The Forsaken is 2001 horror movie about vampires directed by J. S. Cardone.
Sean (Kerr Smith) is driving cross-country to deliver a vintage Mercedes and attend his sister's wedding when he picks up hitchhiker Nick (Brendan Fehr), who just happens to be a Vampire Hunter, tracking down a cult of vampires who feed on unwary travelers. They run into Megan (Izabella Miko), who has been left for dead by the vampires. As they use her as a lure for the vampires, Sean becomes attracted to her. After Sean is infected with the vampire virus, he, Megan and Nick must race against time to kill the vampire leader Kit (Jonathan Schaech) to stop Sean from becoming one of the undead.
This movie contains examples of
- And Show It to You: Kit ripping a guy's heart out and holding it in front of panicked partygoers.
- Big Bad: Kit, one of the titular Forsaken and original vampires, whom the protagonists seek to destroy so they can be cured.
- Boom, Headshot!: Kit's girlfriend Cym gets her face blown up by a rifle blast.
- Bullying a Dragon: The drunk partygoers really shouldn't have splashed beer in Kit's face.
- But Now I Must Go: Nick leaves Sean and Meg at the end, as it turns out he was not cured by Kit's death, so he goes to search for the other Forsaken in the US.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Nick is enjoying a beer when Sean reminds them they are in a county with VERY strict open container laws (which make no distinction between driver and passenger). Nick reluctantly tosses the beer into some bushes by the roadside... in full view of a patrolman who was using this particular stretch of roadside as a speedtrap. Sean gets a ticket.
- Contrived Coincidence: After failing to lure Kit towards a Spanish mission to kill him, the protagonists take refuge within a gas station with him following them. As it turns out, it was built over a Spanish graveyard, making it Holy Ground and the perfect place to kill the master vampire.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The scene where Megan is gagged and held down on the bed to be turned by Kit is awfully reminiscent of rape.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Kit and Cym do appear to genuinely love each other, although judging by how he offers Megan a chance to take her place, Kit is implied to see her as little more than just a fuck toy. Though an immortal who has lived for nearly a millennia probably learns to take the loss of companions in stride.
- Fan Disservice:
- A bloodied and traumatized Meg washing the blood off during a shower in the film's opening.
- Meg, waking up screaming in the bath, screaming, half-naked and suffering from visions of the vampire that bit her.
- Fanservice:
- A woman flashing her breasts at Sean during a drive to another location.
- Meg stripped down to her underwear as Nick searches for a vampire bite on her.
- Cym is quite an attractive short-shorts wearing vampiress.
- Faux Affably Evil: Kit act always nice and affable while sadistically slaughtering innocents.
- Foreshadowing:
- Sean eating a rare, bloody steak for dinner.
- Groin Attack: One poor guy accidentally shooting his dick off (from putting the gun away in his pants earlier) just being scared by the hungry vampires.
- Large Ham: Kit, particularly after Cym has been slain.
- Leg Focus: Cym shows off her legs via denim short-shorts and cowboy boots.
- Monster Progenitor: The titular Forsaken were nine crusaders that became the original vampires by making a deal with a demon and sacrificing one of their own. Of the remaining eight, four were killed (with the first one being killed during the Spanish Inquisition) and the other four scattered across the globe: with one living in Eastern Europe, the other in Africa and two in the America.
- Nietzsche Wannabe: Nick most definitely. He goes on a rant about how today's generation is screwed and doesn't care about having a future, because he could be dead tomorrow. Given what he has been through, it's understandable.
- No Ontological Inertia: Each Forsaken has their own distinctive virus strain and once they are killed, all people infected with by it are cured. After killing Kit at the end, Sean and Meg are cured, but not Nick as it turns out the vampire who infected him was descended to another Forsaken.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They don't have fangs or don't share most common weaknesses besides exploding violently when exposed to the sunlight. While they are pretty strong, sufficient force can kill them such as a shotgun blast to the face. The original vampires, on the other hand, can only be killed on Holy Ground.
- Outlaw Couple: Kit and Cym.
- Pants-Positive Safety: One of the youths partying in the desert has a gun tucked into his pants, despite his friends warning him of the likely consequences. Sure enough, when the vampires arrive and start killing the group, it does go off at the worst possible time (and place).
- Really 700 Years Old: Kit is one of the oldest remaining vampires.
- The Renfield: Pen, the human driver for Kit played by Simon Rex.
- Riddle for the Ages: It's never revealed why one of Kit's female acolytes spared Meg when she had the order of killing her.
- Scary Black Woman: Cym is almost as Ax-Crazy as Kit is, with an Interplay of Sex and Violence component to her.Cym: Time to die, cowboy.
- Sequel Hook: The movie ends with Sean traveling across the country in search of the second Forsaken in the US, whose crimes he has caught onto. However, a sequel was never released.
- Too Dumb to Live: Though he appears to be suffering from some Sanity Slippage, Pen is not exactly the brightest bulb. When your crew is trying to keep a low profile, then going 30 miles over the speed limit is not the wisest course of action.
- Kit gets hit by this in the finale. He orders Sean to take Pen's place as his day driver, and he doesn't seem to consider that Sean could just use the car against him. Which he does.
- Vampire Refugee: The main protagonists, as they are seeking one of the Forsaken to be released from the infection.
- Whole-Plot Reference: It's John Carpenter's Vampires in the early 2000s, without professional vampire hunters. There's an attractive, curly-haired blonde Vampire Refugee — who was bitten in a manner strongly resembling rape — rescued by the two heroes and used as a homing device to the master vampire who they have to kill to cure themselves of the infection before they turn. Not to mention the Big Bad's death is suspiciously similar to Valek's. It also has shades of Near Dark, with the vampires being fangless, exploding in the sunlight, and operating like serial killers.
- Your Vampires Suck: Nick says that Bram Stoker's Dracula is full of shit.
