The Night Time World – review

Directors: Various

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

This is a portmanteau film, where the wraparound – entitled The Night Time World and directed by Timothy Paul Taylor – is about vampires but so are the four segments. It has become very easy to stitch a series of shorts into a film and I guess that theming them is a good a way to try and build a cohesive anthology. It feels to me, however, that creating bespoke segments is normally the stronger method.

Doug Henderson as Nada

Nevertheless, we are where we are with a vampire theme but shorts of varying quality and one in particular was probably not a good one to curate into the selection. The wraparound sees podcaster Nada (Doug Henderson) hosting his horror story show. He gets a caller, who seems to be in distress and speaks of a woman (Selina Flanscha) who answered his ad asking to kill him on camera. He gets cut off but she then calls, supernaturally controlling the lines, and their conversation makes the wraparound. It is fluff, to be honest, but Henderson makes for a calm, charming host for the stories.

Shane and Paul

The first segment is called The Backpage, directed by Brandon Lescure and originally released as a short in 2016. It is actually, for me, the best of the bunch. Paul (Brendan Krick) is in a bar with friend Shane (Joe Welkie). They are very much an odd couple, with Paul recently single and not very good with the dating game and Shane a player (or a bit of misogynistic slut). Both their dialogues are cringeworthy for different reasons and designed to be so.

Annabel Leah as Lilith

Shane convinces Paul to try out a massage website for a happy ending and he goes home, surfs the net, realises he has very little cash in his wallet and then spies a Backpage ad in a newspaper. This suggests a masseuse, named Lilith (Annabel Leah) who will come to the client and rates are negotiable. He calls and then falls asleep, woken when she knocks. Paul is nervous, suggests they chat but she soon strips, gets her massage table and kisses him.

drool

With a name like Lilith there is going to be no spoiler in discovering she is our vampire but I need to go into some unfamiliar lore they add in. She drools a foam-like drool onto his face and it is numbing and sedative. It also turns into a waxy residue, which seals his mouse and is used to glue his arms down. She straddles him and a large trunk-like tube comes from her belly and starts to suck his insides out from his groin. It was spectacularly unusual, and she comes across as much succubus as vampire.

Nina Donnelly as Scarlett

The next segment was Scarlet, directed by Sean Brien and released in 2020. It has three friends in a car – Denice (Harley Cubberley), Craig (James Stephen Walsh) and Robert (Greg Young) – watching for a woman who soon comes into view, her name is Scarlet (Nina Donnelly). It is apparent they know what she is and it is down to Craig to deal with her (he has a bag of vampire killing tools and Denice gives him a flask of garlic water). As he seems reticent, Robert suggests going to her, but Craig eventually leaves the car. She seems pleased to see him and leads him away… will he be able to deal with the restless dead? This is a very short segment (around 9 minutes) and has some good imagery but fails to get past a very basic narrative.

having a bite

The third segment is the one I am unsure of why it would be placed in the anthology, called for this Sorry for the Blood, and directed by Adam Michaels, Chaz and Dray Schoenbeck as I watched it I felt like it was lifting its story from Morbius and the vampire (Adam Michaels), unnamed in credit, looked like the comic book living vampire. Turns out this was a Morbius fan film from 2014, which is fine but curating it into a commercial anthology seems risky and, honestly, it was the weakest of the segments as it feels more like a proof of concept than a story.

feeding blood

The final segment was called Indictment and was a 2016 short that was directed by Gene Blalock. A man, Nico (Derrick Scott), wakes in a police cell and is brutalised by the cop in charge (Robert Hugh Starr), having been accused of murdering another cop (Nick Somers), which he can’t remember. As the brutality continues, memories start to return and he begins to realise that he’s been changed. This was my second favourite after the Backpage. Over all, this was a mixed bunch, though the photography was set at a decent standard across the segments and the shorts are worth watching (even Sorry for the Blood has some merit). 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

Honourable Mention: All the Girls Love Blood: Kiss of the Devil

This is real DIY filmmaking, with a series of films so micro-budgeted (at least for the first) that, whilst the director Elliot Passantino has an IMDb page, none of the series have IMDb pages.

The first film, All the Girls Love Blood, was a shot to video film from 2004 and was a pretty poor print and a gritty mob story (with lowbrow comedy element) It followed a couple of undercover bent cops as they tried to avoid being killed by the French mob with Internal Affairs at their heels. As far as I can tell not all the film has survived.

Fatima's witchy sisters

In 2023 a sequel of sorts, All The Girls Love Blood: Full Moon Motorpsycho Mafia, was created. The print is tellingly better, especially as they have merged the two films into a feature on the Blu-Ray release. The story expanded with various Mob families, and a biker Neo-Nazi. A key-element of the narrative was a new psychotropic street drug called Christ. So far, no supernatural but at the very end a mob-boss turns into a werewolf and rampages, though it is revealed to be a Christ induced mass hallucination. Feminist mob-boss Fatima dies at the end of part two and that is important…

eating with mom

The 2025, 65-minute feature All the Girls Love Blood: Kiss of the Devil is somewhat more surreal. We get an FBI agent obsessed with a psycho bunny-suited Mr Hoppy – who appears at the end of part two, and he turns out to be a CIA super-soldier experiment, where they programmed several Mr Hoppy units (in the suits to freak out the enemy). We also get the agent’s Irish mom, played in drag and focal point for a lot of the lowbrow humour in this part. There is a bike gang, more mobsters, an undercover hacktivist group called Unicorn Sky (which is a separate project from the director that crosses into this). It turns out that Fatima’s family are witches too.

Fatima awakens

They try to bring Fatima back and fail but, at the end of the film, another mob lady manages to resurrect her – in the name of Lilith and Lamia – and Fatima comes back as a vampire under her control. This leads to her killing a few people (ripping one’s privates off whilst saying that the presence of Lilith in her resurrection was making her horny). This time it isn’t written off as a hallucination but is an actual supernatural event.

warding with a cross

It is, however, not too long an appearance and I am holding this to being a fleeting visitation. Even her death is off screen – killed by a CIA Laser Spectra piece of kit that leaves her as a fanged skull. Nevertheless, it has a vampire and despite the low budget I found myself drawn into the films – and despite looking awful, more so the first film that was a simple mob story, when the horizon broadened and conspiracy entered into the story the narrative felt more muddled.

At time of writing there is no IMDb page.

The Beta Project – review

Directors: Brett William Mauser & Dane Berkshire

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Based on a one-off webisode called The Project, as far as I could tell, this was an interesting little film that resolved in a way that was a tad unsatisfying (as I’ll explain) but did an awful lot right despite the low budget. From a TMtV point of view, whilst there is talk of demons, and we do get Lilith (Dane Berkshire) as the Mother of Demons, there are monsters within, referred to as crusties, that have fangs, can turn and can be staked through the heart.

Lana in the storage area

It starts off with Lana leaving a building and going into what looks like a large storage area. We see a head pop down behind her in the dark and eventually she finds herself surrounded by two men and a woman. The older man starts a sales pitch, essentially, offering her life, happiness and eternity. This is observed from the shadows by Mike (Brett William Mauser) who is slightly startled when Rose (Katrina Nash) comes up behind him.

offer accepted

Mike confirms there are three crusties and he was about to introduce himself. Rose stops him. Lana has been offered a choice and so they can’t intervene – Mike hates that rule. The film has a lot to say about free will and destiny (and the mutually exclusive nature of the two things). Lana accepts the offer and is bitten, falling to the floor. Mike and Rose go in, she taking on the younger pair of crusties with a sword and Mike going after the older one. He shoots him and then puts a bullet close to the heart (enough to slow but not kill). By the time he gets info out of the crusty – Lilith, thought dead, is back – Rose has despatched the other two and, after Mike feigns letting the third go, she kills him.

Lilith and Colleen

Six months later and an operation is in place, led by Hank (Trey Bayer) for the Project. They have used Stan (Brad Scribner) as bait. He is in a warehouse, where he has been beaten for four hours. This is at Lilith’s behest and watched by Colleen (Jane Dare Haas) – I didn’t pick up on exactly who Colleen was but it is inferred she has political ties – Lilith takes over the interrogation using femininity (and, one guesses, demonic power) to try and find the location of the Desert Rose (at the end of the film revealed to be a sword). Stan, of course, doesn’t know but he does spill he is working for the Project just as they are making their entrance. Colleen and Lilith look, separately, to get out and Lilith kills all the agents. Interestingly Colleen, after this, stabs Lilith with a small blade that causes the Demon Mother an injury and, we discover later, is magical in nature as monsters that can spontaneously heal fail to do so when injured by it.

Mike and Rose

Having failed to eliminate Lilith, Rose initiates the Beta Project – which involves pulling a team of four women together. These end up being selected as Mehnkah (Gidget White) – an accountant at the Project chosen at random by Mike, Ajay (Cristina Cruz Rodríguez) – a smuggler, Worm (Allie Smith) – who is in a crew with Ajay, and Joy (also Dane Berkshire) – a rogue DEA agent who is described as a banshee (but unaware of this, it seems). They manage to pick up Ajay at a deal gone south but Worm is captured by Colleen’s people and Joy is captured by Lilith, posing as a cop…

dusting a crusty

All of which is great and there is some nice character building with regards Ajay and Joy – with actress Dane Berkshire working with herself really well, with both characters feeling unique and the interaction feeling totally natural. Where the film left me unsatisfied was in the end where the rescue missions end and so does the film itself. It felt more like the first act of the film rather than the first film of a series. It is, however, testament that (as it comes in at feature length) the film did not drag despite only feeling like the first act. So, the film delivers an opening premise but with a huge amount left to explore. A strong 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Blood Vengeance – review

Author: EH Drake

First Published: 2025

Contains spoilers

The blurb: The Blood Herring Chronicles end here.

Gabe and Lily are trapped, held captive by the very justice they once served. But with the vampire lord, Elias, unleashing his army on Portland, a city collapsing into ruin, they can't afford to wait. The only way to save humanity is to break free. The only way to fight is to risk everything.

Two renegades. One impossible war. Can they stand against a rising tide of blood and ruin?

The review: The third in the series (my reviews are here for Book 1 and Book 2) and the city of Portland has gone to Hell, with the terrorist vampire Elias periodically releasing his child vampire warriors and hordes of the starved – people turned and then starved until they loose all sense and becoming zompire like ravening hordes.

The protagonists, Lily and Gabe are both under arrest – him by human authorities and under house arrest as he is tried, his case reliant on convincing a judge and jury that he was turned against his will and that, as such, he should not warrant extermination. She with the vampire’s Royal Court, suspected of being in league with Elias – not helped by the fact that he was her husband and his right hand henchman is none other than her brother.

This gears itself nicely as an action facing volume, safe in the knowledge that the protagonist characters have been neatly rounded in the preceding volumes. Both characters end up in and out of custody – Gabe is a bit of a boy scout and Elias relies on him handing himself back in as there is an expectation that he’ll lose his case to aid his cause. Lily becomes convinced there is a traitor in the court. The book roles along at a pace – switching between Lily and Gabe’s POV as per the other volumes – climaxing in a vampiric assault on a prison. A fast, punchy end to the series. 7.5 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

First Impression: Various Vampires at Grimmfest 2025

I have just got back from Grimmfest 2025 and have set to writing up my first impressions of the vampire and vampire adjacent films I saw over a great festival weekend. However, firstly, a shout out to the festival organisers and volunteers who make it such a great event year after year. A shout out to Hellbound Media, particularly Mark Adams for the chat, and also to Catherine Green who was at the festival on the Saturday. I will, of course, offer full thoughts when the films become available for home viewing.

The first film I want to offer an impression of was Landlord, which was the most traditionally vampire-genre film of those I intend to cover.

Directed and written by Remington Smith, the film follows an unnamed bounty hunter (Adama Abramson) and one of the strengths of the film was in the great characterisation with this unnamed protagonist. She arrives at an apartment complex on foot and rents a room for a week, no questions asked. She is there tracking down someone, or more accurately a briefcase he carries, but soon notices strange things.

Investigating, what sounds like, a domestic disturbance she is blocked by manager Christopher (Lance Gerard), who seems in cahoots with the local sheriff (J. Barrett Cooper), and the next day follows the manager as he removes the apartment contents and takes them to a farmstead owned by the Lawrence family. She discovers that the residents of the apartment have been dismembered and are being fed to the pigs.

Alex and the Bounty Hunter

Back at the apartment complex she discovers that the apartment with young resident Alex (Cohen Cooper) has been targeted. She enters, too late to save Alex’s mother but intervening in an attack on Alex himself. It is, of course, a vampire attack. The conceit of this being, as listed by Grimmfest, “If vampires can’t come into your home without being invited in, what would happen if they owned your housing?” The vampire, John Lawrence (William McKinney), owns the apartment complex and many residents are transient in the slum housing, easy to disappear. There is a commentary here about the landlord class as vampiric.

bitten

The bounty hunter and Alex become loose ends to tie up, of course. A nice touch came about in her not even recognising what the vampire is - despite getting up from a head shot and biting her neck, Alex is the observant one, though their knowledge of lore is limited. I liked the grittiness of this and, as mentioned, the characterisation that was built around the bounty hunter. If I had a criticism, it would be in the lighting, as I felt that the night scenes were overly dark – though that might be a screening issue rather than a production issue. The imdb page is here.

The next film to mention is Spanish offering Lily’s Ritual, directed by Manu Herrera. Possibly best described as “vampire adjacent” it starts off as a witchcraft film with three witches, Lola (Patricia Peñalver), Leo (Elena Gallardo) and Laura (Eve Ryan) taking Lily (Maggie García) out into the countryside for initiation into witchcraft as their fourth – which, of course, has overtones of the Craft. Unlike that, however, which had a power corrupts theme, these witches already had a darker purpose in mind.

Lilith

Rather than initiation, Lily was to be used as a centrepiece for a dedication to Lilith – this could be a spoiler except it is listed in the film’s blurb. As to whether they will succeed and whether Lily can survive – well that is a spoiler too far. However, I will say that this was probably my favourite film of the festival and, of course, the use of Lilith makes it of genre interest. The imdb page is here.

The third film to mention is Jake Myers’s Kombucha. I did not go into this expecting a vampire element, although the film does aim at the vampiric nature of corporations. It follows Luke (Terrence Carey) a struggling musician who is tempted – due to pressure from girlfriend Elyse (Paige Bourne) and a recommendation from ex-bandmate Andy (Jesse Kendall) – into signing up to a corporate job. The corporation, Symbio, is more than a little cult-like and forces everyone to drink a specific kombucha.

As Luke starts to change, Elyse meets the mother (Charin Alvarez) of a previous employee (Magdalena Conway) who believes that the corporation is made up of vampires – and it is that belief in vampires that puts this firmly on the radar, as well as the use of a tropes such as blood in the kombucha and the efficacy of garlic as a weapon to combat the sentient scoby at the heart of the film. A genuinely funny side-swipe at corporate mentality. The imdb page is here.

The final film to mention is Sergio Pinheiro’s Wormtown. This very much uses tropes and the Grimmfest synopsis suggested it had “just a pinch of classic vampire lore and a sly tip of the hat to Richard Matheson’s I AM LEGEND.” Set in a town where the vast majority of inhabitants are infected by worms, which have infiltrated their entire system, with a large “heart worm” that feeds on their blood and “brain worms” that alter their minds, the worms that burrow and infect are reminiscent of the blood worms in the Strain.

caught in the sun

The worms are impacted by loud sounds, modern signals (such as Bluetooth) and bright light. This is one of our tropes as being caught in the sun is deadly, with the worms quickly turning on their host. The similes with I am Legend mentioned are there and, more so, I felt a homage to the Omega Man in the scarring of infected flesh, the retreat from technology (although not as radical), and the cult-like behaviours. I also felt it tonally had a bit of a feel of Stake Land and I did really enjoy this one. The imdb page is here.

Take From Me – review

Director: West Eldredge

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Originally titled Love Dogs, I was approached by the filmmakers to review Take From Me from a screener. What I watched, as we’ll discuss, was a slow burn that relied on atmosphere and character, rather than jumps and gore (though there is a tad of blood and they do not entirely eschew jumps, though both are used sparingly).

It starts in a forest with a man running , holding his neck, gasping and clearly pursued. If I have a criticism of the film it became apparent here, as the print was dark and the lighting for this night scene was poor. However, you could make out what was going on, and such outdoor night scenes are little used in the film. Anyway, the man suggests his regret, before the film suggests the inevitable…

John in the woods

John Harker (Ethan McDowell) has parked up and, after a fortifying belt from a hipflask, goes into the forest carrying his bow. He does find some remains, though what of isn’t certain, and moving on he eventually comes out of the trees at a farmhouse. He enters the garage and then starts cleaning up the porch, he also takes down the “for sale” sign. Later we discover that this was his house, shared with (presumably ex-)wife Sarah (Amanda Evans) and the son they lost, Seth (Thomas Parobek). Flashbacks will tell us his drinking started during Seth’s illness and the film centres heavily on John’s grief and loss.

Dwayne A. Thomas as Abe

The nearby town has a small population, and we see John in the bar and also the antagonism between John and deadbeat dad and misogynist Kenny (Dan Cody). The only cop in town is Abe (Dwayne A. Thomas), moved there after a shooting in the city, where he was drunk, he is prohibited from investigating but tries to make amends by running the 12-step programme – he was John’s sponsor, though John no longer attends. Abe finds an abandoned truck, door open, key in the ignition and has it called through to the County Sheriff.

Kyla Diane Kennedy as Lilith

The farmhouse is sold (though he had been maintaining it, it is clear it was no longer his) and he spies the new owner, Elizabeth (Kyla Diane Kennedy) – Lilith for short – when cleaning the porch again. They meet soon after at a hardware store, and she asks him to do some odd jobs around the house for her as a contractor (which is his trade). One of the first things she wants is for John to remove the bathroom mirror, and it doesn’t take long for him to find vials of blood in a basement refrigerator and frozen body parts in the chest freezer. However, he doesn’t report it, can’t stay away (despite obvious reservations) and a relationship starts to blossom.

fangs

The film then follows the pair as the relationship grows. One thing I did like was the fact that he realises what she is and it isn’t a drawn-out process, rather that he settles on it rapidly – not to say he gets everything right, however. He hunts a stag and gives her the blood, which nearly makes her vomit (animals do at a pinch but are clearly unpleasant) and he does go through the house with an open wound at one point! Nevertheless, in a modern world where vampire movies have been a staple for some time, it was good to see him quickly realise the truth. I would have liked to have known more of Elizabeth’s background – we do get an origin story but it is sparse – but neither the film or the character suffered for it not being more fleshed out.

Ethan McDowell as John

The film slow burns, much is concentrated on character interactions and building the characters and the small-town world – not just with the couple, but certainly around Abe for instance. This is carried by both good dialogue and some fantastic performances, with a specific shout out to Ethan McDowell who plays a nuanced character in John. The fact that the film is an hour-fifty and yet, despite the slow burn, never feels like it is lagging is testament to the filmmakers. The photography is generally good aside from the occasional too dark moments mentioned at the head of the review.

searching, bow in hand

This fits in with a wave of pretty bleak, small-town-USA vampire films over recent years, with my mind going to My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It as I watched this – though that is not to say they were the same, just atmospherically I connected them. There are some similes, I guess, with the earlier film exploring the stress on caregivers, where this explores grief (and addiction, though that is a common genre trope and flows out of the grief with regards John). I think the big difference between the two was the earlier film is relentlessly bleak; this nuances any bleakness and allows moments of relief for the characters, which results in the two main characters gaining and maintaining our sympathies. I really enjoyed this one. 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt – review

Authors: Bryan Hill & Jason Loo

Artists: Germán Peralta & Adam Gorham

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Collects Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #1-3 and Werewolf By Night: Blood Hunt #1.

The return of the original Midnight Sons! The uneasy alliance of supernatural adventurers once known as the Midnight Sons must band together once again to deal with the vampire threat unleashed in BLOOD HUNT! They have two Ghost Riders among their ranks, but even so they'll have a hard time trying to defeat one of their own! Plus: As BLOOD HUNT shatters lives and wreaks untold havoc across the Marvel Universe, one of those affected in a most unexpected way will be Jake Gomez, the Werewolf by Night! Imbued with new abilities, a new look and a dangerous new direction, this Werewolf by Night is unlike any you've seen or known before!

The review: Another collection from the Blood Hunt crossover this has a three-issue story of the Midnight Sons, in this incarnation made up of two Ghost Riders, Tulip Hamato and Victoria Montesi – who we see summon Lilith as part of this. Of course, Blade is meant to be in the Midnight Sons, but they end up hunting him as he is the event’s big bad. At the head of the story we see, before sundeath, Blade take out his squad of vampire hunters through duplicity but we also see him shed a tear as the possessed dhampir fights against the control of Varnae. The Midnight Sons detour from their hunting of Blade to follow a vision that comes to each of them, depicting a hospital where they must defeat a demon that has taken hold.

The fourth issue is a Werewolf by Night one-shot that sees Jake Gomez tackling a would-be-demon who has possessed a young man, with vampires being thrown in the mix and some trouble transforming when sundeath also darkens the moon.

The Midnight Sons story is tight and works really well within the margins of Blood Hunt and the Werewolf by Night is even more self-contained and is also very neat. I particularly liked the coda to Midnight Sons, which jumped forward, past the event. 7 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Handbook of the Vampire: Chronicling the Critical Reception of True Blood

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Lauren Rosewarne, the Chapter Page can be found here.

There is no doubt that True Blood (I have linked to my Season 7 review, which in turn links reviews for the other 6 seasons) was a TV phenomenon. A series that started strong, and whilst it lost its way for a couple of seasons, it built back strong (only for the very coda of the series to fall flat, for me at least – and one part of this chapter is called An Unsatisfying Ending). As such I think that the series deserved a chapter within the Handbook.

Roseworne looks very much at the series’ critical reception, how the series came to be, its place as a prestige series for HBO all the way to Alan Ball leaving the series as showrunner and a perceived decline – to be honest I thought season 5 (his last season as Showrunner) began to pick up where it had lost momentum in season 4 (and 3 to a degree) and Season 6 and 7 stepped the game up from 4 and 5 (bar the ending of 7) – but that’s just me. Specifically mentioned is Sookie being revealed to be of fay blood as a jumping the shark moment, but the series just followed the direction of the books.

There isn’t much in the way of analysis of the show itself – gendered analysis is touched on – and so it doesn’t touch as much on the outsider aspect, perhaps quoting Ball talking to the analogy of vampires to the lgbtq+ community but not exploring the ideas within the series to any depth. This was not a miss, as such, the chapter explored its intended topic but shows a gap where another chapter might look into that in more depth. Nevertheless, for a media student that presents an interesting case study.

Daylight to Dark – review

Director: Jake C. Young

Release Date 2024*

Contains spoilers

*date taken from the Amazon page as IMDb does not have a date listed at time of writing.

This is a film that references, and is set in the same world as, 1990’s turkey American Vampire. Now, giving that film some love is kinda cool because it featured Adam West (and, well… Adam West). It also feels odd because American Vampire is a really poor film. That said, if such a poor film is your inspiration then the bar is set nice and low and you should be able to step over it with ease.

old Drac

The film opens with a man showing a couple of people a car that’s for sale. One of the buyers is old, bent and wizened – actually a mask, clearly, but darker lighting and very little screen time makes it workable. It is just like the one he used to have, bar one detail – he scratches the paint work with a claw, the owner becomes upset and is eaten. The other gets in and asks Mr Dracul (Wade Yates) if he wants to go home – now young, Vlad Dracul opts for them to go for a drive.

scratching the car

A moment here about accent and identity. Vlad Dracul was obviously meant to be Vlad Ţepeş and later we see the classic Ţepeş portrait redone with the actor. In that case it would have been Dracula (the ‘a’ denoting ‘son of’). The accent was a bit odd too. As the old version we get a vaguely Eastern European accent but when young we get a posh-end British accent – why is unclear. He also suggests at some point that he is at least 1000 years old – so either Vlad was a vampire when ruling Wallachia (and that might be the answer chosen by the filmmakers) or someone got the dates wrong.

Jeremy Boggs as Renfield

Into the town of Wormwood drive Mason (Drake Daffron) and his sister Bridgette (Ka'ssee Rhe'anne). She’s not long left her fiancé after catching him in bed with her best friend and they are off to a music festival. They’ve taken a backroad and have gotten lost and their GPS and mobile signals are non-existent (the mobile signal is contested – lack of signal is confirmed later but people also seem to use them). They stop to get directions from an office run by Renfield (Jeremy Boggs) – sporting a deliberately bad comb-over wig.

Bridgette and Vlad

Having got a map (pre-interstate), they discover the oil-pan is leaking and Renfield reveals himself a mechanic (it’ll take two days to get a part) and purveyor of cabins (the last in town). Seeking to do something fun, they discover there is a horror convention. Once in, Vlad spots Bridgette (who he saw earlier outside Renfield’s, sunlight is not a thing in this), distracts Mason by having two vampire chicks have a threesome in the bathroom with him (we see nothing, they don’t bite him that we know of, but they do wipe his memory of the event) and introduces himself to Bridgette – they get on and Vlad gives her a special drink (obviously blood and it is very intoxicating).

advertising

So, Vlad has ordered the move from Wormwood (before getting distracted by Bridgette, who he has searched for, for 1000 years) as the cops are getting suspicious. In another breath they have been there 70 years, having invaded, changed the name from Renfield to Wormwood and allowed the Renfield family to be unharmed but made the town their slaves (and so the cops line made little sense). Also in town is Jonah Helsing (Jake C. Young), vampire hunter, student of the Big Kahuna (from American Vampire), who once denied his family business and had a relationship with Madam Lily (Tuesday Knight) the vampire queen.

Tuesday Knight as Madam Lily

Helsing takes it on himself to help the siblings as he is after Vlad anyway. Lily happens to be in town but is not connected with Vlad and his vampires, it seems. Renfield wants to take the town back. Bridgette seems quite ok with being with a vampire and becoming one (Mason suspects mind control and Helsing knows he can save her if he kills Vlad before she drinks human blood). All in all, it’s quite the Bugger's muddle. It was made with comedy in mind, like the film it takes inspiration from, though this one works that bit better (though it isn’t hilarious), indeed it comfortably steps over the low bar previously set.

Drake Daffron as Mason

Acting is a bit of a mismatch, some better than others – though Jake C. Young is very personable on screen. The sfx are minimal and betray the budget – whilst the old Drac mask was worked around, a vampire bat creature looks as unreal as you’d expect. Some is used for comedic effect (Renfield’s wig) but the killing of a vampire, where we get literally dust and some clothes (that we don’t see the disintegration, showed a realisation of the budgetary issues they had and the dust pan comment following the kill worked with the low budget to make it palatable). However, this isn’t a great film – though significantly better than it’s inspiration – 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

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