TheVampireDiariesPart1

Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part I (2009)

So I sat down to watch another low budget vampire movie. See you have to understand that next to low budget zombie movies these independent vampire movies are the next most common thing that Indy filmmakers like to try and make. Once and a while I get lucky and watch a movie like Dawn, but most of the time they are awful. Basically a bunch of Goth kids who love Ann Rice and own a video camera. But in spite of how bad most of them are I still give each of them a chance. Because once in a while you get to unearth a hidden gem, and this is one of those times.

The movie centers on a very dysfunctional family. You have a mother that is very religious, a rebellious daughter who dresses like a Goth and “prays” to Ann Rice, the perfect daughter that everyone loves, a strange older brother, and a father that quickly leaves the family. Because she is jealous the “Goth” sister casts a spell and accidentally kills her sister. Or did she? See the other sister comes back as a vampire, and before you can say Van Helsing the whole family is gathering up tourists for her to eat. I mean they are family! Hilarity ensues, including the feeding of a couple of Mormons to the beast, which I’m sure we can all get behind. But in the end how long can they get away with their crimes before attracting the attention of the police or someone worse?

Instead of being an annoyingly overly dramatic movie with a lot of drama and almost as much lace this movie went in an entirely different direction. Right from the start they poke fun at the whole Ann Rice Goth crowd, which I enjoyed right away. But even beyond that there are some funny bits like when the brother announces to his mother that he is gay. She seems more horrified by that than her daughter covered in the blood of the person she just killed. I found that really funny. Which also leads me to how well the characters are written. In spite of the absurd situation they come across like real people dealing with a strange situation. This includes some really sweet scenes between the mother and her children as well as some realistic family fights. All of that said I did find the last 1/3 of the movie to be a bit slow. There is a big reveal and a visitor shows up at the house. When this happens the tone of the movie changes a bit and I didn’t like it as much as I had earlier.

Most of the special effects in the movie involve the older brother experimenting on body parts I guess to try and help his sister. This is really silly stuff that involves eyes popping out and electricity frying heads. Real low budget stuff that I think is inserted as comic relief. Honestly it is okay, but I don’t really see the point. The vampire effects are mostly limited to blood being thrown on the characters and the walls around them. Since this is an independent movie I did want to mention that the picture and sound are very solid.

My final thoughts are that this isn’t what I was expecting at all when I got the Vampire Diaries in the mail. What could have been another mind numbing vampire movie turned out to be a fun little story with interesting characters. Unfortunately the parts of the story that I liked seem to have run out of steam towards the end. Still I think that the movie is worth checking out. Writer and director Phil Messerer is the sort of creative filmmaker that I think we should all be supporting. With that in mind head over to the website at http://bloodjunky.hilltoppictures.com/ for more information on where you can find The Vampire Diaries.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer