Summaries

What happens when normal people find they need to kill, in order to survive? This is the story of such a group of people, suddenly turned into vampires, and carving a path of blood and mayhem throughout New York City. Slowly, they lose their grip on reality, and turn into an army of anti-social, psychopathic misfits; and surely, they turn on each other.—Marc Fratto <[email protected]>

Strange Things Happen at Sundown is the story of vampires run amuck in New York City. There's a group of low level mobsters with fangs, there's an age-old vampire who does mob hits for money, there's a pair of vampire lovers on the run. Throw in a born again Christian trying to bring one of the vampires over to her side, an Italian girl from Brooklyn bitten by vampires and left to endure an agonizing three-day turn and a psychotic four-hundred year old blood-sucking housewife with a fetish for cleanliness and virgin girls. All of them are being hunted by a nefarious vinyl clad woman whose intentions are mysterious and powers are unmatched...—J. L.

Details

Keywords
  • vampire
  • blood
  • dark comedy
  • mobster
  • bisexual
Genres
  • Action
  • Comedy
  • Horror
Release date Nov 29, 2003
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) R
Countries of origin United States
Language English
Filming locations Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Production companies Insane-O-Rama Productions

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 2h 15m
Color Color
Sound mix Stereo
Aspect ratio

Synopsis

Saturday night: Jimmy 'Fangs' Petrucci [Joseph DeVito] is P.O.ed. He's just been kicked out of theband he manages. You don't do this to Jimmy 'Fangs' and live. First,however, Jimmy has other business to take care of...namely, informingMicky 'Balls' and Fat Frankie that he is taking over Micky's narcoticsterritory. When Micky and Frankie resist, Jimmy, along with his henchmen-- Joey 'the Butcher' Mandone [Joshua Nelson], Nicky 'the Tooth' [Giovanni DeMarco], and Paulie 'Hands' [Michael Massimino] -- takeout Micky, Fat Frankie, and their molls, Annette and Vicky...not withheaters, but with fangs. Just before finishing off Vicky [Melissa Bacelar], Joey recognizesher as a friend of his sister, so he decides to turn Vicky instead. Therest get stabbed in the heart, as all good vampires do to their food afterthey've finished eating.

Sunday: Marcel Thomas [J Scott Green], one of Jimmy's deliverymen as well as his maker, is onthe lam to Montreal with $100,000 of Jimmy's money when he and hisgirlfriend Amy [Jocasta Bryan] run into car trouble. In need of blood and a car, Marceltakes both from Good Samaritan Jonathan who stops to help. Marcel and Amyalso take Jonathan's wife, Annabelle [Shannon Moore], to keep 'on ice' for later. To proveto Annabelle that they are vampires, Marcel allows Annabelle to shoot himin the head. What he doesn't count on is Annabelle taking a second shot,this time shooting out his right eye, something that will take at least aweek to regrow. Jimmy is getting concerned. He hasn't heard from Marcel with regardsto his money nor is Marcel answering his phone. It looks like somethinghas happened, and the most likely scenario is that Marcel has abscondedwith the money. Jimmy, Joey, and Nicky stop by Paulie's house to rouse himout of bed. To their horror, they find that Paulie has been shot in thehead and stabbed through the heart. Only a black rose has been left as acalling card. Jimmy thinks it might have been Marcel who did the killing,but he's wrong. Unbeknown to anyone, there is a new vampire [Masha Sapron] on the scene[known in the credits only as 'the Narrator'], and she's so unhappy abouther situation that she's looking to kill her maker...once she findshim...and God help any other vampires who cross her path. She's a powerfulone, this yearling. She is stronger and faster than 95% of the vampiresout there. She can go invisible and read minds, while vampires like Amyand Nicky 'the Tooth', have yet to even figure out how to make their ownfangs come out.

In the meantime, Jimmy has something to show to Joey and Nicky. Jimmyhas a friend who is both a vampire and a drug maker. He has developed away to mix vampire blood with marijuana, creating a fast and easy way toturn pot smokers into zombies who will do their master's bidding as wellas clean up the bodies left behind. To demonstrate, Jimmy rounds up a fewemployees whom he suspects of stealing from him and forces them to take afew hits. Within seconds, they are reduced to flesh-eating zombies. It isJimmy's plan to build himself an army of these zombies, but first he mustget back that missing $100,000, and Jimmy knows just the guy who can doit...the Reaper. The Reaper [Steve Gonzalez] is a powerful old vampire, so powerful that he casts noreflection in a mirror. Rumor has it that the Reaper is thousands of yearsold, never was human, and originally came from Romania. No one knows whathe looks like because he always wears a long black robe and a cowl overhis face. The Reaper and his wife June [Livia Llewellyn], who is 443 years old and once wasa countess in Hungary, live in a spotless little house in the suburbs,spotless because June is uber obsessive/compulsive about cleanliness.While Jimmy, Joey, and the Reaper attempt to talk business, June goesbonkers because the Reaper left a dirty spoon in the kitchen sink. Anyway,the Reaper agrees to take on the job of finding Marcel and getting backJimmy's money.

Sunday night: Marcel and Amy have taken a motel room where Marcel intends to holeup for a few days, at least until his eye stops throbbing. In themeantime, he's in need of a few supplies, so he leaves Amy with Annabellewhile he looks for a store that's still open. While Marcel is gone,Annabelle and Amy get into a long talk about Christianity, something thatangers Marcel no end because he is totally against playing with food. It'sbecoming more and more obvious that, although Marcel and Amy were oncesuper in love ("He watched me die and waited for me to be reborn. It wasso romantic!"), the ardor has cooled and Amy is bored. She's actuallyenjoying the talk with Annabelle and learning about Jesus Christ and howaccepting Him as her savior will save her from hell.

Monday: The Reaper is on the road, closing in on Marcel while Jimmy and Joeyare holed up in Jimmy's studio, waiting for Vicky to change. Jimmy informsJoey that Nicky was killed last night by the same vampire that killedPaulie on Saturday night. Concerned that they may be next, Jimmy hires thebest protection around... Christopher and Cynthia [Jason Adams and Gina Ramsden]from Staten Island. While Jimmy, Joey, and Vicky play cards, Christopher and Cynthia standwatch. Suddenly, Christopher can feel someone in the room. Before he knowsit, he's dead. The Narrator goes on to kill Cynthia and then Joey. Justbefore she kills Jimmy, she shows him a picture of Marcel and asks whereshe can find him. When Jimmy refuses to talk, she mind melds with him andlearns that the Reaper is also after Marcel. After killing Jimmy, she theninforms Vicky what to expect as she turns into a vampire. Leaving hercalling card, the black rose, the Narrator leaves. Amy is superbored and suggests to Marcel that they tie up Annabelleand go hunting together, just like they used to. They break in a house andstart feeding on all the occupants. After taking out three or four in thekitchen, Marcel moves up to the bedroom where he finds a couple in bed.After drinking their blood, he hears a baby crying in the next room, andhe kills the baby, too. Amy is so disgusted when she finds Marcel suckingon the baby ("I had the decency to kill it before eating it, okay? I'm notcompletely without compassion.") that when they get back to their motelroom and Marcel goes to pee in order to make room for Annabelle, Amy freesAnnabelle and the two of them run away together.

Tuesday: Annabelle is heading for her house in the country. Amy notices ahooded guy standing alongside the road. He casts no reflection in the rearview mirror. When Marcel calls Amy on her cellphone and begs her to comeback, she refuses and warns him to call off the goon (the one who casts noreflection) that's been following them. After they arrive at her house,Annabelle begins thinking about what she can do to help Amy. However, whenAnnabelle starts rattling on about the police, lawyers, courts of law,being abused and not at fault and all, Amy finds herself rethinking herdecision to run off with Annabelle and comes to another decision. Shetears open Annabelle's neck and has lunch. Just as Amy finishes the firstcourse, Marcel phones again. This time he sweet talks her into coming backto him, and she agrees to wait for him to drive up to Annabelle's. Heshould be there around sundown, he says. Amy hangs up and goes back toAnnabelle's neck for more. Just as she feels her fangs starting to come infor the very first time, she is knifed through the heart. The Reaper hasfound her. Meanwhile, June has been dutifully dusting the bedroom when shenotices one of the Reaper's dirty socks lying on the side of the bed. In afit of anger, she picks up the sock and goes in search of the Reaper, butshe fails to notice the car that was parked along the road, watching herhouse. A call to the Reaper's cellphone, and June has located him. Sheexpects to get there by sundown, she says, provided rush hour trafficisn't too bad. As she pulls away, the car that's been watching her housebegins to follow.

Tuesday sundown: Marcel arrives first and is happy to see Annabelle lying dead on thelawn, but Amy is nowhere in sight. He goes into the house and beginswalking down a long hallway, unaware that the Reaper is waiting for him atthe end with a bottle of holy water ready to toss. As Marcel calls outAmy's name, June arrives. Right behind June, but unseen, is the Narrator.As Marcel nears the end of the hallway, the Reaper steps out and tossesthe holy water at him. Also at that very moment, June comes out of a sidehallway and is hit smack in the face with the holy water. June hits thefloor, writhing in pain, and Marcel attempts to run, but the Narrator isright behind him. She shoots at him, hitting him in his good eye, thenasks him why he turned her. "Did you ever look into somebody's eyes right before you're about todo them and see a darkness that just goes on for miles?" Marcel replies. "Icould see back then, even when you were drooling on the floor, you weregoing to be one of the great ones...a mean, tough, hardcore bitch. Howcould I kill that?" As the Narrator holds the knife to Marcel's chest, Marcel attempts tobargain with her by offering her the $100,000 in his pocket. Just then,the Reaper enters the room. Marcel attempts to bargain with him, too, butthe Reaper has a job to do and he's not about to be put off. Emotionlesslyand while the Narrator watches, the Reaper plunges his sword into Marcel'sheart, takes the $100,000, and heads for the door. "Contrary to whatpeople believe," he turns around and says to the Narrator, "I was humanonce. Sooner or later that part will die off. Just give it some time...ifthat's what you want."

Epilogue: Whatever happened to Jimmy's weed?At what looks like a rave, joints are being passed around. Suddenly,the entire audience turns into zombies. They attack the musicians andbegin eating them. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]

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