Honourable Mention: A (Schizophrenic) Love Story

This was a 2014 film directed by Dylan Thomas Ellis & Glenn D. Levy, which was indeed a love story, indeed probably best described as a romantic comedy. The comedy came mainly from the central character Connor (Andrew Pozza) and the fact that he is an agoraphobic young man with anxiety and schizophrenia (brought on by trauma) and the interactions he has with his hallucinations and those in the real world.

Andrew Pozza actually wrote the screenplay and having looked in to his previous efforts he is primarily (at the point of writing) known for spoofs. This was not in that genre at all and though the Connor character was at the centre of the jokes one felt they were more with him than at him and, whilst it is a comedy, there was a large measure of sympathy built in for the character.

Connor and his three inner companions

So, you might be wondering why it’s being featured at TMtV. As the film starts we see a band playing in a garage. Connor is the guitarist, Einstein (Richard Lukens) is the keyboard player, the Virgin Mary (Jennifer Joseph) is the drummer and a vampire named Asher (Derek Lee Nixon) is the bass player. We also see that Connor actually isn’t plugged in and the others are not there. These three characters are the three staples of his hallucinations and much of the interaction in film is with them.

going to bite?

However, given that Asher does nothing particularly vampiric (though it does look like he leans in to bite Connor at one point) I decided to make this an Honourable Mention. The three characters represent aspects of himself and there is a definite reason why he hallucinates those three in particular. The fact that he is seeing them means that he is off his meds – they make him feel like a zombie – something he denies to doctor and neighbour Bob (Bruce Davison).

Jamie Teer as Lily

The three characters are aware of their nature and when Connor meets his new neighbour Lily (Jamie Teer) for the first time (she has just moved to her mother’s home on the street) he has to work out whether she is real in the first instance. She has her own problems but their friendship and romance quickly blossoms despite their unspoken issues and the barriers they both erect.

love advice during a date

This is, of course, not the normal film subject we look at here but is another example of the pervasiveness of the vampire through all levels of media. A film that could have been a crude joke based on mental health impairment becomes a sympathetic story, which is great, but the base genre might not be to the taste of all TMtV readers. The imdb page is here and you can find the film here.