BEYOND THE RAVE

Soldier Ed (Jamie Dornan) is given notice that he will be shipped to fight in Iraq the following day. He's given 16 hours' leave in the meantime.

He wastes no time in hooking up with goofy pal Necro (Matthew Forrest), whose latest set of wheels is a hearse. They drive around the Southern England countryside searching for an all-night rave where Ed's estranged girlfriend Jen (Nora-Jane Noone) is said to be.

Ed mistakenly dumped Jen by telephone a week earlier and is now desperate to make up with her before he's sent to war. The problem is, Necro took her to a rave after the split-up and she got fixed up with the mysterious Melech (Sebastian Knapp) - who has organised the latest rave at a top-secret location.

Receiving word that a couple of Melech's mates are drinking in a nearby pole-dancing bar, Ed and Necro rush there hoping to discover the party's destination. Alas, they walk in on an altercation between the out-of-towners and local drug-dealers Terry (Lee Whitlock) and Rich (Tamer Hassan).

Melech's cronies disappear before anyone can find out where they're headed. But scratches left on the stomachs of Terry and Necro provide clues as to the rave's whereabouts. The drug-pushers and our heroes make their way to the woodland destination, now with dancer Tina (Katie Borland) and doorman Jim (Jody Halse) in tow.

Upon happening across the rave, Ed quickly locates Jen dancing and the pair make up. She wants to introduce him to bug-eyed Melech - a dead-ringer for a young Jeff Goldblum - but Ed's understandably not keen on the idea.

He's about to become even more disgruntled when they discover that Melech is the head of a vampire cult, and the rave is intended as a farewell feast for the bloodsuckers before they set sail for African shores...

Originally shown in short instalments as an online serial on My Space, BEYOND THE RAVE pulls all 20 original episodes together to make one 93-minute film.

It's the first release from the recently resurrected Hammer Films studio. But if there is any excitement felt from that last statement, just temper it with this: BEYOND ... THE ... RAVE. Say the title out loud and realise how horrendous it sounds. And, what's with the DVD cover using Pete Tong's name to sell the film?!

Indeed, BEYOND THE RAVE is a disappointment. The central characters just about cope with Tom Grass' corny, embarrassingly potty-mouthed script while the supporting cast are pathologically bad. Like, really terrible.

Although Matthias Hoene's direction and Ben Moulden's cinematography do a fair job of getting the most out of their low budget and the pace is unrelenting, the whole thing feels rather desperate and contrived; it tries too hard and, a lot of the time, plays like a poor Cockney comedy.

Those with an affection for Hammer's heyday will recoil at the copious chav violence, repeated barking of lines such as "fackin' cant" and "ya letch barstard", and the throbbing techno soundtrack. I doubt they'll take too kindly to the MTV-style editing techniques either.

A few traits of the old Hammer do still remain. Women with ample breasts? Check. Quirky British characters played by veteran actors? Check. Ingrid Pitt? Check. And the notion of dragging Hammer's trademark saucy vampires up to date is an intriguing one - but this goes too far in its attempts at modernisation.

Instead, the cringe-inducing scenes of ravers shifting shape beneath strobe lights (watch, if you must, for Primrose Hill has-been Sadie Frost in a cameo) and shell-suited thugs kicking in stoned kids are more akin to moments from a Nick Love film.

As a horror film, BEYOND THE RAVE attempts to mix humour and gore. At times, it gets the blend right. But for the most part it tries too hard and the end result is off-putting. The film is certainly fast-paced and the vampire kills are regular - right from the start - and there are some giggles to be had here and there. But I found a sample of TENEBRE's main theme in one of the soundtrack's dance tunes more interesting.

BEYOND THE RAVE is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1. It looks great for the most part, all sharp images and good strong blacks. Colours are a little restrained, which is most likely accurate to the look that was being strived for.

English audio is provided in 2.0 and is a good solid mix. Optional subtitles are available in several languages including English for the hard of hearing, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

The disc opens with a static main menu page. From there, a scene-selection menu offers 20 chapters. Or "episodes", to be more accurate.

Extras begin with "Episode 21", an additional 13-minute short that is tellingly sub-titled "Necro's First Kill". Again presented in anamorphic 2.35:1, this is more of the same - but not bad when you consider it's an opportunity to view a few more tits and fangs.

"Beyond The Rave: From Script To Screen" is a highly enjoyable, fast-edited and fairly comprehensive 25-minute documentary interviewing cast and crew members about the making of the film.

Five bonus scenes come equipped with their own sub-menu allowing you to watch them each individually or as a whole by selecting the "Play All" option. They offer slightly extended scenes from episodes 1, 2, 3 and 6.

11 minutes of "character clips" follow. Several short clips, basically, where the actors get to perform in character some more.

Two trailers both look good in anamorphic widescreen, and are successful in making the film look like action-packed fun. The first is a teaser, whereas the longer second trailer is the better of the two.

A gallery proffers 26 colour photographs filled with blood, shell-suits and outlandish characters.

Finally, tucked away on the second page of the extras menu, we get some audio commentary tracks. Several of the cast are hand to provide their opinions on both the main feature and episode 21. Likewise both of these benefit from a crew commentary.

BEYOND THE RAVE is not the unmitigated disaster I had feared. There can be no denying that it has its share of flair and originality - both in execution and marketing - as a modern horror film. But as a whole this disjointed angry wasp of a film is messy. Attaching the Hammer name to it turns it being a disappointment into being a travesty.

It comes on an excellent disc from Channel 4 DVD though, and can be found for a nice price online at present.

Review by Stuart Willis