good back-story, and good acting

An Exercise In Nonsense

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

TAINTED is a vampire comedy horror feature from 1998 which has the misfortune to be shot on video, which gives it a really lousy look. I find that the newer shot on video films utilising digital tape stock are of a far between quality than these older analogue features which have dated in the worst way.TAINTED is a surprisingly restrained piece and I should note that the featured IMDb cover of two barely-dressed vampire women has nothing to do with the film itself. It's about some goth vampire loner who decides to infect blood supplies at a hospital and the various people who try to thwart him. There's barely any kind of blood here, the film has a subdued feel which makes it sleep-inducing to say the least.

yes, i love indie films. yes, i respect anyone who has the guts and drive to make a film. and yes, i love my hometown of metro detroit. but after seeing 'tainted,' i'm ashamed that this is one of few films representative of my fair hometown. not only are we tortured endlessly with weak and horribly acted dialog (not even bad enough to be funny) and inside jokes, we have to wait the duration of a baseball game to see some actual gore or even a small piece of what might be an actual story. this was obviously made for the filmmakers' friends and selected 'inside' folks who may or may not recognise the 'cool' places around town they 'filmed.' the folks at Troma must have been conned into distributing this nonsensical bore as not a single soul (not friends with the director) would get past the first 15 minutes without crying with embarrassment felt for everyone involved. the 'positive' reviews given for this are undoubtedly from those with vested interests in this idiocy that even 'Mystery Science Theatre 3000' would adamantly reject. no story, no production value, no interest whatsoever and very little gore equals one of the least interesting 'films' ever made. budget $35,000?? it all went toward pizza for the cast and crew for a job miserably done. some words to get used to- 'let's get another take' as for me and all the others about to rent this 'film' graciously given to all video stores who would accept for free publicity- don't let the name 'Troma' mislead you, and please take a stand against drastically careless filmmaking and just ignore the box when you see it in your local store. or, for the new filmmaker, rent it and use it as a 'what not to do' guide or a really good self-esteem boost that this nonsense ever got picked up by the beloved Troma. YOU ARE WARNED!

I was looking for a good, cheap, vampire movie that was locally shot (in the Detroit area). Tainted (1998) seemed to be just the ticket to cap our Halloween celebration. While the movie opens with an exciting and well-orchestrated action sequence, the next half-hour of character development plays like the outtakes from Slackers. Don't get me wrong, I actually liked the humorous riffs from Slackers. However, this writer simply misfires every joke. Imagine a room full of 14-year old boys doing improvisational humor. Maybe the director was channeling the ghost of Ed Wood here, certainly the dialog could have been ghost written by Ed himself.

The movie has some excess footage, but you have a fast-forward button, do you not? Other than that, this is an independent triumph of a film, taking everything we know about the vampire legend and twisting it into a truly intelligent and well-written film about, well, as the tagline states it, "ONE HELL OF A NIGHT!" Successful in a local run, this film was picked up by the tremendously trashy Troma team, and this may throw off some die-hard film buffs, but if people really know about this hilarious indie gem, they'll die to see it.