Aside from being a typical, unoriginal vampire flick, chock full of badlanguage and not-so funny humor, “The Forsaken” has a few elements that areworth watching. The special effects and various gruesome deaths arenoteworthy. If you are bored watching the actual plot, check out theunusual background posters or the attractive scenery of places like Utah andYuma, Arizona.

Sean (Kerr Smith, Dawson’s Creek) seems to have a lot going for him. Hisboss lets him deliver a vintage Mercedes to Florida to attend his sister’swedding and his teacher allows him take off a week from school. The onlything Sean’s boss tells him not to do is pick up any hitchhikers. Not faralong on the trip, while gawking at a bare-chested female driving by, Seanmysteriously gets a flat tire and discovers that his wallet is missing.

Just as Sean is about to take off (surprise!) a mysterious hitchhikerabruptly appears insistent that Sean take him to Austin, Texas. Desperateand without cash, Sean agrees to take the laid back, drifting traveler Nick(Brendan Fehr), when he offers to pay for gas.

From that point on, Sean’s road trip takes a turn for the worse. He keepsseeing the same car (sound familiar?). Four sleep-deprived, ravenouslooking people ask Sean and Nick if they can jump-start their car. Althoughthe characters don’t have fangs or glowing yellow eyes, they look likevampires. With long, dirty fingernails and wicked grins, it was prettyobvious what they were supposed to be.

The leader, Kit (Johnathon Schaech,Splendor) enjoys singing Metallica songs and getting bit by rattlesnakes,and the driver Pen (Simon Rex, Jack and Jill) who ironically isn’t a vampireacts as the day-driver and protector of the vampires while they sleep. WhenSean and Nick meet up with Megan (Izabella Miko), a bitten and frightenedgirl that will not speak (some serious acting on her part), she becomes ahuman lure for the vampires. Nick appears to know more about the situationthan he admits, and says he knows how to help her. When Sean himself getsbitten, the two are in a race for time as they try to hunt down and kill thevampire clan, before they also become something a little less than human.

The only thing stopping this movie from being a cheesy teenage horror flickis the strong violence, adult language, and nudity. The language is mildlyoffensive and lacks reason. Questions such as what happens with thesister’s wedding, why Sean doesn’t just call his boss when he gets a flattire and loses his wallet, and how Sean can still afford to stay in motelswhen he doesn’t have any money go largely unanswered and are bothersome.Although it’s not the worst vampire movie ever written, and it beats otherrecent bomb movies, it will leave you squirming in your seat for the end.”The Forsaken,” is a movie that will leave you wishing that the vampireswill hurry up and die so you can go live up the night.