Short Film: Midnight

A UK Short film, directed by A.R. Ugas, this was released in 2020 and is around 11 minutes long. The film starts with Roxanne (Adaya Monique Henry) and John (Ben Thorne) sat in their living room opposite a man (André Mathias). The man speaks in French, Roxanne understands John does not.

André Mathias as the man

The man says that she, referring to Daughter Sally, will not be the same afterwards and Roxanne admits that John does not know what is proposed. Eventually John looses his temper and demands to know if the man will help their daughter. The man explains to Roxanne that he will go in her room, they will hear screams and cries but they must not enter…

harvest

Six months later and John has been filling a jar with his blood, using a hypodermic. Roxanne suggests that it isn’t nearly enough, but he has a 12-hour shift and needs to be with it. He has mentioned that the guys at work are beginning to think he is a junky. Eventually Roxanne says to take Sally the blood, and she’ll top up later. On the way to work he gets a call, laying him off and, whilst we only hear his side of the conversation, it is clear that he is accused of drug use as he says he is prepared to take a test. However, back at home, could Roxanne be doing something he is unaware of to get more blood…

Roxanne and John

This is a neat short, there is a moment of social commentary that I won’t spoil but in the main it explores relationships and the lengths we might go to for the ones we love. I saw the film on YouTube but it has been since set to private.

The imdb page is here. 

Miles Morales: Spider-Man By Cody Ziglar Vol. 6 - Webs Of Wakanda

Author: Cody Ziglar

Art: Daniele Di Nicuolo

First published: 2025 (TPB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Collects Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2022) #27-29 and material from Miles Morales: Spider-Man Annual (2024) #1 and Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2022) #25.

Miles Morales is a vampire, and the Black Panther may be his only hope! Spider-Man has a new vibranium suit, but does Miles have what it takes to pass T'Challa's gruelling tests in faraway Wakanda?! Deep in the wilds of Africa, a ritual to save Miles' life begins, and the panther god Bast can no longer help him! Two more deities invade Miles' desperate trial, hungering for Spider-Man's corrupted soul - but only one of their chosen champions will be saved. Can Spider-Man hope to defeat the Black Panther at the height of his powers in the heart of his homeland?! And who is web-slinging around New York City masquerading as Spidey in Miles' absence?! Plus: A Morales family vacation to Puerto Rico uncovers secrets that could turn Miles' life upside down!

The review: The Spider-Man aftermath of the Blood Hunt event concludes in this graphic that follows directly on from Volume 5 (obviously) with Black Panther taking Morales to Wakanda to try and plead Bast’s help to cure the hero of vampirism. Interspersed are moments from back home as Shift takes Morales form to cover for him at school and on the streets.

That there was more aftermath from the event within this story arc was welcome and the spiritual battle was interesting – with Anansi impinging on Bast’s territory to claim Spider-Man as his herald. Nevertheless, the outcome never felt in doubt and it was interesting without suspense. The end of the volume contains the Puerto Rico story mentioned in the blurb (and incorrectly mentioned in the blurb of the previous volume). It may have meant much to fans of the series, but I wasn’t overly interested in that story – to be honest. Good to have an extension to the event but ultimately the event has trailed off. 6 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story – review

Director: Natasha Kermani

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

This Dracula related film was based on a Joe Hill short story and is set in an alternate ending to Dracula. Jonathan Harker died (how is not revealed) and Van Helsing (Titus Welliver, Kindred the Embraced) married Mina (Jocelin Donahue). No mention is made of Quincey – so presumably Mina and Jonathan did not have a son – rather Mina and Abraham have two children, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey).

Titus Welliver as Van Helsing

Van Helsing left London for Holland and then moved the family from there to America, settling in California. This is to keep away from those things that may come in the night. The boys have been brought up with tales of the vampire and Mina’s blood is said to still be tainted to the point that she is, at times, ill and Van Helsing suggests that *they* can detect her through it, when close.

opening scene

Having opened with an intertitle from Van Helsing’s medical journal about vampirism and the virulence with which it spreads we find ourselves in 1915, some 18 years after the death of Count Dracula. We see a woman who begs a horseman for a ride as she needs to get to town (the interaction and reaction put my mind to Red Dead Redemption 2 and probably suggests I played the game a tad too often). After he has ridden past a black blur tackles her to off screen.

Brady Hepner as Max

One of the issues with the film is that it is ponderous. We get time with the family – Abraham is hard on Max as he seems not to apply himself to his lessons, whereas Rudy is wilful. Near the homestead surveyors plot for a branch to the railway – and an accident brings them into Van Helsing’s orbit as he has to render medical aid. The boys wonder what is in the forbidden study and Rudy complains that there are noises in the night (and, so what if *they* need inviting in? What if *they* are inside already?)

Mina bitten

We get vampiric moments in Max’s dreams where he sees a pale man (Forrest McClain) but are the dreams born of the stories he’s been told or more prophetic in nature? Mina gives some lovely turn of phrase when describing the past, “The others never saw his true face. He held me so close. I could feel his cold breath on my cheek. So strange to have cold breath. Long, white limbs, white teeth, and a terrible, thin, soft mouth… …He moved like a ghost.” She becomes more and more ill, though Max wonders whether his father’s treatments do more harm than good.

burying the undead

Inevitably Van Helsing wants to train his children in the ‘family business’ whether they wish to or not. Via this we get some lore, as he explains how to stake the undead and suggests they can “pass from shadow to shadow.” We also get a visit from Arthur Holmwood (Jonathan Howard), though he is a man wracked with guilt and doubts, and all that is to say that we drudge through this without a tension building that we need as a viewer. It is a shame, as a tension could have been found and would have kept the viewer's attention as the film slowly builds to its denouement that explores the nature of monsters. However, without that tension 4 out of 10 is generous.

The imdb page is here.

Onlyfangs – review

Directors: Angelica De Alba and Paul Ragsdale

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Onlyfangs is a vampire comedy that was crowdsourced for funding, I had backed the project and so got the electronic release as my perk. We are back in the world of the content creator – the online amateur cryptozoologist, in this case, and a more adult version of content creation – and the influencer is very much a theme in several vampire (and more generally horror) films at the moment. The film, unfortunately, has a major issue, which is a shame as it does much right.

Neve and Scarlett

So, it begins 100 years ago with Neve (Delawna McKinney) and Scarlett (Nina Lanee Kent), who are running through the countryside, trying to escape *him*. Do not let, what might be, night-for-day shooting put you off. It may just be twilight as these vampires can go into the sunlight it seems. They get to a river and we do have an issue I’m picking up on regularly in budget flicks – modern technique tattoos on vampires in period settings. In this case, they are visible but it is a quick scene and ultimately forgivable. *He* is Harvey (Nick Zagone) and he catches the errant vampires – they are his (there is an underlying theme of ownership of women) and he kills Neve.

turning Reece

Cut to modern day and Scarlett, along with Zooey (Meredith Mohler, Queen Dracula) and Selena (Adriana Uchishiba) are having a photoshoot featuring Reece (Kansas Bowling, Verotika & Death Rider in the House of Vampires). At the end, Harvey comes in, the other women leave and there is almost a casting couch feel, which leads to him biting and turning her. Later we see he keeps her in a cellar/cell and feeds her mice – however, Scarlett appears along with Selena, with a sword, who takes care of him.

on the road

The credit scene then sees the four vampire ladies trudging through California, with Reece dragging a trunk – later we discover it contains Harvey, his arms and legs removed but still undead as Scarlett wants him to suffer. There is a montage of travelling (taking turns dragging the trunk) and then getting a ride, who they kill and take his vehicle. Eventually they set up shop in an abandoned skate park. They then go hunting. Three go to a bar, where they dance on the bar top and then slaughter the people there, whilst Reece goes on a date. Clearly Reece was always going to eat him but, before that, he goes all murderous Christian Nationalist/incel on her. This gives her a reason beyond vampirism for her attack. There is a theme through this, which takes aim at conspiracy theorists and the MAGA type,

The Monster Boys

Elsewhere in the park that Reece is in, Wes (Drew Marvick) is shooting content with sister Gwen (Jessa Jupiter Flux, Debbie Does Demons) and friend Quentin (Shane Meyers). Together they are the Monster Boys (Gwen notwithstanding) and they are looking for monsters in a park, where Wes' hero, monster hunter Wilhelm Johanssen (Bryan Hurd), allegedly found a chupacabra. Gwen isn’t in to it, Quentin gets lost and Wes stumbles upon Reece feeding, gets footage and legs it.

Reece feeding

So, without dragging this out – as dragging things out is an issue with the film – the vampires meet Wes. His footage is too blurry and ridiculed to cause them an issue. However, he does have an idea for OnlyFangs, shooting subscription based vampire footage, including visits to clients for the full vamp experience (it is notable that he thinks it a gimmick until later in the film). Peril comes in the form of a MAGA type congresswoman (Ellie Church). So, what about dragging things out? Well, the film has a 2-hour running time, and that is way too long. It’s pacing suffers and it outstays its welcome. Wes has a group of conspiracy nut friends and the vampires kill them. They could just let all that hit the (virtual) cutting room floor – it really doesn’t add to the film.

offering her blood

That said there are some great vampiric images and the photography is professional, but story elements don’t add up. The vampires are keeping it on the down-low after what they did to Harvey and yet indulge in a viral app phenomenon. They seem to have other vampires involved internationally but then there is talk of a war coming with the vampire elders (so why get involved with other vampires and, presumably, bring more focus to them) and needing to build a vampire army. The dialogue does touch on Scarlett hating capitalism and corporations – and yet content creation is an act of micro-capitalism. The big issue, though, is the running length and it is because of this that, despite some earnest performances (and a particular shout out to Adriana Uchishiba, whose Selena was gloriously demented), decent photography and good imagery, I have to hold this at 4 out of 10. A substantial re-edit would earn it a return review.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: Sweet

This 9-minute short was directed for The Horror Show Channel by Cecil Laird and the YouTube upload was in 2016. It was inspired by the American Vampire graphic novel series and features the character Skinner Sweet (Jaime En Fuego).

the ladies

Set in a Wild West town, the camera lingers on a wanted poster that seems to be Sweet, before following two women leaving the saloon. One, Madam Julia (Gwen Merriman), is trying to persuade Rose (Marina Maldonado) to give up being a saloon girl and work for her in her brothel. They pass a man, who nods and, when they have passed him, is then pulled into an alley.

Jaime En Fuego as Skinner Sweet

Suddenly they are surrounded by three men, all three vampires of European stock. However their toying with the ladies is interrupted with the appearance of Skinner Sweet, an all-American vampire who has some very specific reasons for getting involved… This is, of course, a labour of love from fans of the graphic. Some of the polymorphic effects worked well, especially given that this will have been budget restricted. However, one decapitation suffered due to the cgi. Nevertheless, fans of the graphics are sure to get a kick out of it.

At the time of writing there is no IMDb page.

The Great Dick: And the Dysfunctional Demon – review

Author: Barry Maher

First published: 2025

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: It’s 1982. Steve Witowski, a failed songwriter on the run from the law, finds himself caught in a supernatural thriller after an apparently innocent act of heroism—saving a woman from a vicious assault by a seemingly unstoppable wino. The woman, Victoria, is just part of a mystery Steve can’t unravel. Even as he’s looting the decomposing dead for the secrets of a self-proclaimed sorcerer. Even as he plummets into a nightmare of fire and blood and murder. Even then, Steve remains certain the sorcerer’s spells, the occult rituals—the supposed demons and supernatural horror—are simply delusion and fantasy. Steve is wrong.

Victoria, who has just bought a dilapidated church with a haunting past, entangles Steve in a deadly game of dark magic and rituals. As, unknown to him, the demon grows desperate, Steve plunges deeper into a world of crypts, grave robbing, and long-forgotten secrets, all while trying to escape his own haunted past. But when the face of the man Steve killed appears on his arm, the line between reality and nightmare begins to blur.

This supernatural novel will leave you on the edge of your seat, with wickedly funny dark humor and, ultimately, pulse-pounding suspense, as Steve and Victoria navigate a twisted adventure full of occult horror, supernatural suspense, and shocking revelations.

The review: The author of The Great Dick emailed me and asked if I would like to review the volume. I am always open to receiving books for review, but did explain that the blog is strictly vampire genre. Barry responded that “The demon is definitely an entity who feeds on people’s energy, the victims are left dead or devastated.” So, whilst demonic, we have what sounded like an energy vampire – though the demonic elements are low key until the ending.

However, the book is a blast and a page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The main character and narrator, Steve Witowski, is an utterly flawed but brilliantly conceived and revealed character and it is a testament to the sharp, pithy writing that the character keeps the reader enthralled. 

A tale of cults (or at least the aftermath of a cult) and a hunt for secrets, when we do get the reveal of the central creature, born of demonic ritual (using cadaverous flesh), things take a crazy turn. That we see little to start with is down to Steve not being aware of some of the activity in the background – though he is exposed to weirdness from the beginning. 

There is, to be fair, mention of vampires when we get “‘You think you’re a fucking vampire?’ ‘Vampire?’ She laughed. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, Steve. The blood’s mine.’” So they are mentioned in passing, but the central creature is a form of energy vampire, as mentioned, and described as “a psychic parasite” at one point. The victims were left cognitively destitute but some are killed through the process. Though the creation process was different for this creature, I was conceptually reminded of Hanns Heinz Ewers' Alraune. This is a great novel and an excellent opening to a promising series. 8.5 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Dead Creatures – review

Director: Andrew Parkinson

Release date: 2001

Contains spoilers

We are very much in contested territory for this film. A gritty British low budget horror, I can see why people would call this a zombie film, indeed a couple of the film credits mention zombies, and perhaps cannibalism. However, the creatures of the title are compos mentis, infected flesh eaters (and blood drinkers – we see a reaction to blood, at the very least) so I am declaring zompire.

It starts at a door to an industrial unit. In it a man is strapped to a chair. We then get views of tower blocks, placing this in that modern British gothic exemplified by hoody horror. An image of urban decay. In a flat, whilst a radio speaks about incompetent doctors, we see a woman, Ali (Lindsay Clarke), sat in the corner of a room smoking a cigarette, blankets round her, she looks like she is decaying. There is a shot of a cattle bolt and then a man, Reece (Brendan Gregory), sat in a bloodied white coat. Two women, Jo (Beverley Wilson) and Ann (Antonia Beamish), leave the tower block, with suitcases and a wheelchair in which they push Ali. It appears they are moving.

left arm gone

The three women we’ve met are all infected – though by what is uncertain. As the title suggests, they might be dead – when we meet a newly infected later coldness is described as part of the turning process and the wound that is the point of infection doesn’t seem to ever heal but no longer hurts. Indeed, we see a body left, where an arm has been removed, who subsequently awakens and attacks someone; this is a trope from both the zombie and vampire camps of the victim rising and immediately attacking.

deterioration

Once infected they develop an overwhelming need to eat human flesh. If they deny the need then they become violent and (one guesses as we don’t really see it) feral. If they eat enough they can stave off the decay – which is less decay and more open weeping flesh that looks pretty darn unhealthy. We see Ali at the advance stage (with associative cognitive decline) but we also see one at the earlier stages with several open wounds. We see a male infected peeing against a wall and they pee blood. The infection is low key, in that the world is going on around them as though nothing has happened. However, they suggest a shadowy government conspiracy and infected people being vanished if found.

Brendan Gregory as Reece

Reece is a zombie hunter (or, from our viewpoint zompire hunter); not associated with the government conspiracy, he seems to be searching for a specific infected (his daughter). He kidnaps infected and questions them, starving them to get them to speak and then killing them. He does this with the cattle bolt through the brain – whether this is necessary is unclear but it obviously calls back to the standard, Romero, shoot them in the head. He releases one captive – presumably because he wasn’t actually infected.

Ann and Jo

Also in the film is Sian (Anna Swift) a young college girl who decides to go on the wrong date with Christian (Bart Ruspoli) and is bitten for her trouble and subsequently found (in A&E) by Jo, and taken in. Through her we see the start of the infection for an individual. This, all in all, might prove to some to be a tough watch. There is little story and the dialogue of the women is around life in general (or more precisely, their lives, which have been suspended as they step out of normal society into their twilight existence). However, I was rather taken by them. The infection can be read as sexual (Sian is infected on a date, Ann hunts by prostituting herself and does indulge in random pickups for sexual gratification) but is passed through the violence of a bite.

With budget but, in places, rather effective SFX, this is not cheery and celebrates its dourness, but I was taken by the characters' extraordinary ordinariness. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK