Director: Monte Light
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
While attempting to build a life together, a man and his new girlfriend are torn apart by his growing realization that the vampire who attacked him previously is starting the transformation process to become a vampire and must try to protect her from his rapidly-worsening condition.
Review:
This was a rather fun and likable genre mashup. One of the more impressive aspects featured here is the ability to bring together a rather discordant series of influences into a rather storyline. The initial setup involving the couple recalling their previous conversations involving psychedelic flourishes of their chosen topic to help bring everything together looks quite impressive alongside the flash-cut imagery throughout here. That is carried out quite well with the supporting storylines introduced in the first half including the family strain with their relationship and his secretive job both being introduced to throw the viewer off about what's going on as each of these suggest a potential storyline at play here before something else is brought out which takes this in a different direction.
This setup allows the film to become quite fun when the more horror-centric sequences and ideas come into play. That avant-garde nature of the film even extends nicely in the scenes of the vampire creatures tormenting him while in the house or the flash visions of the hooker talking to him about his job as they reveal their deranged relationship together. This brings about a fine twist in the film where that changes how the first part of the film is changed around with this new revelation leading to a rather impressive series of scenes showing how the vampire transformation has taken hold of him which is filled with some solid encounters of him taking out those around him and adjusting to his new condition which is filled with some solid gore effects which are quite effective. Overall, these factors are enough to make this quite enjoyable.
There isn't much to dislike here but the film does bring up some factors. One of the few issues is the rather overly-complex storyline that has quite a lot going on. Not only are we dropped into this relationship between the two of them but also the strained and confusing relationship with his parents that all takes place through that psychedelic fever-dream style construct which is sometimes hard to get a hold of. That might mean little to some, but those expecting this to play out in a straightforward, concise manner might be taken aback somewhat by the approach taken here and feel somewhat jarred out of the storyline due to how it all takes place while trying to indulge in what's going on. On top of some budgetary constraints that crop up at points here, those small factors are the only negative points.
Overview: ***/5
An overall enjoyable if slightly flawed indie vampire effort, this one manages to get a lot to like while getting held down by some impactful flaws that bring this down somewhat. Give this a look if you’re a fan of this kind of unconventional storytelling approach, are intrigued by the concept, or are a general fan of the style here while most others who aren’t into those aspects should heed caution.
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