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This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Kim from Dominion3. Level 33 Entertainment is putting this out and I tend to at least enjoy the films from them. I'll be honest, I was leery when I saw that this was a horror/romance film. I had an idea of what creature would be from the title. I did come into this one blind aside from the information that I shared here.
Synopsis: unemployed artist Thomas (Ruardidh Aldington) is captivated by alluring Rhea (Madalina Bellariu Ion), who conceals her nature. Their intense affair takes a sinister turn as he becomes gravely ill.
We start this by seeing a guy in a bed and he looks sickly. There is a vampire that is feeding on his arm. It is from there that we shift to our main character, Thomas. He still lives with his mother, played by Angela Dixon. She is calling out to him, which makes him annoyed. She needs his help though. An exterminator is coming over, John (Craig Conway). His mother has a thing for him. This escalated to Thomas hearing the two having sex. This forces Thomas to go out. His friend Dano (Andrew Lyle-Pinnock) is a bartender at a club. It is while he's here that he catches a glimpse of Rhea. Dano forces him to go over and talk to her, causing Thomas to fall in love.
Thomas then is dealt a difficult blow. John is moving in with his mother. Thomas is kicked out, given the flat that John was living in. Something wild that I've never seen here in the United States. He is given a little battery where he can load money on it to provide power to his apartment. The amount he puts on doesn't keep the lights on long. He also can't find information on Rhea. He is just waiting for her to return to the club. When she does, Dano calls him and he sprints to get there.
His life gets turned upside even more. He falls madly in love with her. She is interested in him. What he doesn't realize though is that she is a vampire. He lets her feed on his arm which gives him a euphoric feeling. He can't get enough of it. This drives him to ask her to move into the flat with him. There are complications on her end and he also needs to get a job to afford the place. The consequences of this decision are more than just that as his new girlfriend does as the title of the film says, drains him.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with something that made me leery, this being a horror/romance film. It definitely is in that order. This isn't a romance in a traditional sense and I appreciated that. We have a guy who finds a woman at the bar attractive. He shoots his shot and she leaves with him. What is different here is that she finds an easy target, using her sexuality as a weapon. He is also an easy meal. I'll bring up what I did at the end of my recap, the title is a good pun here. Not only is she draining him of blood, but it is also financially and physically draining. He is wasting away. That was a good touch.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me then shift over to the monster itself. Vampires are creatures that have an oversaturated market. It has been used since the beginning of the film. What you have to do is something different because of it. Since the 1990s, we have seen the idea of using vampirism as an allegory for drugs. It feels good in the beginning and then it takes over your life, cursing it. We get that here. What is different though is there's another layer. He is infatuated with her. He enjoys her feeding on him, but it is more that it is her doing it. When things turn bad, his withdrawals seem more that they're no longer together. This was something that I could connect with. I also like using this idea with the vampire concept.
There is another layer to this. I'll need to go through the acting performances first. Adlington does a solid job at being this artist who is coasting through life. His father passed away so he came home to take care of his mother, but it is the point where she is taking care of him. This causes Thomas to buttheads with John. I like that he's challenging Thomas, because he needs it. The decisions for the mother to allow John to move in is paralleled with Thomas and Rhea moving in together. This strains all the relationships involved as well. Conway is good as this outsider who upsets Thomas, but makes the mother happy. I also like Dixon as a mother torn on what to do as well. Ion also works here as she has an accent and darkly good looks. She is alluring, so I can see how she entices Thomas. Adlington and Ion are good with the other two pushing them to where things end up.
I'll also credit Lyle-Pinnock as Thomas' friend. He is the reason the two meet. Dano also helps his friend with a job. We also get two police inspectors later in the film, Linda Rathbourne played by Natasha Patel and her partner is Edward Finch by Andrew-Lee Potts. They complicate Thomas' life. This also pushes the story to a resolution. I dug where this goes.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography and framing were good. We are capturing that this is all taking place in a blue-collar neighborhood. Thomas has things good and then he ventures into the dark side. They're able to capture that. The blood we get looks good. I do like the vampire effects. Those seemed to be done practically. My only issue here is that the computer effects we use don't look great. They also don't ruin this. There are just a few things that take me out. I do also think this runs too long. It meanders a bit near the end and I think trimming would help. Other than that, the soundtrack fits what was needed.
In conclusion, I'm glad that I took the chance on this one. We get conventions here that we've seen before. I like doing something slightly different with vampire lore. Seeing how someone can become infatuated with the dangers that come from that. The acting was solid across the board. They bring their characters to life. This is made well enough. The cinematography, framing and practical effects leading the way. My biggest issue is with the CGI and it runs just a bit too long. This is still an independent film that I'd recommend to horror fans for 2025 lists. I don't think this will be a high-end contender, but a back of the list one potentially.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Synopsis: unemployed artist Thomas (Ruardidh Aldington) is captivated by alluring Rhea (Madalina Bellariu Ion), who conceals her nature. Their intense affair takes a sinister turn as he becomes gravely ill.
We start this by seeing a guy in a bed and he looks sickly. There is a vampire that is feeding on his arm. It is from there that we shift to our main character, Thomas. He still lives with his mother, played by Angela Dixon. She is calling out to him, which makes him annoyed. She needs his help though. An exterminator is coming over, John (Craig Conway). His mother has a thing for him. This escalated to Thomas hearing the two having sex. This forces Thomas to go out. His friend Dano (Andrew Lyle-Pinnock) is a bartender at a club. It is while he's here that he catches a glimpse of Rhea. Dano forces him to go over and talk to her, causing Thomas to fall in love.
Thomas then is dealt a difficult blow. John is moving in with his mother. Thomas is kicked out, given the flat that John was living in. Something wild that I've never seen here in the United States. He is given a little battery where he can load money on it to provide power to his apartment. The amount he puts on doesn't keep the lights on long. He also can't find information on Rhea. He is just waiting for her to return to the club. When she does, Dano calls him and he sprints to get there.
His life gets turned upside even more. He falls madly in love with her. She is interested in him. What he doesn't realize though is that she is a vampire. He lets her feed on his arm which gives him a euphoric feeling. He can't get enough of it. This drives him to ask her to move into the flat with him. There are complications on her end and he also needs to get a job to afford the place. The consequences of this decision are more than just that as his new girlfriend does as the title of the film says, drains him.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with something that made me leery, this being a horror/romance film. It definitely is in that order. This isn't a romance in a traditional sense and I appreciated that. We have a guy who finds a woman at the bar attractive. He shoots his shot and she leaves with him. What is different here is that she finds an easy target, using her sexuality as a weapon. He is also an easy meal. I'll bring up what I did at the end of my recap, the title is a good pun here. Not only is she draining him of blood, but it is also financially and physically draining. He is wasting away. That was a good touch.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me then shift over to the monster itself. Vampires are creatures that have an oversaturated market. It has been used since the beginning of the film. What you have to do is something different because of it. Since the 1990s, we have seen the idea of using vampirism as an allegory for drugs. It feels good in the beginning and then it takes over your life, cursing it. We get that here. What is different though is there's another layer. He is infatuated with her. He enjoys her feeding on him, but it is more that it is her doing it. When things turn bad, his withdrawals seem more that they're no longer together. This was something that I could connect with. I also like using this idea with the vampire concept.
There is another layer to this. I'll need to go through the acting performances first. Adlington does a solid job at being this artist who is coasting through life. His father passed away so he came home to take care of his mother, but it is the point where she is taking care of him. This causes Thomas to buttheads with John. I like that he's challenging Thomas, because he needs it. The decisions for the mother to allow John to move in is paralleled with Thomas and Rhea moving in together. This strains all the relationships involved as well. Conway is good as this outsider who upsets Thomas, but makes the mother happy. I also like Dixon as a mother torn on what to do as well. Ion also works here as she has an accent and darkly good looks. She is alluring, so I can see how she entices Thomas. Adlington and Ion are good with the other two pushing them to where things end up.
I'll also credit Lyle-Pinnock as Thomas' friend. He is the reason the two meet. Dano also helps his friend with a job. We also get two police inspectors later in the film, Linda Rathbourne played by Natasha Patel and her partner is Edward Finch by Andrew-Lee Potts. They complicate Thomas' life. This also pushes the story to a resolution. I dug where this goes.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography and framing were good. We are capturing that this is all taking place in a blue-collar neighborhood. Thomas has things good and then he ventures into the dark side. They're able to capture that. The blood we get looks good. I do like the vampire effects. Those seemed to be done practically. My only issue here is that the computer effects we use don't look great. They also don't ruin this. There are just a few things that take me out. I do also think this runs too long. It meanders a bit near the end and I think trimming would help. Other than that, the soundtrack fits what was needed.
In conclusion, I'm glad that I took the chance on this one. We get conventions here that we've seen before. I like doing something slightly different with vampire lore. Seeing how someone can become infatuated with the dangers that come from that. The acting was solid across the board. They bring their characters to life. This is made well enough. The cinematography, framing and practical effects leading the way. My biggest issue is with the CGI and it runs just a bit too long. This is still an independent film that I'd recommend to horror fans for 2025 lists. I don't think this will be a high-end contender, but a back of the list one potentially.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Alex from Simply Legendary Publicity. He helped me get a copy of the screener from Dreamscape Productions. Now I knew this was an independent horror film from 2025, that made it enough for me to check this out to help fill out my end of year list. Other than that, I came in knowing as little as possible.
Synopsis: a young woman returns to the site of her broken engagement, Newport's Valley, a sleepy tourist town with an all-consuming secret.
We start this off with a big tent outside of a cave. There is a Native American woman that is fleeing through the woods. She is captured and brought before Whelan Newport (Roger Clark) and his wife, Mary (McKenna Parsons). We see that there is a curse in this area and Whelan is doing a ritual. It requires a sacrifice.
It then shifts to the present day. This area has now become a quaint tourist town. Gregory Newport (Jamie Dufault) is descended from Whelan. He's married to Theresa (Melody Kay). There is a meeting set up as Bart Blakewell (Cary Hite) has taken over the local inn. He is attacked by the other townspeople as he's new. The past owners have struggled, coming in with similar agendas and they're tired of hearing it. Being that this is the offseason, it is a struggle. He forgot to call off Rosalyn Jackson (Sienna Hubert-Ross). This annoys her that she came in as the other worker, Felicity Tinsley (Kate Kiddo), is already there.
Now something to include here is that our main character is Kenzie Rhodes (Victoria Mirrer). She's been to this town in the past. She came here with her fiancé, Zack Katarn (Topher Hansson). Something happened and it has changed her life. She's now come back for what seems like closure. While at the bar of the inn, she meets Munroe (Damian Maffei). He tells her that she should leave while she still can, being ominous.
I'll also include here that we have a group of hikers. There is Aida Kazarian (Alexis Safoyan) with her friend Tara Monti (Angela Ann Palermo). She's interested in Trevor Darrisaw (Sassan Saffari). He's there with his friend, James Ford (Jay Voishnis). His nickname is Muffin. Aida has a thing for him, but another girl from work came along who is showing attention. Things happen on the mountain. There are secrets here in the caves and the town is doing what they can to cover them up. There is this entity known as the Wrexsoul (Rachel Pizzolato) that needs to be fed.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with something I appreciated. We have this entity here called the Wrexsoul. I did a google search to see if this is something that is folklore and nothing came up, except for the video game series Final Fantasy. The little bit that I read there seemed like that was an evil entity that came about through the mingling of souls. That is something that fits with what I saw in this movie. I'd also say that it borrows from the Wendigo mythology as well. Regardless, it is an interesting monster to use here.
Now that I've set that up, the location of this film is also a positive. I love that we're in a small tourist town in New Hampshire. It is the offseason so we see that the established businesses are fine. It is just this inn that has another new owner, Bart, who is struggling. He can't afford to pay Roz to come into work and there's already Felicity. I'm not fully sure why this is the only business that is struggling, allowing new faces to be in the town. This just being out of the way and the isolation that comes with it worked for me.
These last parts of the story are something I'll tread lightly with as I don't want to spoil. The first one is that I didn't necessarily pick up at first why we got this cold opening. It made sense to introduce that there is a creature that stalks the town. It took me longer to realize that Greg is a descendant of Whelan and a legacy in town. I'm not sure if he was the mayor or if this town just recognizes him as the leader. Despite how welcoming he is of Bart; it made me not trust after making that connection. Then the other one is Munroe. What I'll say is that he's like a witch hunter, being called here but we don't necessarily know by who until the end of the 2nd act. He's mysterious which fits the role. Both elements help deepen the story.
Let me then shift over to discussing the acting performances. Mirrer is good as our lead. She is troubled and it takes time to develop that. This helps to build her character which works. Maffei has enough swagger to him as this mysterious monster hunter. What I like though is that he's not an expert. He puts his life on the line to defeat different things. I wouldn't hate to see him come back in more stories. Hubert-Ross, Hite, Safoyan and the rest of the outsiders are good. There are a lot of characters for cannon fodder. I did appreciate that. They're all given just enough personality to stand out as well. I also like Dufault, Kay and the rest of the townspeople. They distrust outsiders for a good reason as this feels like a tight knit community. I'll also say that Pizzolato worked as this person inside of the creature makeup. I would have never guessed that is how she looked. How she moves as this entity brings life to it.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This doesn't have the biggest budget, but it does good things to hide that. I've already said that I liked the setting. The cinematography and framing help bring that to life. This also helps with the effects. They mostly went practical from what I could tell. The look of the monster was good. The blood and gore we got did as well. They did limit this which is fine. When we got closer shots, there were no issues. There was a bit of CGI used here. It didn't look great, but it was trying to do fire with them. That is just too difficult unfortunately. Other than that, the sound design was solid and the soundtrack that was synced with what I saw worked.
In conclusion, this was a solid low budget creature feature. I do like the setup to set up the monster, the town and that something is not quite right here. The acting isn't great, but it makes distinct enough characters. This was also made well enough with the setting, cinematography, framing and effects leading the way there. If I have a gripe, this just ran a bit too long. Trimming this to 90 minutes would help. How it is though, I enjoyed my time here. I'd recommend this if you are into these movies.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Synopsis: a young woman returns to the site of her broken engagement, Newport's Valley, a sleepy tourist town with an all-consuming secret.
We start this off with a big tent outside of a cave. There is a Native American woman that is fleeing through the woods. She is captured and brought before Whelan Newport (Roger Clark) and his wife, Mary (McKenna Parsons). We see that there is a curse in this area and Whelan is doing a ritual. It requires a sacrifice.
It then shifts to the present day. This area has now become a quaint tourist town. Gregory Newport (Jamie Dufault) is descended from Whelan. He's married to Theresa (Melody Kay). There is a meeting set up as Bart Blakewell (Cary Hite) has taken over the local inn. He is attacked by the other townspeople as he's new. The past owners have struggled, coming in with similar agendas and they're tired of hearing it. Being that this is the offseason, it is a struggle. He forgot to call off Rosalyn Jackson (Sienna Hubert-Ross). This annoys her that she came in as the other worker, Felicity Tinsley (Kate Kiddo), is already there.
Now something to include here is that our main character is Kenzie Rhodes (Victoria Mirrer). She's been to this town in the past. She came here with her fiancé, Zack Katarn (Topher Hansson). Something happened and it has changed her life. She's now come back for what seems like closure. While at the bar of the inn, she meets Munroe (Damian Maffei). He tells her that she should leave while she still can, being ominous.
I'll also include here that we have a group of hikers. There is Aida Kazarian (Alexis Safoyan) with her friend Tara Monti (Angela Ann Palermo). She's interested in Trevor Darrisaw (Sassan Saffari). He's there with his friend, James Ford (Jay Voishnis). His nickname is Muffin. Aida has a thing for him, but another girl from work came along who is showing attention. Things happen on the mountain. There are secrets here in the caves and the town is doing what they can to cover them up. There is this entity known as the Wrexsoul (Rachel Pizzolato) that needs to be fed.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with something I appreciated. We have this entity here called the Wrexsoul. I did a google search to see if this is something that is folklore and nothing came up, except for the video game series Final Fantasy. The little bit that I read there seemed like that was an evil entity that came about through the mingling of souls. That is something that fits with what I saw in this movie. I'd also say that it borrows from the Wendigo mythology as well. Regardless, it is an interesting monster to use here.
Now that I've set that up, the location of this film is also a positive. I love that we're in a small tourist town in New Hampshire. It is the offseason so we see that the established businesses are fine. It is just this inn that has another new owner, Bart, who is struggling. He can't afford to pay Roz to come into work and there's already Felicity. I'm not fully sure why this is the only business that is struggling, allowing new faces to be in the town. This just being out of the way and the isolation that comes with it worked for me.
These last parts of the story are something I'll tread lightly with as I don't want to spoil. The first one is that I didn't necessarily pick up at first why we got this cold opening. It made sense to introduce that there is a creature that stalks the town. It took me longer to realize that Greg is a descendant of Whelan and a legacy in town. I'm not sure if he was the mayor or if this town just recognizes him as the leader. Despite how welcoming he is of Bart; it made me not trust after making that connection. Then the other one is Munroe. What I'll say is that he's like a witch hunter, being called here but we don't necessarily know by who until the end of the 2nd act. He's mysterious which fits the role. Both elements help deepen the story.
Let me then shift over to discussing the acting performances. Mirrer is good as our lead. She is troubled and it takes time to develop that. This helps to build her character which works. Maffei has enough swagger to him as this mysterious monster hunter. What I like though is that he's not an expert. He puts his life on the line to defeat different things. I wouldn't hate to see him come back in more stories. Hubert-Ross, Hite, Safoyan and the rest of the outsiders are good. There are a lot of characters for cannon fodder. I did appreciate that. They're all given just enough personality to stand out as well. I also like Dufault, Kay and the rest of the townspeople. They distrust outsiders for a good reason as this feels like a tight knit community. I'll also say that Pizzolato worked as this person inside of the creature makeup. I would have never guessed that is how she looked. How she moves as this entity brings life to it.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This doesn't have the biggest budget, but it does good things to hide that. I've already said that I liked the setting. The cinematography and framing help bring that to life. This also helps with the effects. They mostly went practical from what I could tell. The look of the monster was good. The blood and gore we got did as well. They did limit this which is fine. When we got closer shots, there were no issues. There was a bit of CGI used here. It didn't look great, but it was trying to do fire with them. That is just too difficult unfortunately. Other than that, the sound design was solid and the soundtrack that was synced with what I saw worked.
In conclusion, this was a solid low budget creature feature. I do like the setup to set up the monster, the town and that something is not quite right here. The acting isn't great, but it makes distinct enough characters. This was also made well enough with the setting, cinematography, framing and effects leading the way there. If I have a gripe, this just ran a bit too long. Trimming this to 90 minutes would help. How it is though, I enjoyed my time here. I'd recommend this if you are into these movies.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
This was a film that I decided to check out since I was a Marvel comic book fan growing up. Plus, I've invested a lot of time to get this far. I'm also curious as to where they will go with certain things. This was one that I didn't hear great things about, I also take into account the sources. I did enjoy Captain Marvel and the Ms. Marvel television show was fine for what it was. I was curious as to what we'd get here.
Now this takes place after the events of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) destroying the Supreme Intelligence, plunging the Kree and Skrulls into the civil war they're currently in. The events of Secret Invasion have also happened as well. A Kree, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), along with her followers have discovered the location of a bangle, much like Kamala Khan's (Iman Vellani). Dar-Benn uses it to create a wormhole and attacks her home planet, warning all the Skrulls there to leave.
Using this bangle creates an anomaly that affects Ms. Marvel, Capt. Marvel and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). All of their powers are similar in that they use light. At first, when two are using their powers at the same time, they will switch places, no matter where they are in the universe. This creates issues as a Capt. Marvel starts a fight and sends them to Kamala's parent's house. It is from here that they must learn to work together if they're going to save the Kree and Skrulls' home planet, as well as others.
That's where I'll leave my recap and I'm boiling it down quite a bit. What I didn't remember was that Nia DaCosta directed this. I've liked things that she's written and directed in the past. This unfortunately doesn't feel like her. My guess is that outside of her setting up certain shots and incorporating things, it still has a formula. Being part of a much bigger world does hamper it. I'll still give her credit for getting a Marvel payday.
I also don't think this is as bad as others are making out to be. I'll say here that I do believe misogyny for some people does come into play. It is a good move to limit the powers of Capt. Marvel since she has joined the MCU because she is considered to be up there at this point. I do feel this is also helping to develop Ms. Marvel and the creation of a 'teen avengers' or something along those lines. I also wonder if this will help Larson leave the MCU by having someone like Monica ready to replace her. I did like having a trio of women leads along with a woman villain.
Since this is a Marvel movie, the acting is fine across the board. They bring their characters to life. This is a CGI-fest, but since it has that Disney money it looks good. I don't love this one. It isn't bad by any stretch. We are just seeing a lot of the same from these movies so they are losing heart. This also doesn't necessarily push the next main villain and I'd bet that due to the issues with the actor of Kang exiting due to legal issues. It just lacked that excitement with hinting at Thanos. Still doesn't make it bad. It is just fine to me. The two hour runtime makes it more difficult to push, but you could do worse.
My Rating: 6 out of 10.
Now this takes place after the events of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) destroying the Supreme Intelligence, plunging the Kree and Skrulls into the civil war they're currently in. The events of Secret Invasion have also happened as well. A Kree, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), along with her followers have discovered the location of a bangle, much like Kamala Khan's (Iman Vellani). Dar-Benn uses it to create a wormhole and attacks her home planet, warning all the Skrulls there to leave.
Using this bangle creates an anomaly that affects Ms. Marvel, Capt. Marvel and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). All of their powers are similar in that they use light. At first, when two are using their powers at the same time, they will switch places, no matter where they are in the universe. This creates issues as a Capt. Marvel starts a fight and sends them to Kamala's parent's house. It is from here that they must learn to work together if they're going to save the Kree and Skrulls' home planet, as well as others.
That's where I'll leave my recap and I'm boiling it down quite a bit. What I didn't remember was that Nia DaCosta directed this. I've liked things that she's written and directed in the past. This unfortunately doesn't feel like her. My guess is that outside of her setting up certain shots and incorporating things, it still has a formula. Being part of a much bigger world does hamper it. I'll still give her credit for getting a Marvel payday.
I also don't think this is as bad as others are making out to be. I'll say here that I do believe misogyny for some people does come into play. It is a good move to limit the powers of Capt. Marvel since she has joined the MCU because she is considered to be up there at this point. I do feel this is also helping to develop Ms. Marvel and the creation of a 'teen avengers' or something along those lines. I also wonder if this will help Larson leave the MCU by having someone like Monica ready to replace her. I did like having a trio of women leads along with a woman villain.
Since this is a Marvel movie, the acting is fine across the board. They bring their characters to life. This is a CGI-fest, but since it has that Disney money it looks good. I don't love this one. It isn't bad by any stretch. We are just seeing a lot of the same from these movies so they are losing heart. This also doesn't necessarily push the next main villain and I'd bet that due to the issues with the actor of Kang exiting due to legal issues. It just lacked that excitement with hinting at Thanos. Still doesn't make it bad. It is just fine to me. The two hour runtime makes it more difficult to push, but you could do worse.
My Rating: 6 out of 10.