Director: David Charbonier, Justin Douglas Powell
Year: 2026
Country: Spain/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Trying to escape her troubled home life, a woman and her friends decide to visit a local carnival where they get involved with a group of vampires running the whole thing who feed on human despair, bringing her into conflict with some of the other vampires in the carnival who don’t like her.
Review:
For the most part, this was an intriguing if somewhat problematic take on the genre. Among the better features here is the increasingly well-defined and somewhat original take on the genre by taking vampires away from feral, nocturnal bloodsuckers into something else entirely. Rather than give in to those stereotypes, this time around the vampires are more grief-addicted denizens looking to share pain, trauma, and tragedy with others, so that they take on a slightly different context when dealing with ordinary victims that fall into their trap. Use a carnival setting and the played-out trope of a woman suffering from the trauma of her father’s death being drawn to the group once they realize the group has come to town, so the seductive quality of everything normally associated with vampires comes together nicely in this context. There’s a lot to like here with the way this plays with the concept, bringing about the slow-burning attempt at trying to draw her into their ranks and explain what’s going on while still focusing on the idea of these being violent, psychotic beings.
That causes this some fun, as well as a few slight issues, while trying to offer up what’s going on. Visually, there’s a lot to like here, with scenes of the carnival's behind-the-scenes operations as the vampires use a hypnotic, seductive form of control to operate within the boundaries of the carnival setting. From lavish, sexually charged orgies that include normal humans among their victims, extravagant rave-like production styles, and a general erotic sensibility, what’s going on brings about the kind of artful, intriguing aesthetic that allows them to remain the seductive vampires we normally associate with. Even their feeding is enjoyable, with the usual swarming of their victims and then ripping them open to feed on the resulting arterial spray that emerges, creating enough to enjoy despite that also being somewhat problematic. The whole thing is way too loose and confusing about what the rules of the environment actually are, changing around who the creatures are while not doing enough to talk about what else has changed due to these alterations. Based on the idea of going for despair and grief rather than overt bloodsucking, this requires quite a few bits to explain everything that it never pulls off, leaving the intricate nature of the society quite problematic.
As well, there’s also the real issue here where it seems to want to interject a traditional vampire clan war type of story in the final act that derails the momentum of the story quite handily. The film was doing fine with the idea of bringing up the woman finding solace in the carnival and realizing that the vampires were able to save her from her troubled life while also offering the positive points of vampirism to help her get her life together, yet this then moves her aside in the last act to appoint this bizarre power struggle between this rogue member of the group fighting back against the old-school leader for control of the clan just because he’s grown tired of the whole subservience thing. This is a bizarre choice to make at this point in the film by throwing her to the side in favor of another character entirely and engaging in this kind of cliched storyline in its place, holding this one down overall.
Overview: ***.5/5
A really fun, if slightly problematic, genre effort, there’s a lot to like here that helps this one come off well enough despite being brought down by a few big factors that are present, keeping it down. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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