Night Watch: The Dark Heart (2019)

Directed by: Gertjan Booy | 99 minutes | adventure, family | Actors: Louis Thyssen, Céline Verbeek, Thijs Boermans, Giovanni Kemper, Sven de Ridder, Maaike Cafmeyer, Erik de Vogel, Allard Geerlings, Brigitte Heitzer, Luna Van Avermaet, Peter Van De Velde

The Night Watch series may ring a bell for viewers with children. This Studio 100 vehicle full of beautiful boys and girls with dog ears is a light version of the Twilight productions in a set by André Rieu, and started as a television series. What does the mystery surrounding vampires and crystals all mean? God knows. But it always offers a message of good and evil; also in the film version ‘Night Watch: The Dark Heart’.

Rightly so in the eyes of hand-rubbing producers, and innocent in the eyes of many parents. What does it matter if your child enjoys it? It sure is smart. The renowned Flemish actress Maaike Cafmeyer (“The De Pauw family”; “The twelve”) makes her appearance with a quickie; the many unblemished teenage actors do a pretty good job, in a visual spectacle that sparkles. Funny elements such as talking skulls and devilish elves brighten things up, but you can already feel it: there is not much to say about the content.

We’ll do it anyway, at the end of this review. A group of teenage vampires, with Keelin (Verbeeck), Vlad (Thyssen) and Wilko (Kemper) as the main protagonists and to be further referred to as the Night Watch, has been invited to the Crystal Ceremony in the Elven Kingdom. During that ceremony, the Elf crystal will normally designate one of Queen Melisande’s counselors (Cafmeyer) to succeed her. To everyone’s surprise, the humble Keelin is named the new queen.

The Night’s Watch has not yet recovered from its surprise when Keelin is kidnapped by Wilko. Meanwhile, voodoo magician Volac (The Bird aka Ludo Sanders from GTST) plans to free all creatures once sent away by the Night’s Watch from the dark prison in the Underworld. Can the Night Watch prove Wilko’s innocence? Can they find Keelin again? And will they succeed in thwarting Volac’s diabolical plan? Exciting.