Popcorn Frights Film Festival Coverage
The Night is Young review.
An influencer is in for a surprise when she meets a vampire at a bar. A found footage romance/battle with vampire hunters.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Night is Young
Directed by Patrick Rea
Written by Sarah McGuire and Patrick Rea
Starring Sarah McGuire, Valeri Bates, Jake Jackson, Shawn Eric Jones, Dan Daly, Kristin Rea and Kurt Hanover
The Night is Young Review
I’m going to say a few words that you’re probably tired of seeing. Influencer. Found footage. Let’s start with the first one. We’ve seen so many movies centered around social media influencer characters that I’ve run out of ways to talk about it at this point. Mercifully, The Night is Young isn’t interested in targeting influencer culture. It’s just a means to an end here. An in-world explanation for the second set of words. Yes, this is a found footage movie. God knows we’ve seen more than our share of those in recent years too. The concept makes sense in the context of this story…but it is clearly used for the same reason it usually is. It’s quicker, easier, and cheaper to shoot.
We haven’t spent a lot of time discussing why that is…or the pros and cons involved in it. Simply put…found footage lets filmmakers to tell their stories without having to deal with lengthy shoots. The longer a shoot…the more expensive the bill. You don’t have to spend half a day setting up a shot and tinkering with lighting when the goal is to look like a home movie. There are obvious benefits beyond speed and cost. For one, found footage can create movement. It can lift the pacing of an otherwise mundane experience. Most importantly, it opens the door to far more voices making films. You can make a movie on your phone, after all.
The downsides are equally obvious. Not everyone is meant to make a movie. Most people don’t have anything to say. Too many found footage movies have one idea and no concept of how to present it. How many hour and a half walks through the woods intercut with talking head interviews can we get before the next person realizes it’s been done to death already. These movies give the format its bad name. Great movies have been made in the found footage space. Deadstream is a great movie. Late Night with the Devil is a great movie. The Outwaters is a great movie. This is all a long way around to telling you that The Night is Young is much closer to those three recent films than the generic example above it. Now let’s talk about why.
The Night is Young isn’t a found footage movie to cut corners around its storytelling. It isn’t trying to drag out one idea that’s been done many times before. This is a story that could play out using more traditional filming techniques. It is full of ideas. It’s thoughtfully constructed. The Night is Young is a strong movie…that happens to be found footage. One assumes, again, that is for budget reasons. A lack of budget and the found footage format don’t hold The Night is Young back whatsoever.
Nora (Sarah McGuire) is an influencer. Her gimmick is sharing her bad date experiences with her viewers. Her brother Jake (Jake Jackson) films her exploits. After being stood up on a blind date…Nora meets Amelia (Valeri Bates) and immediately hits it off. The only problem? Amelia is a vampire. Actually…that isn’t the problem. The group of vampire hunters on her tail is.
The Night is Young begins with a series of bad dates for Nora. We get to know her character through some awkward (and funny) experiences. Things change dramatically for Nora after meeting Amelia. A mugger grabs her and knocks her out. She misses quite the show as Amelia reveals her true nature and tares the criminal’s throat out. Jake gets it all on film…so we don’t have to wait long for Nora to get on board. Amelia claims she is good…only feeding on bad people. Nora feels connected to her and is willing to believe. That connection, however, puts Nora and Jake in mortal danger from the vampire hunters hot on Amelia’s trail.
The Night is Young is a great vampire story. It presents interesting characters and a clear obstacle to contend with. There are surprising moments as the story progresses. Nora and Amelia are strong characters. There is a lot of fun to be had when the story fully turns to its vampire side. It even has a satisfying conclusion. The best part…there is a strong tease for further adventures inside this world. I sincerely hope to see it revisited in the future.
There is, however, one aspect of The Night is Young that drove me crazy. It’s something that you may not even care about…so feel free to ignore this paragraph. These events are being shot for future upload. Why then…does the movie have a score? Now…I’m not going to lie…the score has some banger moments in it. It’s not the score itself I take issue with. It’s the existence of one altogether. We’re watching as a run and gun, guerilla style night of vampire vs. hunters plays out. Where is this score coming from? If you pick the found footage format…it comes with some limitations. Ignoring those constraints whenever you want to shatters the reality that you gain from using the format in the first place.
That being said…The Night is Young is a fun, clever, and full story. It just happens to be filmed in a way you may not like. It’s worth looking past that bias this time around. Especially if you enjoy a good vampire romance.
Scare Value
Leave your preconceived notions about found footage at the door. The Night is Young has what you’re looking for in a vampire story. Engaging characters, fun sequences, surprising moments…this one is a winner. Acting is strong across the board. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of this world. Even if it continues to be through a handheld lens.
