You had me at “Teenage Bikini Vampire”. For a short film, Devi Snively really packs in the cool costumes, artistic lighting, and fun music. At a little under 7 minutes, Teenage Bikini Vampire is a film not only about funny vampires in a Munsters kind of way, it’s also touching in an Addams Family kind of way.
Sadie is a teenage vampire who longs to do what other teenagers do: go to the beach, dance to groovy tunes in a bikini, and fall in love with a cool surfer dude. Unfortunately, because she’s a vampire, she can’t go in the sun. That sort of puts a damper on the whole beach thing. Her family is naturally unnerved at her seemingly ridiculous rebellion. They can’t understand why she’s so difficult. Then, it gets even worse. Sadie falls in love with a surfer dude! Her parents devise a plan: if they can’t bring Sadie to the beach, they’ll bring the beach to Sadie….
More like an elaborate play, “Teenage Bikini Vampire” has a very Moulin-Rouge aspect to it. It’s very theatrical and it’s no small production. The jokes are tame and there’s little or no gore, but Teenage Bikini Vampire does what all good films do; it takes an ordinary premise and puts it in extraordinary settings. The traditional rebellious teenager happens to be a vampire, but the issues remain the same; fitting in, growing up, and rebelling against parental authority. The vampires, polka dots, sixties beach music, and gothic dream sequence music montages are just really cool extras that place this film in the horror and comedy categories.
Snively is great at creating interesting characters in very short periods of time, and gives her audience some really cool visuals to go along with the funny storyline and over-the-top characters.
