene in TEMPTATION appears to have been carefully considered on a visual level. Colours and framing are fairly meticulous, which help to create a pleasing thematic consistency: the tone of the film is never compromised. Director Catherine Taylor has nailed it in this respect.

Julianne White's screenplay may be a little clunky in the dialogue department, and a tad dependant on Anne Rice clichés (how much angst?!) but the modern spin on these conventions pulls TEMPTATION through and helps it register as a better-than-average contemporary vampire film.

Beyond which, when did naked babes soaked in blood become anything but a good thing ...?

TEMPTATION is presented uncut, with an 18 rating from the BBFC for "strong bloody horror, strong sex and a scene of sexual violence".

It looks marvellous in a pin-sharp, clean and vivid widescreen transfer that has been enhanced for 16x9 television sets.

English audio is proffered in 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Both are fine, with the latter really accentuating the pummelling rock sounds that occasionally feature during the film.

The disc opens with static menu pages, which lead into an animated scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras are kicked off with a 29-minute featurette that takes in interviews with virtually all of the cast and crew. They begin by introducing themselves, and then get to the good stuff - describing "the filming experience". Complemented by some nice split-screen effects and behind-the-scenes footage, this is a highly beneficial piece.

"The Drowners" is a 12-minute short from Taylor. It's described on the IMDb as being about "the decentring effect of emotional connection and romantic tension within a microcosm". They mean repressed lesbian desire. Anyhow, it's an attractive and well-paced affair that shows Taylor off as a visualist and conceptual artist of some skill. Nice music too.

Finally, we get trailers for the awful S.N.U.B.! and BAD DAY, which looks pretty interesting.

Not particularly gory but very stylish and often sexy, TEMPTATION is a beautifully shot and unexpectedly intelligent film that provides a nice slice of vampire Gothique at the reportedly nice price of a £500,000 budget. It's a good film for what it is, and the disc is excellent.

Review by Stu Willis