Audience Member
Rating: 6/10. 63/100. | I gave it like a 9/10 when I was a teen. Idk why really??
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Horrid waste of 90 mins. If there is humor involved in this film, I didn't get it. Painfully boring execution of a premise that could have had potential. SKIP.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
jesse o
I may not have said this recently, but I really fucking loved What We Do In The Shadows. It truly is a tremendous comedy through and through. So this movie, despite coming out some 4-5 years earlier than What We Do, really reminds me of that. Well, with one exception and that is that this movie, honestly, just isn't good. And I'm not saying that this is a bad movie or anything of the sort, but it's just not as interesting of a movie as one would have imagined it might be considering the fact that it's a mockumentary, a la Christopher Guest's films, around a vampire family. The difference between this and Guest's mockumentaries is, really, simply the fact that there's no real narrative to speak of. And I'm not saying that the narratives are amazing in Guest's films, but there's clearly a reason for everything that is happening and the characters have clearly defined motivations. The film's events guides them towards that goal, with absurdities along the way, but it does guid them there. This movie, sadly, doesn't really have that going on at all. I don't wanna say that nothing happens, because you do get to see the vampire community and how the rules of their society work. That adherence to establishing a mythology around these characters was one of the coolest things, for sure. But I just wish they could have spent a longer time putting together an actual story. There's some elements, like how Bievenue and Elisabeth, forced to live in the family's cellars due to their not having a child, one of the rules is you must a child to be allowed to own a home, trying to conspire against the family at every turn. That's about it really and even then, it's not like the movie focuses entirely on this one aspect. They do throw in some potentially really racist humor, but I feel that it's there mostly as social commentary at Belgium's treatment of those they deem 'undesirable' and how they're dropped off by the government in order for the family to feed on them. That was, again, cool to me. Some people might be offended by it, particularly when they try to play this off for humor, but it's more critical of Belgium more than anything else. But, like I said, the movie is just missing a certain element that would have pushed it to a good level. At least to me. And I honestly didn't find the film that funny. It has its moments. Like the daughter in the vampire family trying to commit suicide every chance she gets and failing miserably at it. The film has an obvious dry sense of humor. But just because humor is dry that doesn't make it funny. I think a lot of people might believe that, but it's just not the case. And this is proof positive of that. Though, of course, this isn't the worst example of this and it's not even close. It's just sporadically funny and the stuff that doesn't work isn't offensively unfunny. The performances are more than solid, for sure, so no complaints there. The film's last 30 minutes or so, when the family are exiled to Canada due to Samson sleeping with the vampire leader's wife, are easily the most interesting. And it's just a shame that they didn't want to make this a bigger part of the movie. Because you could have established the privileged lifestyle they led in Belgium and then forced them to leave and see how they would adapt to the changes. They do that, but it's disappointing. This really is just an average movie at best. It has its moments and it's definitely well-made, but it doesn't really have much going on in the way of a narrative, so watching it feels pointless for the most part. Not bad or anything, just pointless. What We Do In The Shadows is much better, but this one has some good ideas. Just not enough to warrant an actual recommendation. Average movie at best.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I was going through the Sundance on Demand list and came across a title that just sang to me. It was "Vampires" so how could I not want to see it. It is a Belgian Film done in a serious documentary style that is reminiscent of the stuff you see on CurrentTV.
A film crew gets the green light to follow a family of vampires in Belgian's uber-exclusive Vamp community. After several attempts that ended with the crew being eaten a third crew manages to find a family with enough self control to allow the film to get made. The family is dysfunctional as hell, the politics of vampire society are complex and sensitive, and we are nothing but meat.
This film is subtitled and moves pretty fast so you have to really pay attention unless your fluent in Belgian and French. The documentary still was subdued but kept a very intense feeling of unease as you followed this family along during the night shot only premise. These vampires do not go in the daylight. They don't even get up till the sun goes down. Anyway from the beginning you can almost feel the nervousness of the film crew that have to be there watching this family eat their meat (us).
There are so many dynamics to this film that it keeps you interested the entire time as you deal with the father's cold restrictive beliefs, the mother's complete disregard for her families volatile state as she comes off as a lunatic barely coherent only able to express disgust for her daughter and contempt for her husband. The son is unruly, disruptive and pretty much disrespectful of vampire code. The daughter hates everything about being a vampire and wants to be human. She even goes so far as to sleep in a girly pink coffin with her human boyfriend.
This documentary is one of the best displays of vampire lore I have seen in a long time. The culture and relationships the vampires have with each other are extreme to say the least and they completely mirror the behavior of any suburban or contemporary social structure. The film is really good at paralleling the emotional numbness of a old world set of values where everything is enforced based on codes and clan law which resemble the more strict religious groups around the world that stay closed off from mainstream society. Later the polar system to this way of life is visible when the family is exiled to Canada for a violation to live among the vampire community. There everything is modern and the vampire community is assimilated into the human world.
I really enjoyed watching this film and after about 30 minutes you become really invested in the family emotionally. You forget it is fictional and start believing that it is a real documentary following real people.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Quite frankly it intrigued me with its fun but often introspective look at family/humanity/society from a different perspective!
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Not as ingenious as it's big brother and cult "C'est arrivé pres de chez vous", but stays a decent effort with some really funny moments.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
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