BloodRayne: The Third Reich

BloodRayne: The Third Reich is a 2011 direct-to-DVD action-adventure horror film written by Michael Nachoff and directed by Uwe Boll, set in 1943 Europe during World War II and starring Natassia Malthe as dhamphir Rayne and Michael Paré as vampire Nazi officer Ekart Brand. It was released on DVD on May 2, 2011 in the United Kingdom, on July 5, 2011 in the United States, yet in movie theaters in Japan on March 17, 2012. It is the third BloodRayne film and a sequel to BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2: Deliverance, also directed by Boll. It is the second BloodRayne film to star Malthe after BloodRayne 2: Deliverance. Paré, who played Iancu in BloodRayne and Pat Garrett in BloodRayne 2: Deliverance, plays yet another character in this film. Boll shot BloodRayne: The Third Reich simultaneously with Blubberella, with both films sharing some of the same actors, including Michael Paré, Clint Howard, Brendan Fletcher and Willam Belli.

Plot
Rayne fights against the Nazis in Europe during World War II with the French resistance, encountering Ekart Brand, a Nazi leader whose goal is to inject Adolf Hitler with Rayne's blood in an attempt to transform him into an all powerful dhampir and attain immortality.

The film opens with train cars full of humans being sent to concentration camps when they're intercepted by a French resistance group. Soon, Rayne (Natassia Malthe) arrives and kills most of the Nazi troops and corners their commandant in a train car. As the two talk, a Nazi shoots Rayne, splashing her blood on the commandant's face. Rayne kills the soldier before impaling the commandant on a pole and leaving him to die. Rayne soon converses with the leader of the resistance, Nathaniel, who is aware that Rayne is a dhampir. After finding the train cars full of prisoners, the resistance and Rayne decide to work together to fight the Nazis. After they leave however, the commandant is revealed to have survived his presumed death as a result of some of Rayne's blood getting in his mouth, implying that he is a dhampir.

Back at the headquarters of the Third Reich, a scientist named Mangler (Clint Howard) is torturing vampires as a way of studying them so he can make Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich immortal. A Third Reich lieutenant informs the doctor that the commandant was attacked by a 'vampire' in the daytime, intriguing his interest.

Elsewhere, Rayne heads to a brothel to get a massage when she overhears a soldier beating on one of the women. Angered by the beating interrupting her massage, Rayne easily beats the man down, forcing the owner of the brothel to close early, despite being warned that the Nazis would suspect something is wrong. She ignores the warning and angrily tells Rayne that she better not be a problem for her business. Rayne simply scoffs at the woman before walking off. As Rayne prepares to leave, a voluptuous woman stops Rayne and thanks her for saving the woman from before, taking off Rayne's robe. Another woman lights several candles as the woman continues to hit on Rayne. The woman walks out, telling Rayne and the busty woman to "have fun". Initially refusing her advances at first, the woman finally manages to seduce Rayne and has sex with her. As the woman sexually dominates Rayne, one of the women listens to their intercourse, smiling mischievously before walking out of the brothel. Rayne continues to make love with the woman, finally climaxing as she kisses down Rayne's body.

The woman that listened to Rayne's love session tells the commandant about Rayne assaulting the soldier from earlier in exchange for running the brothel she works at, since she hates the woman currently running it. The commandant flirts with the woman, commenting on her beauty before biting her.

Back at the brothel, Rayne is fully dressed, as Nazi soldiers have arrived to kill Rayne. After cutting them down with her swords, she is reunited with the commandant. Horrified to learn that she sired a Nazi commander, she flees. The Nazis fire at Rayne, managing to hit her, though she brushes it off and escapes. This angers the commandant, as he wants her alive. Dr. Mangler rushes to where Rayne was shot, and collects her blood for more research.

Cast

 * Natassia Malthe as Rayne
 * Michael Paré as Ekart Brand
 * Brendan Fletcher as Nathaniel
 * Clint Howard as Doctor Mangler (a play on Dr. Mengele)
 * Willam Belli as Vasyl Tishenko
 * Natalia Guslistaya as Sniper Natalia
 * Annett Culp as Magda Marković
 * Steffen Mennekes as Lt. Kaspar Jaeger
 * Arved Birnbaum - Director
 * Safiya Kaygin as Svetlana Koerk
 * Nik Goldman as Bartender
 * Vjekoslav Katusin as German Soldier
 * Goran Manić as Boris
 * Fabrice Colson as Partisan
 * Petar Benčić as Driver
 * Boris Bakal as Adolf Hitler

Production
Boll has originally planned to begin filming in Croatia in 2008 under the title BloodRayne 3: Warhammer, but it was later announced that filming would begin January 2010. In February 2010 the title was changed to BloodRayne: The Third Reich and shooting began in Zagreb, Croatia with Natassia Malthe and Michael Paré in the lead roles. Some speculation has it that a tie in to the video game Nocturne is present through the character Svetlana who is a rumored vampire in a video post on YouTube.

Michael Paré has appeared in all three films in the BloodRayne franchise, but as different characters; Iancu, Pat Garrett and, Commandant Ekart Brand respectively.

Reception
Like the previous BloodRayne films, BloodRayne: The Third Reich received mostly negative reviews from critics. Main criticisms were towards the acting, script and Boll's direction.