The Teenage Vampire (2026) by Frank Mora

Director: Frank Mora

Year: 2026

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Vampire

Plot:

Desperate to move on in life, a teen and her friend decide to celebrate her freedom with a special party at a house they’ve rented for themselves, but as they celebrate the occasion, they find the house has been overrun by vampires looking to feed on the group and must try to stop their plans.

Review:

Overall, this was a solid and generally likable feature. The main factor to like here is the immensely likable setup that manages to feature some really fun elements in a rather simple, stripped-down storyline. The majority of this one goes around the different interactions she has with her mom and best friend, trying to move on with her life since she’s becoming an adult and is going to be old enough to be out on her own, which allows them the chance to finally rent the property together so they can hold the party there to celebrate this chapter of their life. That is all fun enough and moves this along nicely with their interactions together moving in, living on their own, and setting up the house party with their friends that sets this all up quite nicely to be crashed by the vampires later on. It’s not that groundbreaking or original, but it does manage to hit a lot of necessary features that come together for a fun, likable enough storyline for this kind of film.

Once it focuses on this aspect of the story, there’s a lot more fun to come from the interactions between the party and the vampires going around trying to pick off the stragglers. The first encounters outside, with the late-comers getting picked off before getting to the party, serve this quite nicely to hint that something’s out there, and the glimpses of someone’s outside the house watching them are just as much fun, with that all confirming the idea that something is out there. The series of interactions and chases that come about once they decide to make their presence known and invade the house to take on the remaining members of the party in a series of cheesy confrontations revolving around the group constantly bumping into the creatures as often as they can, with the vamps overpowering and eventually sucking on the defeated remains. This makes everything focus on the overwhelming nature of who they are and what they’re looking to accomplish, providing some worthwhile elements here.

There are a slew of issues that keep this down. The main drawback on display is the first half here, where it takes way too long before actually getting anything accomplished, as most of the scenes set up the different characters going through their plotlines in a way that makes for a long, drawn-out time getting to the vampire carnage. Being important to the running time as it sets up the friendship between them, the importance of growing up, and why renting the house is important to them, as well as establishing the friend group having the party that brings them all together, but it manages to highlight the lack of action or vampire activity until they crash the party and start slaughtering everyone. It’s hard to even remember this is a genre fare until that point, as it's that low on content, and it makes the first part of this such a drag to get through that it’s entirely possible to forget it’s even a genre effort in the first place.

The other issue with the film is the whole idea of the vampires running through the group as fast as they do, so quickly that it’s hard to believe there was much purpose to be so secretive. The whole rampage through the house shows them as being so competent and overpowering with what’s going on that it feels quite ludicrous they’re as secretive and low-key as they are regarding the wait to get to the takeover. There’s so much flimsy action here to try to make it some kind of game, like they’re playing with the friends left alive, it becomes somewhat insulting how fast they take over and wipe everyone out, and it just feels silly how long they take to actually do it, and with the strange finale that keeps trying to one-up the possible ending, only to keep going long past the point it should’ve ended. This all makes the final half that much more disappointing, as it lowers the film overall, being what keeps this one down overall.

Overview: **.5/5

A generally likable if problematic vampire effort, there’s some likable elements to this one that keep it going well enough to not be a total waste against the negative points featured here. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.