Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries- Part I (aka Bloodborn)
Vampires are certainly in vogue right now. Between “True Blood” and “Twilight” and the possible “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reboot, we’re looking at a renaissance of the undead, and the original horror villain. Between films starring Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman, vampirism has been the most iconic sub-genre of horror since the silent era, especially with F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu.”
This year, I’ve been fortunate to watch two original takes on vampire lore made outside of mainstream cinema. Russ Camarda’s “Night for Day” was the first one in the early part of the year. Now, with writer-director Phil Messerer’s “Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries- Part I,” the vampire movie has gone domestic, in a way that’s darkly funny and provocative.
The narration that comes in at the beginning and a couple of other moments in the film is recited with a relatively annoying feel, which is unfortunate because the visuals that accompany it (created by Rostislav Spitkovsky) are really beautiful, and the words are actually pretty interesting. They act as a parallel to the story itself, seen through the eyes of a goth girl named Lara (Eilis Cahill) whose family is typically dysfunctional. Her brother Raymond (Michael Strelow) is gay, in his 20s, and still lives at home while having an unhealthy interest in lobotomies. Her sister Helen (Devon Bailey) is the popular girl at school- needless to say, the sisters don’t get along. Meanwhile, the parents (Anthony Morelli and JoJo Hristova) are on pretty bad terms, and during the Thanksgiving dinner the family is having, they announce they are separating.
The dad is probably smart to get out when he does. It’s not long before a sisterly argument turns into an occult ritual, with Lara casting a spell on Helen that’ll cause her to be sick. In fact, it does much worse. Turns out the virus actually evaporates the blood, which causes Helen to die, but not before saying she’d most regret not being friends with her sister while she was alive.
Well, death isn’t about to stop that from happening. Shortly after Helen’s “death,” Lara and her mother are having a conversation when, guess who comes to the door? Covered in blood?
That’s all I’ll say- I’m not about to spoil the surprising dark wit and morality Messerer infuses his film with. Yes, his film has a lot of the no-budget trappings in terms of sound, look, and, sometimes (but very rarely), performance, but it’s such an intriguing and wickedly funny conceit that only the most prudish viewer will complain. His film moves at a brisk and brutal pace that makes both the horror and humor have, ugh, bite. Character is more important than carnage. And dark fun is more important than following formula. This is part of the reason I’ve so enjoyed being invited to watch films like this- that are more likely to be seen on the festival circuit than at a theatre near you- and one of the things I go for in my own art- using budgetary limits as jumping points for inspiration and imaginative thinking.
Messerer, like Camarda on his “Night for Day,” and the filmmakers behind the 2007 film “The 4th Dimension,” has both in spades, and he has a film on his hands for people more interested in vampires than just the high school melodrama of “Twilight.” The result is a bloody good, and sometimes, just plain bloody, twist on a horror staple I wouldn’t be surprised to see some want to put a stake through the heart of.
