…Hollywood Vampyr unfolds in the underground Goth scene where, in the night, a weekend "Tourist" can disappear among the real vamps for whom dark, atmospheric clubs and bloodsucking are a way of life - or death. Joel Eisenberg, who submerged himself in the scene to research the film, describes Hollywood Vampyr as "the first real vampire story."

"There are things in the Gothic world that stand out," adds Steven Akahoshi. "There is a lot of blood. You'll see plenty of it."

The film focuses on a young woman named Fatal (Nora Zimmett), a former heroin addict "with a real colored past," says Eisenberg. "Her parents disowned her; they had drug problems of their own; she had to stay here in the States and create a life for herself. Because of things she dealt with in her past, she has had a hard time coping with real adult figures to latch onto. She became inspired by the darkness, and she became a vampire. This story is her struggle, trying to get out of that lifestyle. After a certain point, she sees that there are deaths involved - vampire murders, vampire suicides. These things are based on real life. But she finds that she has basically been overcome by her demons. She's not accepted; she's more of a freak now in trying to make herself something she is not."

Complicating Fatal's journey is her college tutor, Tom (Jeff Marchelletta), who is struggling with his own identity and finds the world Fatal is trying to leave behind increasingly seductive. "I went on-line and typed in 'Gothic culture,' " says Marchelletta, who recently starred as Ken Bianchi in The Hillside Strangler Murders. "Thousands of things popped up. I found myself sitting at the computer for hours in vampire chat rooms and I thought, 'That's weird, because that's what Tom is doing.' Tom is becoming fascinated by it, because he's intrigued by Fatal. I had no idea there was that much. It was cool and intriguing."

Also standing in Fatal's way is the enigmatic Blood, played by Trevor Goddard…perhaps best-known for his role as Navy lawyer Mic Brumby on Jag…and the dreaded Kano in Mortal Kombat. "Blood is the leader of an underground Gothic club," Goddard says. "He's a very, very powerful character in the sense that he influences people and draws them into his web. People who are homeless, haven't got direction in life, drop out of school and do drugs will come to him, and he'll take them under his wing and make them believe what he believes."

…Muse Watson, who played the murderous fisherman in the I Know What You Did Last Summer films and has also appeared in If I Die Before I Wake, From Dusk Till Dawn 2 and this summer's drama Songcatcher…wound up cast in the role of Professor Fulton, who is extremely skeptical of the vampire ideology...

The filmmakers are taking great care to present an accurate portrait of the Goth scene and lifestyle. "The challenge of trying to present this whole world was that we knew we were going to be watched by a lot of people - not in terms of the audience, but the Gothic people, modern-day vampires," notes Akahoshi. "Whenever you portray somebody's world, the people in it are the first to be offended if it's not done correctly. So we've gone to great lengths to research it…We're trying to be authentic with what we portray, down to the costumes. We've done our best to do it right, and hopefully that will come across when they see the movie."…