Another Vamp Film That Changes The Rules

PLOT: An LAPD officer must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in.

REVIEW: The vampire genre has always proven to be quite pliable in terms of delivering all sorts of different stories featuring bloodsuckers. They often are able to touch on social issues and have a bit more going on than what it looks like on the surface. So it’s intriguing to see Night Patrol use vampires in the conflict between cops and gangs in Los Angeles.

Night Patrol follows an LAPD officer (Long) as he attempts to join the notorious Night Patrol. But when he joins, he discovers the squad is full of vampires and he may have bitten off more than he can chew. This is really an ensemble, so we also follow his partner and a young gangbanger who has a run in with the vampire cops. One of the biggest things I struggled with, was the complete lack of redeemable characters. Jermaine Fowler’s Xavier completely betrays his family for the badge and does some truly stupid things like firing blanks in a school to prove a point. Fowler’s comedy chops aren’t utilized and I mostly just wanted to smack some sense into him.

Justin Long is essentially a horror staple at this point, so it just feels natural to see him show up. But he gets so over the top by the end, that it’s hard to even take him seriously. There’s a certain moment where he’s running that made me laugh out loud, and I don’t think that was intentional. Things go a little off the rails when Dermot Mulraney shows up as it gets a bit too hammy. Think the ending of Scream 6 turned up to eleven. I’m a big CM Punk fan, so I got a kick out of his cigar chomping, coke snorting vampire cop.

RJ Cyler is practically the lead, but there’s no real agency to any of his decision-making. He really just feels like he’s along for the ride. There’s an interesting element at play, as he wants to leave his gang and start a new life, but it feels forgotten about shortly after its introduced. I really enjoyed his mom, who’s the head of the gang and is always ready to kick some ass. Putting more focus on them and their dynamic would have really benefited the film.

Can we stop trying to alter the rules of what a vampire is? I feel like every film that tries to put their own spin on vamps just ends up ruining them a bit. Night Patrol features vampires that can appear in the sunlight and can be completely controlled by the head vamp. The weaknesses are what adds to the intrigue of the creatures and it feels like they’re way too overpowered here. There’s also a big inconsistency with what kills them and what doesn’t. Sometimes simplicity goes a long way.

Night Patrol is bursting at the seams with LA culture. I feel like this is something that LA natives will really take to and there were probably references that completely went over my head. Visually, the film has a lot of parallels with End of Watch. It helps to ground the film a bit but there’s such an awkwardness to most of the interactions. Everyone feels a bit stilted. And despite the life or death stakes, none of the deaths have much impact.

I really wanted to like Night Patrol but it fell flat in many ways. None of the characters really connect and the story feels heightened in a way that clashes with the more grounded visuals. It falls apart the more it goes on, and doesn’t ever manage to pull itself back together. There are too many wasted characters and a convoluted plot that doesn’t hold much weight. It’s fun to see people like Flying Lotus, YG, and Freddie Gibbs but the story lets them down. Stripping this down a bit could have really benefited the overall presentation but instead, it feels like it doesn’t really know what kind of film it wants to be.

Night Patrol releases to theaters on January 16th, 2026.