Director: Paul Ragsdale, Angelica De Alba
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Working on a new project, a team of cryptid investigators decides to switch up their normal jobs to follow a mysterious dance troupe who later turn out to be vampires, and after striking up a strained deal to invite fans to meet them on a social media app, are forced to deal with their fervent leader.
Review:
Overall, this was a pretty fun and likable enough genre effort. Among the better elements here is the rather fun setup that provides some solid storylines that play out in an enjoyably over-the-top manner. The central starting point involving the vampire group taking their lives into their own hands by immediately rebelling against the leader who turned them, come together as a team to protect themselves from humanity only to fall afoul of the monster hunter and his team, who initial start to perform their traditional hunting tactics only to then realize the hunter is the perfect one to set them up on a special trap for their fans. When he presents a plan to turn their vampiric abilities into a form of open exploitation where the women can drain willing customers into bloodletting dates and encounters for a fee, the idea becomes not just a capitalist joke against how easy it is to make money as an attractive woman but also how free it is that they can trap and target people by playing into their vampire side.
This leads into the series of encounters here, where it deals with the vampires going around interacting with their prey, not just through regular hunting, but also in the app service they provide. The early hunting and stalking offers a solid take on the group who are out for themselves and looking to stay together which manages to include the incredibly fun attack on the leader where they overthrow the main figurehead and strike out on their own as well as the cheesily enjoyable stalking scenes out on the town when they come across the monster hunter and his team which sets them up on their impending collaboration. These sequences depict the girls starting up their business and gaining customers and more recruits over time, not just with their friends and his family but also the random strangers that they meet through the app, creating a campy vibe that matches the rest of the film incredibly well. With a bloody finale that brings about a series of interactions not just with the resurrected vampire master but also the highly effective change of heart with the way the vampires become more humanistic over the course of the battle, there’s a lot of fun action here to give this a lot to like.
There isn’t much to dislike here, but it does have some minor issues. The biggest drawback on display is the somewhat overlong running time, which is accomplished through a bizarre strategy of rushing through select items that should be spelled out, while other elements are included that don’t need that much time. The whole first hour here is a fantastic series of start/stop sequences, dropping in numerous scenes of fans discussing his failing work and the amount of underwhelming work done to his career, that it feels like overkill to include everything, especially when it’s so obvious this was all included merely to satisfy a quota from the crowdfunding origins. Scenes like this, or the extended conversations involving the purpose behind the service or arguing over the ownership of the company, are further examples of the film offering up an extended pace for little reason, especially when the finale switches up their role from villains to heroes simply because their vampire master returned and distracted them from their plan of taking over the world. This has little context and doesn’t have much about it beyond needing a big action scene with everyone at the end, but this is the end result of the story going for this off-kilter approach due to bizarre structure, and with its few slight low-budget limitations, it is what holds this down.
Overview: ****/5
An exceptionally fun and likable indie vampire effort, this one manages to bring about enough impressive qualities that keep this one rather likable against a few small, barely negligible flaws. Those with an interest and appreciation for this kind of genre effort or who fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution.
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