Short: You Only Die Once

Released in 2016 and directed by Amanda Revsin, this short movie came in at just under 30-minutes and was undoubtedly an ode to Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a group of female supernatural-threat hunters and quips aplenty. And that is no bad thing when it works well. In the short run we get a little sense of the characters, enough to piece together the interplay, and the whole cast excel in selling the concept.

It starts with Linda (Teegan Leah Curitz) knocking on an apartment door. The door swings open and she enters, asking where the S.O.B. is and appears unphased when it shuts behind her. She enters a living room, reaches to a blanket on the couch and finds a woman (Janet Kim).

he's behind you

Her suspicions apparently confirmed, they are exceeded when a second woman (Lianna Nielsen) walks in. We can tell they look somewhat vampy, confirmed when boyfriend Lee (John DeSilvestri) appears behind Linda, with fangs on show and speaking in a faux-Lugosi accent (later he is described as speaking like he is Count von Count’s BAE). As for the two vampire women, Linda describes them as mail order, iron deficient whores. A quick punch (perhaps with cross) and lifting of the cross and she’s out of there. Lee tells the other they will wait for the girls and then they’ll eat.

female vampire

Linda returns with Cecilia (Amanda Revsin) and Jamie (Jen Keefe), and we start to get a measure of the characters as Cecilia and Linda bicker in the hallway. Cecilia wants to be sure Lee has turned, after all Linda had them hunt an ex, who she was convinced was a shapeshifter when he was not. Anyway, they do get in to confront Lee, who Cecilia stakes whilst Linda is mid-quip. They leave the apartment after that, the cracks on the relationship showing (and with a need to return and get the vampire women) but to stake a vampire you really have to hit the heart…

the hunters

As I say, we get enough to get a measure of the characters, though it is definitely Cecilia and Linda who are front and centre. The short bobs along at a great pace, and the quips and pop culture references come thick and fast (the comparison of the 50 Shades of Gray plot with Dracula particularly amused). The vampires have the normal weaknesses – sunlight, correctly inserted stakes, crosses and garlic. This short span off into a web series and I will look at that at some point too.

The imdb page is here.