Night Watch / Day Watch / Dusk Watch

I’ve been reading about how terrific this Russian film trilogy is going to be. It seems to have something to do with vampires, but don’t hold that against it. Definitely apocalyptic looking.

According to the BBC, Night Watch is the most successful Russian movie ever, earning more than 12 million so far. That doesn’t sound like much compared to U.S. grosses, but it’s more than Return of the King made over there.

Plot synopsis:

Set in contemporary Moscow, “Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)” revolves around the conflict and balance maintained between the forces of light and darkness — the result of a medieval truce between the opposing sides. As night falls, the dark forces battle the super-human “Others” of the Night Watch, whose mission is to patrol and protect. But there is constant fear that an ancient prophecy will come true: that a powerful “Other” will rise up, be tempted by one of the sides, and tip the balance plunging the world into a renewed war between the dark and light, the results of which would be catastrophic. “Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)” is the first installment of a trilogy based on the best-selling sci-fi novels of Sergei Lukyanenko entitled Night Watch, Day Watch and Dusk Watch.

It’s now appearing at the Tribeca Film Fest. From The Village Voice:

A box-office smash in Russia last summer, this metaphysical horror thriller stages a battle between Light and Dark forces in present-day Moscow—complementing the struggle over a young boy’s destiny with simplistic but convoluted mythology and a ton of Slavic brooding. Director Timur Bekmambetov is a Roger Corman protégé, and there’s an endearing B-movie spirit to the enterprise, copious digi-effects notwithstanding. Amusingly crammed with blatant steals from the Matrix, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings movies (not to mention Buffy, the David Fincher playbook, and even Jonathan Glazer’s iconic UNKLE video), it’s itself the first in a trilogy—still to come: Day Watch and Dusk Watch. A Fox Searchlight release, opens July. – LIM

Fox Searchlight’s site has a trailer: http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/nwnd/

The original Russian site: http://www.dozorfilm.ru/

Trailer for the first sequel, Day Watch: http://wooderson.aintitcool.com/daywatch.mpg