Bogieville – review

Director: Sean Cronin

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

This review was based on a provided screener. Director Sean Cronin has created two vampire films in very close proximity, this Southern USA set film and co-directing UK set Drained and he created very different types of vampires in each. The vampires in Bogieville, whilst maintaining an underlying cunning, are much more feral creatures and that sort of vampire is, of course, welcome in a sea of more Gothic, suave presentations. 

I see you

The film starts with a woman pulling up at a gas station and realising that she has started her period. She goes into the rest room and sits in a cubicle but then there are footsteps, a pounding on the cubical door, and a face full of fangs peering in from the top of the door as he hisses... a door which is then pulled forcefully off its hinges. We hear her scream throughout the encounter and see him aim at her crotch as he goes after her… it is an opening that lets us know exactly what sort of vampire we are getting and these vampires can not only smell blood but, we discover later, they log the scent of anyone who crosses their path.

Ham and Jody

The film proper starts with a garage and the owner goes through to mechanic Ham (Arifin Putra, Rumah Dara) and sacks him as business is slow. Less than impressed, Ham heads to the local bar where his girlfriend Jody (Eloise Lovell Anderson) works. His friend Nick (Ryan Livingstone) is working his charm with a pair of young ladies, Jody intercepts Ham but when another buck moseys in on the gals, Nick squares off with him and Ham intervenes. Ham is punched, left with a bloodied nose and the bar owner blames him and threatens to dock Jody’s pay – which leads her to quit (and crack a bottle over the bar owner's head). With no money for rent Jody and Ham skip town.

Poppie Jae Hughes as Lily

The young buck from the bar pulls up at the garage for gas, with the gals riding in his truck. The owner is filling it when the lights go off in the store and he leaves the car to investigate. The gals have gone to the rest room. Outside, a vampire appears at the truck window, and inside, the owner sees a little girl, Lily (Poppie Jae Hughes), who turns around and hisses, showing him her bloodied, monstrous face. It’s a great shot (though, being critical, it could have done with having a little more light) but also deliberately seems to throw back to many a little-girl-monster-shot; notably in Dawn of the Dead (2004) and 30 Days of Night. This starts a spree of vampire attacks in the town that, at first, are attributed to Ham and Jody by the sheriff (Daniel P Lewis) – even though the Doctor (Angela Dixon, Drained) quickly theorises vampires.

threatened by Madison

Ham and Jody, meanwhile, are going down a backroad when something runs out and Ham crashes. Coming round in the morning, he finds blood in his grille and a scrap of material (though no body). They notice the Madison Farm trailer park near-by and go to see if anyone was injured. It looks abandoned but they meet caretaker Crawford (Jonathan Hansler, Vampire Virus), who is wary and armed. He eventually, however, offers them a job though there are rules (primarily; never leave especially at night, in fact never go out at night). He is the brother of the site’s owner, Madison (Sean Cronin, also Drained and Wrath of Dracula). Madison and his wife (Sarina Taylor) are vampires, Lily is Crawford’s daughter and all the trailer park residents are vampires too.

after a moment in the sun

So, the reason they are offered a job is partly to save their lives – Crawford knows the vampires would have their scent and would track them down – but also because he is succession planning. The vampires are standard when it comes to apotropaic/killing methods, including sunlight, aversion to crosses, aversion to/killed by garlic etc. There are aspects that buckle a tad when placed under scrutiny – the primary one being why they are attacking the town all of a sudden (they have been there 20 years). Indeed, whilst keeping the attacks on the town in, I would have cut the 'Ham being a suspect' aspect.

impressive immolation

The film looks perfectly well and I was impressed by the effects. Though the immolations were cgi, they worked really well and the vicious maws looked really good. The plot was simple but that worked for the type of vampires (and is another reason I would have dropped the scenes framing Ham, as the plotline was a complication but was under-explored/exploited). I do have to mention that a lot of the cast were not from the US and, whilst the cast did what was necessary with their performances, the Southern accents sounded a little off to my ear and I am sure an American, from the South especially, might well struggle accepting the accents. Nevertheless, I was rather taken with this and offer a solid 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK