Blood Relatives review.
Blood Relatives creates a fun watch out of a good concept. Two likable leads guide us through a unique vampire comedy about growing up…no matter how old you are.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Blood Relatives
Directed by Noah Segan
Written by Noah Segan
Starring Noah Segan, Victoria Morales and Akasha Villalobos
Blood Relatives Review
Blood Relatives feels like a two-part pilot episode. This isn’t an insult. I’d set my DVR to record the series. It’s a reality of being a low budget feature with a concept, and characters, you would really like to see more of.
Francis’s (Noah Segan) life is turned upside down when Jane (Victoria Moroles) turns up on his doorstep claiming to be his daughter. Francis is a loner who isn’t equipped to handle this unexpected news. He’s also a vampire. Jane is…something else. She can walk in the sunlight and ages…but she has fangs and supernatural strength. She’s lost her family and has nowhere to go. They may be exactly what the other needs.
Blood Relatives knows exactly what it is. It’s a story about family and growing up. Francis may be a vampire of indeterminate old age…but it’s never too late to try and change. Jane shows up without any understanding of who or what she is. She doesn’t understand her strength or her hunger for blood. Francis is the only person equipped to guide her…whether he likes it or not.
Segan and Moroles shine in the lead roles of Blood Relatives. The movie is a two hander that would fall apart without top notch performances. That isn’t to say the script isn’t good, it is. Or that the story isn’t worth watching, it is. It’s because there isn’t a lot more to it than watching the two actors. Segan does what he can as director to put them into different settings and situations…but the budget didn’t allow for much in the way of vampire carnage.
The movie makes up for not being able to show vicious attacks by giving us fun ones instead. Segan is clearly working around what he can’t do, and he does so cleverly. Often there will be a comedic beat where the gore would be. He’s still paying off the setups…he’s just doing it in a way the small movie can handle. It’s a better choice than offering subpar effects that would take you out of the movie. It also gives Blood Relatives a fun tone that it carries throughout the new family’s road trip.
Blood Relatives is a funny movie. It has enough good lines and situations to recommend but what pushes it over the top is that Segan and Moroles are all in. They have consistently funny reactions to absurd situations. It really helps the movie flow.
The most interesting thing that Blood Relatives does is explore change. Jane’s whole world has changed, and she discovers all kinds of things about her half-vamp self that she didn’t know. But, even at her young age, she seems ready and prepared to deal with it. Francis, despite being much older, is not. His whole world has changed as well. It’s an interesting discussion. The young girl is going to be going through life changes whether she was part vampire or not. It’s what growing young people do. Francis hasn’t changed or grown in a long time.
Blood Relatives takes the characters on a journey through middle America and through their own forced progression together. It makes interesting choices with Francis in particular. He’s long lost any sense of family and it clearly weighs on him…but changing everything about his existence at his age is a hard ask. There is a sequence in the movie that really hammers home how much you’ll wish this had been a TV pilot. Francis, without a birth certificate or identity, trying to figure out how to provide for himself, let alone a daughter. There is a goldmine of ideas in the setup. What we got was fantastic. You’ll just wish there was a lot more.
Scare Value
Budget limitations keep Blood Relatives from delivering the gore effects that would really make that aspect of the movie pop. What it has, two charismatic lead performances and a solid concept, it uses expertly. You’ll walk away satisfied but wishing they could have had even more fun. For what it wants to be…it completely succeeds making do with what it has.
3.5/5
Blood Relatives Link
Blood Relatives Trailer
If you enjoyed this Blood Relatives review, please check out our other new movie reviews.
