Short film: Helsing

At 29-minutes this is a Ryan Henry Johnston short film from 2014 and follows the continuing adventures of Van Helsing (Patrick Morrison) in the modern day (one assumes).

in church

It starts with a priest, Luke (Anthony Napodano), approaching a church and, as a minor moan, the outside shots were too dark. He enters and sees a girl (Liana O'Boyle) leaving and asks whether she has seen a tall man who comes into the church.

holding the cross

Walking past the man drinking straight from a bottle he sits next to a man who is confessing an inappropriate liaison. Luke, thinking he is Van Helsing, tells him the church has sent him to assist him and that he has an address where the creature is thought to be. The man, called Dave (John Viliott), is nonplussed and leaves. The drinker is Van Helsing… Outside, as they head to the location, the camera pans and shows Dave being fed upon.

Desiree Srinivas as Moira

They enter the house. A voice over has told us that Van Helsing is somehow immortal, cursed to hunt his enemy (Dracula, obviously) but not how he became so cursed. In a trap door they find the body of Dave and they are attacked by Jade (credited as Jing Song but listed on IMDB as Aria Song). It becomes apparent, however, that the tip was a lure and Moria (Desiree Srinivas), an ancient vampire and lieutenant of Dracula is also there…

vamp

This was fun, minor gripe about the outdoor night photography aside. There is some world building that certainly could have been expanded on in a longer vehicle. There was perhaps a feel more of Vampire$ with the derelict house, the surly (drunk) vampire hunter and the naïve priest, than a more traditional Dracula vehicle, but that was not necessarily a bad thing.

The imdb page is here.