Silent Bite – review

Director: Taylor Martin

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

Set at Christmas, this has less a Christmas horror feel than it feels inspired by From Dusk Till Dawn, with its premise of criminals on the run coming face to face with vampires. It was also entertaining to a point, where it then pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory. Nevertheless, for the most part it is a worthwhile indie watch.

The credits have a series of illustrated panels of the gang robbing the bank in Santa/elves outfits – the art had an AI feel to it, though I may be doing someone a disservice. We see someone dropping bank notes out of a moving vehicle’s window and the news tells us of the Wisconsin Bank robbery and five suspects,

the gang arrive

At an inn four men check-in, the reservation is under Scrooge (the organiser of the heist, who we never see) and the men carry weapons and are dressed in Christmas costume (one is an elf). The clerk, Colin (Paul Whitney, Being Human (US)), comments that they are a day late and shows them to a bar/lounge area where they are to stay – there isn’t a room big enough for five and they are to stay together. A wodge of cash is given to Colin to say nothing of their presence and as far as they know the inn is empty.

Paul Whitney as Colin

The four refer to each other in code names (bar one) and this, with a member disgruntled about his code name, does remind of Reservoir Dogs. The leader is Father Christmas (Simon Phillips, Strippers Vs Werewolves & Age of the Living Dead), with Grinch (Nick Biskupek) – who dislikes his code name, Snowman (Michael Swatton) and Prancer (Luke Avoledo). The latter, who runs tech, seems out of place in the gang (we hear later he is paying off his late father’s debts) and is referred to as Blake, his real name. The fifth member of the gang is Rudolph (Dan Molson), a decoy driver who deliberately lays a trail for the cops to follow and who will return to meet the gang later. The inn is very close to the robbery.

Camille Blott as Genie

Also in the hotel (in room/suite 666, which was a bit of a moment of meta too far) is a kidnapped young woman, Genie (Camille Blott). She is being taunted by Selene (Sienna Star) who bites her – only to be almost immediately rebuked by Mother (Sayla de Goede). Though it is not mentioned in film, Mother in the credits is also identified as Lilith. The room is set for a Satanic ritual (blood exchange leads to a person turning but there is clearly a desire to underpin that, for Genie, with a dedication to infernal forces). Mother has three female vampire 'daughters' with her, in a reflection of Dracula’s brides, the other two being Victoria (Kelly Schwartz, Drakul) and Lucia (Louisa Capulet). They are aware of the men – it sounds like the inn was selected with them in mind though this wasn’t explored – and the daughters are given permission to hunt them. The idea of enjoying the hunt (with sexual aspects mentioned) allows for a stretch to the running time.

the daughters

And it is so far, so good. The bickering criminals give us banter and character (the vampires are more two dimensional) with Simon Phillips (who also wrote the screen play) giving a strong performance as the leader of the bunch. There isn’t too much lore. They are not caught on camera – leading to the gang reviewing camera footage and believing that Colin is at reception talking to himself. A missed opportunity here is when we have seen Mother, in the live scene, smash a bottle and they absolutely don’t notice a bottle smashing itself on camera. Sunlight kills and they decide (when they know what’s going on) that the UV in a flash grenade should be (and is) effective – this brings us to the issue with the film.

mother feeds

It takes its sweet time getting to the showdown and it’s all a bit of a damp squib. There could have been plenty more violence and more inventive deaths (though kudos for the killing a vampire by use of a silver spoon) and, importantly, more gore. The showdown felt genuinely anticlimactic – which given how much fun I’d had with the film to that point was doubly disappointing. But fun was had through the main body of the flick and that is reflected in a score that would have been higher if they’d landed the ending. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK