The Thompsons (2012)

The Thompsons: Directed by Mitchell Altieri, Phil Flores. With Cory Knauf, Samuel Child, Mackenzie Firgens, Joseph McKelheer. On the run with the law on their trail, America’s most anguished vampire family heads to England to find an ancient vampire clan. What they find instead could tear their family, and their throats, apart forever.

“After 6 years, The Butcher Brothers (Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores) return to the dysfunctional vampire family last seen in their low budget chiller The Hamiltons, who, as per that filmu0026#39;s finale, now go by the name of The Thompsons. When a stop at a roadside diner puts them in the middle of a robbery, youngest member Lenny (Ryan Hartwig) is seriously wounded. After slaughtering robber and patron alike, the fiendish family flees to Europe to find help from others like themselves and escape the police manhunt. In the small town of Ludlow, England they find their British equivalent, The Stuarts and it seems they have found help for Lenny in this kindred family. But, The Stuarts unveil their own sinister agenda and as Francis (Cory Knauf) falls in love with their beautiful daughter, Riley (Elizabeth Henstridge), a war of the vampire clans erupts and a blood soaked battle for supremacy begins. Where the first film was a creepy and twisted family drama, the sequel shows us what a Twilight movie would be like if they had any real fangs… and gallons of blood. And The Butcheru0026#39;s version of that neutered vampire saga is a lot more gory fun. Where the first movie kept their vampiric nature a secret till the end, this is a full blown vampire flick that explains a lot of about the characteru0026#39;s condition that wasnu0026#39;t fully explored in The Hamiltons. There are barely any humans in the cast either and those that are, donu0026#39;t last long. Itu0026#39;s all red eyes, bared fangs and spurting blood. The film moves quickly too, at barely over 80 minutes, so there is little time wasted on melodrama and what I really liked was how the Butchers turned the sick and blood thirsty Hamiltons/Thompsons into the victims this time round and thus the heroes. We find ourselves rooting for characters that creep-ed us out in the first movie and that was part of what made this sequel entertaining. If you are a fan of The Hamiltons you probably will enjoy this sequel especially as the original cast are all back, except for Hartwig as Lenny, and they are taken in a different direction. The budget is slightly larger but, not by a lot as the Butcheru0026#39;s style seems to be a good fit for low budget indie horrors. Itu0026#39;s not perfect, there are some flaws, itu0026#39;s not as atmospheric or creepy like the first film, not that it lacks itu0026#39;s share of shocking moments, but, overall an enjoyably different follow-up to the disturbing original.”