The genre of Southern Gothic in fiction and in films such as Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte still abounds with Zombie tales filmed in the Deep South today. While not confined to domestic horror, now more creatures that go bump and slurp in the night show up in the grime. Bogieville, directed by and starring Sean Cronin, taps into that low-budget vampire yarn set in a nowhere trailer park, doing a wonderful if not folksy job. The premise channels Near Dark, with a dose of From Dusk Till Dawn series flair, and a side-glance at Night of the Living Dead (yes, there’s even a vintage truck that refuses to start when it’s needed most).
The story kicks off strongly. A lone provocatively dressed woman at a highway rest stop late at night is introduced to the local vampire population brutally. The encounter features a growling, bloody-mouth beast that looks familiar in style, the moment that sets the tone and shows off the film’s best asset: its practical effects. The makeup work is impressive throughout. These vampires aren’t moody romantics; they’re crusty, blood-caked predators who look like they’ve been living under someone’s porch, or in this case, literally trailer trash.
Human castwise, you have Ham (Arifin Putra) and Jody (Eloise Lovell Anderson), a couple hit hard by small-town unemployment and desperate for a fresh start. After some witty dialogue and effective stunt work fight the two end up on an aimless road trip that leads them to a run-down mobile home park in the deep south. The caretaker, Crawford (Jonathan Hansler), offers shelter and food in exchange for help around the park, but with two warnings: never go out at night, and stay out of the basement, which will always remain locked. So begins their reluctant stay in Bogieville, a place named that because the owner of the park, named Madison, is a fan of Humphrey Bogart.
Near Dark comes to mind in the setting with a hidden vampire enclave on the margins of society. Bogieville lacks that film’s noir aspect of that film in favour of isolationist terror. The work channels the feel of Night of the Living Dead, especially in its use of confined space, flashbacks, and that panicked attempt to escape in a truck that won’t start. You can almost hear the echo of “They’re coming to get you” in the background as things go from weird to deadly.
A tense outdoor briefing with the Bogieville Sheriff’s Department, as the authorities begin to piece together the strange disappearances haunting the trailer park.
“…a chaotic, violent showdown between humans and vampires…”
Dialogue-heavy scenes test the limits of the cast. The accents vary wildly, and the emotional range is limited.
Poppie Jae Hughes as Lily, a child vampire with razor fangs and a terrifying screen presence, steals the film. She’s given little dialogue, but that works to her advantage. Brilliant first dialogue moment between Lily and Crawford as he informs her of the new people’s arrival that she already knows about. He genuinely loves the creature that she has become.
There’s a distinct From Dusk till Dawn energy in the final act once the words stop and the bloodletting begins. The film erupts into a chaotic, violent showdown between humans and vampires, with sunlight burnings.
Hansler’s Crawford stands out as the film’s most grounded performance. His grim loyalty to the undead family is not Renfield under his care, which hints at a moral backstory
Eloise Lovell Anderson as Jody and Arifin Putra as Ham play it well as desperate people caught up, just trying to get their lives straight. Eloise Lovell Anderson has a distinctive vocal tone to her voice with some great cynical one-liners like ‘Problems of the Undead.”
A film poster inside Crawford’s house from Jungle Queen (1945) makes an odd appearance. In that film, the “jungle” becomes a metaphor for the backwoods, a shadowy, lawless place where supernatural forces and repressed desires simmer beneath the surface. The Southern Gothic horror trope is where jungle queens gave way to swamp witches and vampire matriarchs lurking in decaying plantations and roadhouse dens.
Bogieville could be tighter in the middle, and you’ll have a lean, vampire film. Gory, gritty, and proudly unpolished, Bogieville is a low-budget vampire tale with a strong opening, a killer child vampire, and a messy but satisfying finale.
"…These vampires aren’t moody romantics; they’re crusty, blood-caked predators…"
