Adze the African Vampire – review

Director: John Droese

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

I am not a big fan of found footage films generally (though there are exceptions). Where some work, others break their own internal logic, feel flawed when finding an excuse for the filming to continue and generally are an excuse to ignore budgetary limitations and poor filmmaking skills. Some do work, however.

There is a trend of putting influencers at the heart of some horror films and this too is a trend that can fall flat on its face as the portrayal of them feels lazy and 2-dimensional. They do, however, offer a film relevant reason for the cameras to keep rolling. In this there was an attempt to flesh out characters (which was successful with at least one), anda logical  reasoning for the cameras to keep recording. It just really failed to pull a horror film together, ultimately.

Shawntae Hughes as Mr Big Money

It starts with an episode of the video podcast True Haunting$: Prove It and the host Mr Big Money (Shawntae Hughes) – shortened to BM for the review. Later we discover that the nickname is accurate and he does seem to be rich (and actually rather generous), though the source of his wealth is not spelled out. There is some suggestion it is YouTube monetisation – but that seems unlikely. The videos he makes are all about debunking myths – with (in the main part of the film) prize money for those who can prove the supernatural. In this episode he is looking into a Confederate ghost on a rail bridge that seems less abandoned than he thought (we see no train; they add a train noise) and concludes it is debunked.

Benedicta Onyero Droese as the Professor

Professor Elumah (Benedicta Onyero Droese) is holding her last mythology lecture before retirement. Those who attend cannot have their cell phones and must sign a non-disclosure agreement. Some generic and forgettable students talk and suggest that perhaps it’s because True Haunting$ went dark 6-months ago (after a bigfoot episode) – we discover that Elumah is BM’s mother. She starts the lecture with a protection chant and then shows slides of three murder victims from different parts of the world and asks the students what creature could have done it – she then suggests an Adze. The film proper is then what happened to her son (and presumably it was shown to the class).

Raven and Sasha

He has invited three influencers to come to him for a competition/video. There is fashion influencer Sasha (Nichole Banna), gamer (and ex-military) Raven (Kayla Mychell Jordan), and fitness influencer (and all-round jerk) Jack of All Trades (Branden Greenberg). Also there is driver and goffer Bogo (Kevin 'Profisi Kev' Miller). BM checks that they have seen the viral video – we get a long shot of the TV they are looking at that shows us little, it looks like a person shooting an energy beam out of their mouth. He suggests it is an Adze and that they will, over 48-hours hunt it and should one capture it they will win $.5 million. He gives them, later, a get out – leave and be given $10k.

Branden Greenberg as Jack

Next there is a vid call with Elumah (who BM calls Professor). She will judge but tries to warn them off. She then explains that an Adze is an African mythological creature that either takes human form or that of a firefly. It apparently has no weaknesses (weapons won’t harm it etc), feeds on blood, flesh and organs and, if it bites someone it preps them for possession. It hides in plain sight taking on the form of others (one assumes those it has possessed, rather than shifting to their shape). It will, should blood not be available, drink coconut water. Later we discover that whilst the Professor believes in them, BM does not. He lost an eye as a child; she believes it was an Adze who attacked him but he thinks a psycho with a knife.

the viral video (best viewer angle)

The Adze does appear in Bane’s Encyclopaedia of Vampire Mythology but there are a couple of points from that entry to note (with the caveat that Bane does get things wrong). The Adze becomes a ball of fire (quite a common trope seen in myths/folklore from the Caribbean and South East Asia) that is like a firefly rather than actually a firefly, it drinks blood of the most beautiful children – in this it is said those with enviable gifts, hence the successful influencers are bait. It is suggested that the Adze will be staved off with offerings of coconut milk and palm oil – I suspect coconut water is suggested due to the debunked suggestion that it can replace human plasma. The biggest difference is that, according to Bane, in human form anything that can kill a human can kill it – rather than being invulnerable.

stills of victims

The film then trundles on. There are odd bits like a claim of no Wi-Fi, yet they’ve had the vid call, Sasha records for her followers (though she could be working offline) and all footage on the phones and cameras BM has provided get uploaded directly to the cloud so that the Professor can judge the winner – so better to say they are excluded from the Wi-Fi. The characters do not necessarily fit that well. BM comes across as pleasant enough and Raven gets a bit of backstory (and Kayla Mychell Jordan is very natural on the screen). Sasha does not come across as the fashion influencer she is meant to be (though there is a nice vulnerability moment) and, as mentioned, Jack is a jerk. The trouble is, not a lot happens – not until the last 15-minutes. A conflation with rabies (from bats) is used – though rabies doesn’t tend to change iris colour to red and, later, white.

Kayla Mychell Jordan as Raven

The personable performance side of this (especially around BM and Raven) does inflate the score but the lack of atmosphere and late actual peril is an issue. The found footage is remarkably clear and crisp for this sort of film. I’m being generous, I think, with 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.