Review: CORBIN NASH (2018)
A hardass cop steps outside the law to find answers and revenge on his own terms. How many films have we seen start out that way? Probably more than you can count. But how many turn into BLADE knockoffs with a cross-dressing Corey Feldman? CORBIN NASH does.
Corbin Nash (Dean S. Jagger, SCORCHED EARTH, GAME OF THRONES) is having a bad day. First, a serial rapist he caught has been released on a technicality. Now a stranger (Rutger Hauer, BLADE RUNNER, SPLIT SECOND) in a bar has told him his parents were killed by the powers of darkness because they were demon hunters. Skeptical but with nothing to lose he heads back to L.A. There he works as a cop while looking into his parent’s murderers.
Once there Corbin and his partner Frank (Chris Pardal) run into a pair even tougher than they are. Vampires Vince (Richard Wagner THE PADDY LINCOLN GANG) and Queeny (Corey Feldman, THE LOST BOYS). Corbin wakes up in a cell with other captives, some simple food for the vampires, for others like Corbin the ring awaits. A ring made of human flesh and barbed wire where they’ll fight for their captor’s amusement. After his use as a fighter is over he’s fed upon and left for dead, but he’s not dead. He’s also not entirely human either. And he still wants revenge.
Told mostly in flashback as he’s nursed back to health by stripper Macy (Fernanda Romero, 400 DAYS, THE POSSESSION DIARIES) before heading into its conclusion, CORBIN NASH is a solid origin story. The script by Jagger and his brother Ben (who also directed) and Christopher P. Taylor does a good job of setting up both Corbin’s backstory and the world of the vampires without becoming too talky or slow. It also leaves us wanting to know more about several side characters such as Hauer’s Stranger and the Blind Prophet (Malcolm McDowell, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, LADY PSYCHO KILLER).
Belonging as much to the action genre as horror CORBIN NASH delivers several good fight scenes. The final showdown could have been beefed up a bit, however, it feels rushed and lacking. Vince and Queenie make good foes for Nash and Feldman as a cross-dressing bloodsucker has to be seen to be believed.
Out now on VOD and limited theatrical release from Gravitas Ventures CORBIN NASH has the potential to be an enjoyable franchise.