Short Film: Lesbian Vampires from Outer Space

I made a conscious decision to stop reviewing short films and simply post about them, as the short film is a rather different movie form to the feature. When it came to this Sam Rooke directed film, that is around 48-minutes, I was torn as the production company, Psychic Visions, list it as a feature. It is also longer or as long as many a TV episode. But, as it comes in just under what I’d generally class as a feature length, and it is available to watch for free on YouTube, I decided that I’d run it as a short film article.

First, I need to touch on the title – lesbian is apt as the lead characters Don (Rachel Simm) and Maude (Zorsha Taylor Suich) are lesbians and the production company is a queer facing company and collective. The Outer Space bit didn’t overly mean much, they do refer to humans as something other than themselves (but it is common in the megatext for vampires to see themselves as separate from their prey) but they can turn victims, and nothing is made of the allegedly alien aspect. The full title makes the film sound like it might be schlocky (it isn’t and is filmed and played with a serious air) or comedy (it really isn’t).

aftermath

As mentioned, it follows Don and Maude who are celebrating their anniversary and are getting ready to go out. Before they leave Don packs a body part from a victim away. They go to a local pub and, at the bar, they are accosted by Jamie (William Mullett), who thinks Don should fancy him. When she goes to the toilet, he follows her, and things turn violent and rapey. Maude’s sensitive hearing picks up on what is going on but when she gets into the toilet Don is violently feeding on him. His mates hear a scream and enter the toilet and then panic ensues as they kill both them and all others in the pub. In all 21 die.

fangs

The film does cast hetero men as a threat – and not unfairly, in truth. However, it also fails to capitalise on the violence. We get aftermath gore but not the attacks (for the most part) and I understand why from a production standpoint, but it would have added a visceral layer. The vampires get out of there – though Maude vomits some of the blood and later becomes ill and there is mention of what human blood does to them, drawing an addiction aspect to the narrative. The women go on the run, head to the coast, meet an eloping lesbian couple and are hunted by the police.

at a crime scene

There are some bits of this that jar – such as a copper suggesting they are from a PD, which is very American, and two grown women able to hide in the rear footwell of a small car for a couple of hours (even if it’s dark). The primary leads seem very natural in their performances. As mentioned extended violence/gore sequences would have added to it. However, all in all it kept me watching and positives outweigh niggles.

The imdb page is here.