Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 is a Goth Kids’ Dream Turned Nightmare
In Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 the dark longings of the family black sheep come to horrific reality.
Written by The Horror Czar
March 18, 2009
Release: 28 July 2008 (Action on Film Festival, U.S.)
Written and Directed by: Phil Messerer
Starring:
Devon Bailey as Helen Baxter
Eilis Cahill as Lara Baxter
JoJo Hristova as Mom
Michael Strelow as Raymond Baxter
Myles MacVane as Max
Lara (Eilis Cahill) is an outcast Goth chick who dreams of a dark utopia filled with vampires, witchcraft and death. If only she could be a vampire, feasting on the blood of the innocent and stalking the night for all eternity. Maybe then she could get away from her family – the perfect cheerleader sister, stern religious-fanatic mother and womanizing father. The family dinner table is like the waiting room in a greyhound bus station.
Tonight’s dinner is punctuated by a shocking announcement – Dear ole’ Dad is moving on to greener pastures. The crazy and intolerable family (to Lara, anyway) is now a broken family. Dad will be leaving immediately. The women of the family will press on and do it on their own.
Things seem okay until the lovely Helen (Devon Bailey) returns from a night out covered in blood. Helen is okay, but the cab driver who is completely drained of blood is not doing as well. For some reason Helen has suddenly become a blood-sucking night stalker with a hunger that demands that her sister and mother harvest victims on a regular basis to keep her alive. This kind of thing happens all the time.
Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 is an amazing take on the vampire legend. Could vampirism actually be a recessive genetic trait that some have lurking in their DNA, ready to leap out with fangs bared at some random point in life? To what lengths will the family go to ensure that their newly “born” bundle of joy is well fed and able to interact normally with society? What about the grand irony of wishing for something with all your heart, only to find that the dream turned to reality might make your life even more nightmarish?
You’ve got to feel a bit for Lara. All she really wants is to live with a dark sensibility, yet having a real vampire in the family is not quite as romantic as it appears in Interview with the Vampire. Anne Rice didn’t account for the realities of a scared teenaged prom queen who abhors violence of any kind… until the hunger turns her into an unwilling lurker with the taste of blood as her only motivator… and the sister who is simultaneously jealous and appalled by her sisters new-found “condition”.
Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 is a low budget Independent horror film that transcends dollars for the sake of story, creativity and ironic relevance. How many of the insane things we all dream of would actually bring the ecstasy we imagine were we confronted with their harsh reality? Vampire stories can tend to either be overly action/adventure oriented or unrealistically romantic – it is not often that a new take on the vampire condition is presented in a realistic and believable way. Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 succeeds in taking an old legend and presenting it as a plausible reality with logical, yet unanticipated results. This film is part of a planned trilogy, and I am anxiously anticipating a further unfolding of this grand Gothic tale, direct from the basement of a typical American broken home. Questions or comments about Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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