Short Film: Drifters

This was a film released in 2010 and was directed by Alexander Hoggard. As the viewer watches it you can pick up themes that owed a debt to both the Lost Boys and Near Dark within its roughly 20-minute running time.

It begins with a car, driven by Chris (Eric Hardman), moving through the US landscape. He stops at a bar and grill, goes to the bar and orders a whisky and whatever is on tap. Spotting a girl, later revealed to be Nikki (Taressa Costello), he goes over to speak to her but she blanks him. Just then an altercation begins at the bar.

Eric Hardman as Chris

A patron, Stephen (Alex Heckman), refuses to pay for a drink. The bartender is handling it but Chris goes over, intervenes, and there is a bar fight. Eventually Nikki pulls Chris away from Stephen (whom he seemed to have been punching ineffectually) and out of the bar. She kisses his cheek – a thank you, Stephen was her douche ex-boyfriend. Chris suggests they watch the sunrise but she declines.

 sleeping arrangement

He wakes in his car – his normal sleeping arrangement – and goes into the bar to buy a bottle of water. The barmaid tells him, when asked, that the next town is a 3 hour drive, and suggests that he leave town before sunset. The film then becomes a tad confused by showing a driving sequence but then has him stop with Nikki, Stephen and three others on the road. It becomes apparent later that he is still (or back) in the town but no real answer is given to the narrative cue that leads to the driving sequence seemingly ignored.

Taressa Costello as Nikki

Spokesman for the people before him is Michael and he questions Chris, who in turn asks whether they want him to join them – this was the aspect that felt like it owed a debt to the Lost Boys. He then goes with them to a diner where they terrorise the two patrons and this had more a Near Dark feel (without the gore and visceral atmosphere of the bar invasion scene from that film). Chris does leave the diner, followed by Nikki, and tells her he came for her. Will he get her away from the vampires (especially as he doesn’t seem to have worked out what they are)?

encounter

The vampire genre borrows from itself and cannibalises, so it is perfectly natural that one should see a couple of classic genre films reflected in this. It is clearly made by enthusiastic amateurs – some of the acting definitely needs some work – but it is interesting to see a short where the director is playing with the Americana trope of the road. Unfortunately, it is difficult to explore that in a short but it was a start of the exploration, at least. The film had been on Vimeo to watch but is currently set at private.

The imdb page is here.