Short Film: Vampire Siblings

At just over an hour this is close to being a feature, but the Kinigra Deon created vehicle is a web serial with the first season cut into a movie (there are three more movies of seasons 2 to 4 currently available). They seem to be part of an incredibly prolific output by Kinigra Deon but do not have, at time of writing, an IMDb page that I could locate.

vegan blood

The film follows Seraph who is just getting home as things begin. Mom has left a note about vegan blood being left in the fridge (by vegan, non-human, veg supplement and not the blood of a vegan). It isn’t appetising by all account. We soon learn that Seraph is a hybrid, mom is a vampire and dad is a human, though her two older sisters are both vampires. They are less than impressed with the vegan option.

the sisters

A knock on the door and the appearance of Seraph’s boyfriend Roman throws her a loop – he has flowers but she wasn’t expecting a visit (or had ever had one, one guesses). The sisters smell his warm blood and are downstairs and inviting him in, with him ignoring Seraph’s desire for him to leave. They try and feed him an elixir (to make feeding from him easier) and he eventually is about to be food when mom gets home and rescues him, wiping his memory.

wolf out

The sisters are grounded (behind a mystical barrier) and get their cousin to release them when mom goes back out (calling to the cousin by telepathy). Unfortunately Roman has turned up at the door again, wanting to celebrate his 16th birthday with Seraph, and is in danger, again, when the moon comes out and he turns into a werewolf and escapes. The film, to this point, seemed quite Young Adult sitcom but takes a turn here.

Seraph vamps

A world is drawn around the film of vampires and werewolves and a thinly held treaty between the races. Roman is condemned at the next full moon to become a wolf permanently, as the only way to prevent this is killing a vampire. That Roman seemed to know nothing of his nature, despite a werewolf society in the area and his mom being one was a plot point that might have been answered within the narrative. Seraph is also told, just as she starts to turn, that hybrid vampires become full vampire around 16.

mom and Seraph

This was really ambitious and whilst there were some strange choices (an old person, as a throwaway character, in an obvious mask rather than just getting an older actor, for instance) the less successful choices were still down to a commendable ambition and there was plenty that did work. The undertones of dealing with puberty and bullying were interesting and the full movie is available for free at YouTube.

Honourable Mention: Nelly Rapp: Monster Agent

This was a 2020 Swedish film that was directed by Amanda Adolfsson and was definitely a family movie but very well done.

It focuses on young girl Nelly Rapp (Matilda Gross) who lives with her father and dog named London. She doesn’t have any friends, is overly imaginative and generally the odd one out. She believes her mother died in an autowreck.

Her father arranges for her to stay for a week with her maternal Uncle, Hannibal (Johan Rheborg), and his friend Lena-Sleva (Marianne Mörck). What she soon discovers is that they are monster agents – tasked with protecting humans from monsters and monsters from humans. She goes on to discover that her mother (without her father’s knowledge it seems) was a monster agent and she actually vanished tracking a werewolf.

vampire in a cage

She discovers this when she sees her Uncle Hannibal bringing in a figure (Stephen Rappaport) with a sack over his head, taking him into a cellar and putting him in a cage. With his bald head, long ears and fangs she recognises him as a vampire and it is later explained that he had started to hunt for blood again and had been captured until he went back onto alternate food. He is the first of two vampires we see.

Matilda Gross as Nelly

The story sees the monster agents endorsing the scheme of one of their number (and life coach) Vincent (Björn Gustafsson), to capture all the monsters and ‘process’ them to make them normal. A glimpse later into his centre suggests that this includes lobotomising them and has ignored the part of their tenant to protect monsters from humans. Meanwhile Nelly has met a Frankenstein-like construct, Roberta (Lily Wahlsteen), who loves to bake and helps her create a café.

David Wiberg as Lukas

It is during this thread that we briefly meet Lukas (David Wiberg) a vampire who describes himself as vegan (using iron supplements to replace the blood), who is also a big fan of the Sisters of Mercy. And that is about it. Two fleeting visitations in a monster mash that is actually really feelgood and rather inventive. The DVDs out there (Japanese and Swedish) do not have English subs but there are fan-subs on the net.

The imdb page is here.

Horror Noire – review

Director: Kimani Ray Smith

Release date: 2021

Contains spoilers

Horror Noire is a horror anthology released for Halloween 2021, which show cases films written and made by Black filmmakers, and I made the mistake of looking at the comments on Shudder before watching. Not that they were a spoiler but a mistake as it highlights the toxicity of some people. Since that first look, I’ve gone back and the film has now garnered positive responses but originally standing out was the person who accused it of being “More woke nonsense”. Firstly, what is wrong with being woke – to me it means you are an inclusive person with emotional intelligence and to be called it is a badge of honour. Second, when has an original film made from a specific, and underrepresented, viewpoint that uses equally underrepresented talent, been considered woke – this is addressing a real issue with the industry and we should applaud the fact that a range of voices are able to be heard. Lastly, if you approach a vehicle like this to give it the lowest score you can, and call it woke, then the issue isn’t the vehicle, it’s you.

Rant over, let's look at the film.

soul eater

Firstly, segments that caught my eye for various reasons were Bride Before You, which was just a wonderful piece, the Lake, which I enjoyed – though it perhaps needed a stronger pay-off – and it used a familiar trope part way through with eating raw meat from the fridge, and the incredibly imaginative Brand of Evil that does have some demonic soul eating. The latter is definitely a demon but the apparent activity is vampiric. The actual vampire segment was Sundown.

canvassing 

Sundown starts with a figure, Sammy (Lavell Crawford, Meet the Blacks), running through woods, as he runs he grabs a bird from a branch and holds onto it until he reaches a cave. Inside we see him break its neck. We are in a small town, Evantide, in West Virginia and canvassers, and couple, Shanita (Erica Ash) and Marcus (Tone Bell) are campaigning for Sarah Carson – a black candidate. They have had no luck – no one seems to be in but they are approaching the last house on their route.

Lavell Crawford as Sammy

Looking at the house, Shanita is sure they don’t want to go there – she served in Afghanistan and was always known for her keen instincts. Marcus, however, insists they go. They actually get an answer this time from a teen, Ellie (Zoe Lawson Dangar), who hollas to her mama and asks who she’ll be voting for – the shout confirms she’ll be voting for the n-word and that is enough – Shanita and Marcus get out of there. They meet up with the other canvassers, and it is notable that they are all white and they all struck out. Shanita asks where there is a bathroom and is told there is one in the post office.

sundown sign

She goes in and, when she starts shouting for him, Marcus follows as do all the others. There is a large sign on the wall “Whites only within city limits after dark” and in the conversation that follows Shanita explains that it is a Sundown Town – a phenomena of segregation that was often a precursor to violence for any Black person who broke the rule. The segment makes a lot of points here, one white canvasser didn’t even notice the large sign when she went in, another asks what it matters as it is in the past – ignoring the historic hurt and also the echoes that reverberate into the present.

the feast

Shanita and Marcus leave and find their tires have been slashed – as has all the others (one of the canvassers accuses them, until another steps in and points out that they couldn’t have and their tires are slashed too). By now it is dark and the sound of a fiddle is heard as the town mayor, Constantine Erebus (Peter Stormare, Marianne, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, the Batman Vs Dracula & the Brothers Grimm), appears and tell them it is a special night, the moonlight festival, and invites them to a feast – Shanita is not happy.

staked

They get to the feast and the Sundown sign is mention but suggested to be a historical hangover that was meant to have been removed. Erebus calls Sammy – the first Black local we’ve seen and the man from the beginning of the segment – who says he’ll get it taken down. Long story short there is a cut finger and Ellie reveals the town’s true nature – it is a town of vampires. They hunt down the fleeing canvassers – though Erebus warns them, “don't eat your dark meat!” Shanita and Marcus manage to stake one vampire before being separated and Marcus being captured.

Buffy the f*ck up

Shanita is rescued by Sammy who then reveals he is a vampire – but kind of a vegan as he only eats birds and squirrels and the like. In an interesting turnaround he reveals he had put up the Sundown sign to try and warn off any Black visitors – Erebus has a liking for feeding on Black victims, Marcus is likely alive, saved for the festival finale and Sammy was turned by accident. It’s time for Shanita to get some weapons (they are in the South, there are plenty around), rescue her man and, as she puts it, “...Buffy the f*ck up.”

Shanita and Marcus

This was fun – and yes there were serious messages underneath (interestingly the white canvasser who didn’t see the sign and the one who said it was in the past are both turned and forced to stay – unhappily – in the vampire town) but the segment was also made for laughs. There was bickering banter between husband and wife but the banter always felt true, there were some clear nods towards the wider genre and, whilst it didn’t do anything that new it did it with some style. We don’t get much lore – just sunlight and staking really – but worth a watch as are the segments I mentioned above, though the running length is a bit of a marathon at 2.5 hours. As always the score is for the vampire segment only – 6 .5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Shudder via Amazon US

On Demand @ Shudder via Amazon UK

Short Film: Unbitten

This is a 19-minute film that was directed by Dan Magro and released in 2013 and the blurb states: “Three vegan vampires, one water nymph, two sorcerers, and one lease.” The two sorcerers, I assume being Allistair (Timothy Carmello) and Agatha (Margaret Marshall), answered the question as to why these two didn’t seem sun-impacted, when appearing to be just vampires. We need to note that this took the idea of the vegetarian vampire and stepped it up to vegan.

It begins with a narration by aspiring writer Cole (Dan Magro), this narration becomes the tale of an old lady looking for her cat, Mr Furryocious, who has ended up in the hands of Allistair. He and Agatha demand she tells them who owns the big house on the hill. She says no-one, it is abandoned and, in response, Allistair eats the cat and Agatha breaks the poor woman’s neck.

with the cat

Living in the house are three vampires Lucie: (Angie Schlauch), Callista (Alli Kelly) and Aubrianna (Christina Lanni). Lucie has created a plant based blood substitute and the girls are shipping this to vampires across the globe. There is movement outside the house and, avoiding the sunlight, Lucie grabs a sign that has been put on the door declaring the house condemned. This has been put on by Agatha (hence my comment about sunlight, as we see her and Allistair outside). The two sorcerer/vampires enter the house mocking the girls. Lucie confirms they have to stay there, a prime ingredient of the blood substitute has been cultivated there and might take years to successfully cultivate elsewhere. Callista has the idea of taking the issue to a supernatural tribunal.

water nymph

The tribunal do not rule in the girls’ favour but they do give them time to find the true owner of the house. This happens to be Cole, who lives just out of County. They go to him and, donning lingerie, Callista enters his room and offers him his wildest fantasies. He isn’t interested… he’s gay. It is then down to all three to convince him to help and, of course, they can provide him plenty of source material to help him with his aspiration to be a writer.

oompa Loompas?

The short was very well shot, though the makeup effects were quite stagey they played up to these and so when the girls try an experimental formula to protect them from sunlight the subsequent transformation into Oompa Loompas is a nice moment of comedy. There is a lot of background either put or insinuated neatly into the story and it is an amusing watch that could be expanded upon.

The imdb page is here.