Movies

Riddle me this, Anne Rice: When has a vampire ever been held in captivity, let alone by a circus troupe? It's actually a trick question. Our blood-smacking antiheroine, Rayne (Kristanna Loken), isn't a vampire; she's a dhampir, a half-human, half-vampire cross-fiend who's as anguished, strange, and sloppy as mercenaries, or movies, get. She's the daughter, after all, of Ben Kingsley, who plays, in BloodRayne's most plausible turn, the most powerful vampire in the world. After Rayne breaks out of the circus, it's a simple story, really, about a mixed-up girl who wants to slay her father. Can she do it, without turning evil? This mock prequel to Queen of the Damned, based on a video game of the same name, leaves the last part wide open. It's never clear whether Rayne kills her victims because she's hungry, because they're vampires, or because she actually wants to make out with them.