Director: Michael S. Rodriguez
Release date: 2024*
Contains spoilers
*At the time of writing the IMDb page is silent on date, Amazon suggests 2024
This low-to-no budget film disarmed me in the fact that, whilst far from perfect, it looked way better than it should have done. It is based around a bat-like cryptid but, whilst situating the origin of the creature in Afghanistan, does not name the cryptid type. I have looked at man-bat creatures before on the blog and there is evidence enough for it being a vampire type.
It starts in 2005, in black and white, and has a guy who has determined to bury his dog, Buck, despite the fact that it peed on his speakers once. There is flapping in the night, and he seems to be carried off… Cut to the present and Trevor (Israel Ledesma) and Ginger (Sparkle Soojian) are driving on a date. She snorts some coke and puts some on her décolletage, which he refuses. The car breaks down as does, quickly, her opinion of him. There was a garage a-ways back and he determines to walk.
We next see them both in a garage owned by Afghan-vet Felix (Michael Wainwright), he needs to replace a part and suggests Trevor step in the back with him. He brains Trevor and then sets Daisy (Jamie Krivobok) on Ginger. We see a flash of a bat like face… The next day, after words with his deceased dad’s friend Carl (D.T. Carney), he goes into town and meets influencer D (Marcus Esparza). There is a brief confrontation, as D films him without permission, but then we see that D's car has broken down.
With D not checking in, his friend Zero aka Z (Wade Pierson) and dad Jerry aka Pop (Manuel Ramirez) go to Cutler to find him and quickly discover he had interaction with Felix. In the meantime Felix is having flashbacks to Afghan (which are the poorest parts of the film) and chatting to Daisy, a vampire bat-creature he found out there. Daisy seems to be getting hungrier and is wanting to hunt through the day as well as night.
Daisy speaks in a whistle and chatter sort of way but Felix can apparently understand her and she, likewise, can understand him. He found her whilst injured (with a leg blown off) awaiting rescue teams – she was in a hole and tiny enough to hide in his ammo belt, though she did bite him when he grabbed her. But beyond a taste for human flesh, and being a bat-creature, it is worth touching on the tropes that lead to classing her as a vampire.
She does feed on flesh, but we see her bite necks and then suckle as well. Ginger is found alive and this, a flashback shows, is because Daisy tried to drink her blood but disliked it – intimating that the cocaine in Ginger’s system saved her. Despite being found in the desert and wanting to hunt in the day we do see her smoke when in the sun and the ragtag band of hunters desire to stake her through the heart. The film has two in-credit sequences and one suggests that, despite an inference that they are a separate species that reproduce naturally, a human victim can also be turned.
The majority of what little budget the film had was used on the Daisy costume, or so it appears. It may not look overly real but it works well enough, offering an old school B vibe. The acting is passable but the flashbacks to Afghanistan, with stock footage merged with some uninspiring original footage of an injured Felix, are poor to the point of I’d want them cut out if it wasn't for their importance in communicating the backstory of Daisy. At 62 minutes the film does not outstay its welcome, though. Better than it possibly deserved to be, 4 out of 10 is fair but does not communicate the fact that it overcomes the odds.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Demand @ Amazon UK
 |
| burying Buck |
It starts in 2005, in black and white, and has a guy who has determined to bury his dog, Buck, despite the fact that it peed on his speakers once. There is flapping in the night, and he seems to be carried off… Cut to the present and Trevor (Israel Ledesma) and Ginger (Sparkle Soojian) are driving on a date. She snorts some coke and puts some on her décolletage, which he refuses. The car breaks down as does, quickly, her opinion of him. There was a garage a-ways back and he determines to walk.
 |
| Trevor and Ginger |
We next see them both in a garage owned by Afghan-vet Felix (Michael Wainwright), he needs to replace a part and suggests Trevor step in the back with him. He brains Trevor and then sets Daisy (Jamie Krivobok) on Ginger. We see a flash of a bat like face… The next day, after words with his deceased dad’s friend Carl (D.T. Carney), he goes into town and meets influencer D (Marcus Esparza). There is a brief confrontation, as D films him without permission, but then we see that D's car has broken down.
 |
| finding Daisy |
With D not checking in, his friend Zero aka Z (Wade Pierson) and dad Jerry aka Pop (Manuel Ramirez) go to Cutler to find him and quickly discover he had interaction with Felix. In the meantime Felix is having flashbacks to Afghan (which are the poorest parts of the film) and chatting to Daisy, a vampire bat-creature he found out there. Daisy seems to be getting hungrier and is wanting to hunt through the day as well as night.
 |
| Jamie Krivobok as Daisy |
Daisy speaks in a whistle and chatter sort of way but Felix can apparently understand her and she, likewise, can understand him. He found her whilst injured (with a leg blown off) awaiting rescue teams – she was in a hole and tiny enough to hide in his ammo belt, though she did bite him when he grabbed her. But beyond a taste for human flesh, and being a bat-creature, it is worth touching on the tropes that lead to classing her as a vampire.
 |
| biting Ginger |
She does feed on flesh, but we see her bite necks and then suckle as well. Ginger is found alive and this, a flashback shows, is because Daisy tried to drink her blood but disliked it – intimating that the cocaine in Ginger’s system saved her. Despite being found in the desert and wanting to hunt in the day we do see her smoke when in the sun and the ragtag band of hunters desire to stake her through the heart. The film has two in-credit sequences and one suggests that, despite an inference that they are a separate species that reproduce naturally, a human victim can also be turned.
 |
| hunting Daisy |
The majority of what little budget the film had was used on the Daisy costume, or so it appears. It may not look overly real but it works well enough, offering an old school B vibe. The acting is passable but the flashbacks to Afghanistan, with stock footage merged with some uninspiring original footage of an injured Felix, are poor to the point of I’d want them cut out if it wasn't for their importance in communicating the backstory of Daisy. At 62 minutes the film does not outstay its welcome, though. Better than it possibly deserved to be, 4 out of 10 is fair but does not communicate the fact that it overcomes the odds.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Demand @ Amazon UK
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