USA 2020
produced by
Kathryn M. Moseley, Jed Rhein for One Two Twenty Entertainment
directed by Frankie Ingrassia
starring Jackson Hurst, Emily O’Brien, Grace Fulton, Barak Hardley, Michael Naizu, Sarah Palmer, Juli Cuccia, Linda Nile, Natalie Mitchell, Jonathan Pessin, Rich Cohen, Crispin Rosenkranz, Gene Arroyo
written by Kathryn M. Moseley, Frankie Ingrassia, music by Oliver Goodwill
review by Mike Haberfelner
The US in the squeaky clean early 1960s: Raymond (Jackson Hurst) is a reasonably successful psychiatrist, a devoted husband to Natasha (Emily O’Brien) and loving father to Susie (Grace Fulton) – and then he’s bitten and turned by vampire queen Victoria (Sarah Palmer) … because monsters need psychiatrists as well. Raymond tries to keep on living as he used to and keep up appearances, but it gets harder and harder, as he cannot go into the sunlight and needs a constand supply of blood. And while Natasha knows, he tries to keep the condition a secret from Susie, so he makes up an illness that prevents him from going out, while Natasha’s brother Bob (Barack Hardley), a mortician, provides him with a healthy stream of blood. However, things eventually hit boiling point when Susie, on her 16th birthday, brings home her boyfriend Jimmy (Michael Naizu) for the first time, Bob is courting one of Raymond’s neighbours (Juli Cuccia) whose dog drives Raymond wild, and the first batch of monsters come for councelling – and eventually the dog ends up dead, Jimmy’s turned into a vampire, and Susie’s about to find out the truth about her father …
This is just lots of fun: Obviously inspired by 1960s sitcoms, the film keeps a light tone throughout, doesn’t go for the explicit, gross or downright moronic but focusses on its characters and gleefully throws them into more and more outrageous situations, with their attempts to keep up appearances being the overriding arc. And the cast is uniformly up to the task and in line with the film’s brand of humour, using more understatement than exaggeration, while the script remains witty at all times, and the direction – helped of course by sets, props and costumes, gives the film a proper 1960s feel that’s really hard to resist. Basically, the film’s a ton of fun, really.