Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat is a Western horror/comedy directed by Anthony Hickox, and written by John Burgess and Anthony Hickox. Filmed in and around Moab, Utah, in 1989, “Sundown” was Vestron Pictures’ last film and it was never released to theaters. Its only public screenings were at film festivals in Seattle and Palm Springs. Released in 1990 on VHS, it has earned a small cult following.
Under the leadership of their ancient and powerful leader Jozek Mardulak, a colony of vampires seek a peaceful life in the desolate desert town of Purgatory. Key to the transition is the town’s artificial-bloodmaking facility and it is just not working. Mardulak summons the human designer of the plant, who brings his wife and two young daughters along for what he thinks will be a pleasant desert vacation. Soon, he and his family are caught up in a civil war as another vampire elder, who abhors the idea of vampires being anything other than predators, organizes a revolution.
