3 out of 5

Director: Richard Crudo

Wait… Steven Seagal is in this movie? He’s on the cover, and he gets top billing, but go to the bathroom and blink at the wrong times and you might miss his appearances. “Against the Dark” is a vampire movie of sorts, with the prerequisite brief voice-over explaining how a disease breaks out and soon the world is overrun… In this spin, there are the diseased, the survivors, and then the “hunters,” civilians who wield swords and guns to chop down the crazies. Mr. Seagal leads a pack of these hunters (wielding a katana and occasionally spewing wise words), but Tanoai Reed is the real star, as he is the only one apparently with any true fighting skills from the bunch (Seagal just cuts a couple of ’em), and he also does most of the slaughter – managing to get ambushed by packs of vampires things about nine hundred times during the movie. (Spoiler: he survives.) So look – did you watch for the plot or to be entertained? Right. And honestly, Against the Dark mostly delivers. I was very pleased with the look and structure of the film, as it never got too flashy with camera work and the crew wisely saved their budget for key shots, so all of the gore and action looks true to the movie. For direct-to-video action, this is pretty good work. Will Seagal fans be disappointed by his lack of involvement? Maybe, but that’s been the case lately. Regardless, it manages to keep up good intensity for 94 minutes, without pointless plot slowdowns beyond some good Keith David interruptions.