Scarier than “Funky Town,” funkier than O-Town, Dark Town is a neat little direct-to-video flick with an interesting premise. Vampires from Bosnia emigrate to the bloodiest place they can find after the genocide ends: Compton. Meanwhile, teen Compton-ite Rakeem (Del Wills) and his buddies decide one night to take revenge on his white suburbanite slumlord — a la The People Under the Stairs — for the decrepit conditions that led to a fire that killed his little brother.
Unfortunately for them, the slumlord has just been bitten by those darn Bosnian vampires and returns home to infect his family…and everyone in the neighborhood. Rakeem and the slumlord’s oldest daughter, Jen (Janet Martin) — a lesbian, to avoid any threat of miscegenation — escape and must fend off vampires and gun-toting gangbangers in this “dark” (due to a blackout) town.
While Rakeem and friends aren’t above petty crime, they’re not flat, gangsta stereotypes. And while the plot feels unfinished (and the lighting frustratingly dim, even for a blackout), Dark Town is still atmospheric and fairly original with good gore, good nudity, a good script and good (enough) acting…for straight to video.
