Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

The film longs to be a hip skewering of noir and monster movies but instead is kneecapped by mediocre effects, indifferent performances and a generally dull design.

Even if the whole vampires vs. werewolves thing hadn't already been done to un-death by True Blood and the Twilight and Underworld franchises, Dylan Dog would still be a crushingly dull 107 minutes.

Director Munroe is clearly a fan and attempted his best on an admittedly limited budget, but some things just don't translate that well.

While he's fine playing bemused and beleaguered, Routh can't muster the edginess that Dylan is also meant to have. Diggs looks fabulous, but has his own problems with the dangerous stuff.

A horror comedy with a lame hero, ridiculous story, villains sans scare factor, bad jokes and poorly shot fight sequences? Unworthy of your time on every front.

Completed with low-rent production values and an over-reliance on exposition, the outcome feels like a failed SyFy Channel series pilot.

The plot is so bland and uninspired that all the gruesome practical effects in the world couldn't save it from monotony.

Quite nearly dead on arrival.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night is agreeable and diverting -- it's just not especially distinctive.