Brendan Fehr

This movie is a very good thriller, for the most part. Just cryptic enough, most of the riddles are easy enough to figure out, though some of them hard enough you run out of time if you don't pause the movie. But the biggest mystery of all is the ending, which could be seen as a continuation of the theme of the movie, or it could be seen as a case of a writer running out of good ideas. In the end, it does mirror one of the first riddles presented, as what it delivers IS the answer to that riddle. In doing this the film comes full circle, which OUGHT TO be very satisfying. However, because of what the ending DOES you, the excellent plot doesn't matter, when the movie ends you are left with the same thing as you are in real life when you die. Sara Novak is a college student whose mother died in a car accident. She is haunted by her inability to understand why such random tragedies happen, and when she stumbles upon a game that promises to provide the answer, she plays along. The Nemesis Game is played by following a series of riddles left to her by anonymous people, if you solve the riddles you are led to an abandoned building, and when you solve the final riddle and write the answer on the wall, you will see the "Design"' of life and understand why bad things happen. Sara meets a group of people who are involved in the game, and eventually reaches the end of it. However, she doesn't get a chance to write HER answer on the wall. But it doesn't matter, she receives the same thing as everyone who reaches this stage i life, and she personally experiences the central metaphor of the Game; That life itself is a game, you play your part, and then you die. There IS no understanding other than that, and as most people do realize at some level "In life also there IS no understanding, life is about NOT understanding but going on living anyway". And what IS the surprise ending that is finally delivered that wraps up the otherwise excellent plot? What ARE you left with as an explanation to the twists and turns of the movie? It's the answer to the riddle "what do the poor have, the rich want, and God fears?" 'Nothing'

The story starts off with a race, a race including Smoke, the King of Cali. Alongside him are the other members of his bike gang, the Black Knights, including Kid, a prospect. Kid, whose father is Smoke's mechanic/best friend, is anxious and impatient to start his life as a member of the Black Knights. He wants his father to look at him the same way he looks at Smoke. Kid's dreams are shattered, however, when Smoke's race gets out of hand and his father is hit + killed. Flash forward to a year later, where a now cocky Kid has joined forces with Stuntman. The two have been traveling California, hustling other racers out of their money. After another routine hustle, Kid runs into Smoke, and challenges him to a race. Smoke refuses, stating that Kid needs to join a gang and win some races before he'll be up to his standards. Prompted by Smoke's refusal, Kid forms his own gang -- the Biker Boyz -- with only three members, himself, Stuntman, and Primo, another free lance racer. The three set off, immediately building a following and gaining prospects. Along for the wild ride is Tina, a feisty young woman, who is drawn to Kid by is incessant devotion to her. During an annual party, Kid and Smoke are both enlightened by Kid's mother that Will, the man who raised Kid, is not his real father -- Smoke is. Smoke is shocked, but Kid couldn't be more angry. After fighting with his mother, he leaves home and moves in with Tina, determined to beat out Smoke and the Black Knights. Unable to wait for success, Kid begins hustling again, despite it being against code. After Smoke saves him from being killed by another gang in Fresno, Kid challenges him to a race, the stakes being the end of racing for both of them. The gangs travel to Fresno, where Kid races Dogg. The race ends badly and it looks as if Kid won't be able to race against Smoke the next day, seeing as his bike is totaled. Dogg, however, comes through and lends Kid his bike, with hopes that Kid will beat smoke and put an end to his reign as King of Cali. The next day, the two gangs meet up and set their terms before Kid + Smoke head off to the path they'll be racing on. The race starts normal for Kid, but Smoke has already gone in the zone, everything but the road ahead of him blurring out of vision. Suddenly, Smoke's tunnel of thought is filled with memories, of everything since the night Will was killed. During this, Kid comes into the zone, his mind focusing on nothing other than the road. As the two edge closer to the finish line, Smoke lets up, allowing Kid to beat him. As the movie ends, Kid and Smoke come to an understanding, and Kid allows Smoke to keep his helmet and his right to race.

Tooling along the open road in a restored vintage Mercedes convertible would be the ultimate vacation, don't you think? That's just what Sean [Kerr Smith] is doing, with only a few caveats. One is that the car isn't his. He's merely been hired to drive the Mercedes from California to Florida. The second is that he has strict instructions not to pick up any hitchhikers. No problem. Sean can handle it...that is, until he gets a flat tire in Arizona, is forced to spend the night in a motel room adjacent to some very noisy neighbors, loses his wallet, and picks up a hitchhiker to help pay for gas. Nick [Brendan Fehr] seems like a nice guy, not a psycho or anything. What Sean doesn't know is that Nick is a vampire hunter and that Sean is about to get caught in his worst nightmare. Sean and Nick make a pitstop at a roadside rest area. As they are getting back in their car, they are asked to help jumpstart the dead battery on a red Charger, which Sean recognizes as belonging to his noisy neighbors from the night before. Nick also recognizes them as the vampires Kit [Johnathon Schaech], Cym [Phina Oruche], and Teddy [Alexis Thorpe] and their renfield day-driver, Pen [Simon Rex]. Cym recognizes Nick as a vampire hunter but Kit decides to bide time before killing him. Later that evening, after securing a room at the Palms Inn Motel, Sean and Nick get a bite to eat. While leaving the restaurant, they encounter a sick girl whom Nick takes back to the motel room and tosses in an icebath. When Megan [Izabella Miko] starts screaming, Nick holds her down while Sean gives her a shot of morphine, explaining that he knows what is happening to her...she has a blood disorder caused by a virus and the only way to cure it is to kill the original source of the infection. Unfortunately, while covering her mouth with his hand to stifle her screams, Sean gets bitten. The next morning, when Nick tells Sean that he's been bitten by a vampire, Sean doesn't believe it. Nick waltzes Sean out to the motel parking area where they find the red Charger with Pen sleeping on the hood. Nick knocks out Pen by hitting him with a shovel, finds his car keys, and tells Sean to open the trunk, whereupon Sean is immediately attacked by Teddy. After Nick whacks Teddy a few times with a shovel, Teddy bursts into flames in the sun. Beginning to believe, Sean asks Nick how he knows about vampires or "the Forsaken and their feeders", as Nick refers to them. Nick shows the bite on his own arm, incurred about a year ago by a feeder at a party. Since then, he has been searching for the Forsaken who turned her. Meanwhile, he's been keeping himself from turning by gulping pills (antigens, amino acids, and proteins), developed to slow the HIV virus but also effective against the vampire virus...for a while. Nick makes Sean start taking them, too. When they stop for some fried lizard at a diner in Texas, Sean asks about the Forsaken. What are they? The Forsaken are the first vampires, Nick explains, created during the seige at Antioch during the Great Crusade when the Turks slaughtered over 200 French knights. Only nine survived. The nine were visited that night by a demon who lurks around battlefields looking for souls to steal. He made a deal with eight of the knights, giving them life eternal. To seal the deal, the eight killed and drank the blood of the ninth. The next morning, however, they were so ashamed that they hid from the sun in a cave; the next night, they went their separate ways. And so, the Forsaken spread across the world. About 300 years later, one was killed during the Spanish Inquisition. Since then, three more have been destroyed, leaving four remaining. One is in Africa, one in Eastern Europe, and two in the U.S., including the vampire Kit. The virus is telegenetic, so those bitten remain in touch with their progenating Forsaken. When the progenator is destroyed, so is the link and the whole strain dies out. The problem is that the Forsaken can only be killed on hallowed ground, so Nick suggests that they head for this old Spanish mission some 60 miles away and wait there for Kit to find them. Unfortunately, they never make it. That night, as Nick and Sean drive, the vampires catch up with them, ramming the back of the Mercedes with their Charger, taking potshots at the fenders and gas tank, and sideswiping the car doors. Each time Nick and Sean manage to elude them, the vampires catch up. Eventually, the Mercedes runs out of gas, and the vampire hunters are forced to stop at a house along the road. There is no gas to be had, but the owner, an elderly lady named Ina Hamm [Carrie Snodgrass], invites them in so that Megan can rest. During the night, Ina's house is attacked by Kit and Cym. Nick is happy to learn that Ina's house was built over an old graveyard. They're on hallowed ground, the best place to make a stand. In the melee that follows, Nick is shot and Sean's leg is broken, but they manage to shoot off Cym's head. Just as it looks like Kit is going to get Sean, the rising sun streams through the window, frying Kit. Sean and Megan are cured, but not Nick. It turns out that Kit wasn't the progenator of the feeder who bit him. Nick's search goes on. Epilogue: It is three months later. Nick is hitching in Colorado when a red Charger stops for him. It is Sean, headed for Denver and hot on the trail of the other Forsaken. As the two drive off together, Nick wonders if the owner of the Mercedes was pissed about the car. "Oh, yeah!" Sean exclaims. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]