Loving genre movies can be an interesting personal romance. If someone says to you, “Are you a horror fan?” it’s easy to answer yes or no. But with all the sub-genres in horror, delve a little deeper, and you’ll find someone who may love one style of horror, say slasher movies, and despises another, say, anything that involves gratuitously hurting children.
When it comes to horror, I do love vampire films. I can vividly recall being a youngster, I’m thinking 4 or 5 max, and watching Frank Lagella’s Dracula late at night on basic cable. I remember being both riveted and frightened. Not long afterwards, I’d see Bela Lugosi as the Count and Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night, and my love affair with the vampire film was locked in tight. I’m especially a fan of when the genre takes a bit of a turn, such as in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk ’til Dawn, which, in my mind, still perfectly melds a crime movie and a vampire bloodbath.
While it doesn’t quite reach the classic status of From Dusk ’til Dawn, director Ryan Prows’ Night Patrol does play in the same sandbox, and does so in an entertaining fashion.
Here’s the log line: In NIGHT PATROL, an LAPD officer must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harbouring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in.
There’s a lot to like about Night Patrol, beginning with its concept: a group of late-night cops who happen to be vampires. That’s not a spoiler; it’s right there in the trailer, and it’s original. However, the film doesn’t rest on that idea. Night Patrol, with its use of gang turf wars and unique mysticism, is original in the context of vampire movies. And when I’m watching a film with fangs, where so much has already been done, originality is something I’m looking for.
Originality wouldn’t mean anything, mind you, without strong performances, and Night Patrol has a number of them, starting with its lead, Justin Long, who plays cop Ethan Hayworth, desperate to join the Night Patrol squad. Long is an actor whom I never appreciated in his early career, but whose work I’ve come to enjoy as he’s aged. He’s a lot of fun to watch in Night Patrol, especially in the film’s second half. The movie also features strong performances from Jermaine Fowler as Officer Xavier Powell, RJ Cyler as Powell’s brother, Wazi, and Nicki Micheaux as their mother, Ayanda.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Phil Brooks as Sgt. Marcus, a gleefully violent member of the Night Patrol. Pro wrestling fans will know Brooks as CM Punk, and his presence in the film will help draw in an audience who may not have otherwise watched Night Patrol. Brooks acquits himself well in a film that includes veteran actors like Long and Dermot Mulroney, and there’s a real-life glimmer in his eye whenever this avowed horror movie fan gets to cut loose as a vampire on screen.
The story and gory special effects made Night Patrol a lot of fun to watch for me; if there were any issues I had with the movie, it was the gratuitous use of the “n-word” throughout its runtime. Arguments can certainly be made that it’s a film about gangs set in a Black neighbourhood, and perhaps it’s an accurate depiction, but the words’ use was on a Tarantino level, at least to me, and was extremely noticeable, veering towards excessive.
Overall, Night Patrol turned out to be a bloody, fun, and original take on the vampire film, worth sinking one’s teeth into if you’re a fan of vampire flicks as a subgenre or just horror as a whole.
Night Patrol is in theatres now.
