Miguel "li'l Mayor", Luis, and Bobby are three life long friends seeking to save their favorite hangout, Tony's Bodega, from encroaching and predatory real estate developers Murneau. The Three soon discover that Murneau is a front for a coven of Vampires and when they become aware of a plan to take over the Bronx the fight for surival ensues.
Vampires vs. The Bronx is the feature film directorial debut for TV director Osmany Rodriguez, known for his direction of A.P. Bio and SNL. The film is a very strong showcase that manages to balance it's horror and comic elements reasonably well, even if there are occasional snags in the material.
The film is very good at establishing its characters with Li'l Mayor, Luis and Bobby played with genuinely good performances and chemistry by Jaden Michael, Gregory Diaz IV, and Gerald W. Jones III respectively. The film also has a talented supporting cast with Tony, played by The Kid Mero, serving as a likable mentor like figure to the boys and Father Jackson, played by Method Man scoring some well earned laughs as an overly serious neighborhood priest. The villains are also well played with Shea Whigham's sleazy developer Frank Polidori serving as an effective boo hiss/villain and the vampires are played quite well by their respective actors. The movie plays like a mixture of Fright Night with Wes Craven's People Under the Stairs, much like the latter movie the movie deals with gentrification in a similar fashion to how Craven approached the topic of Slum lords, and despite being a bit broader in terms of its satire it does manage to effectively convey its point while still being an effective horror comedy.
Unfortunately Rodriguez runs into problems when filming in dimly lit indoor areas, one sequence involving an abandoned courthouse is viewable maybe 60% of the time without much issue, but the remaining parts are difficult to see due to the poor placement and adjustment of lights in the scene. Luckily this isn't that recurring of an issue, and there's at most two other scenes with this issue. Some supporting characters I thought were also rather underdeveloped. There are two female characters, Livestreamer Gloria "Glo" and Haitian-American Rita and while Glo does have some level of character, her presence doesn't really affect the plot and we're never given a good reason why we give her focus. Rita seems like she'll be fighting alongside the boys, but despite knowing of the vampires when no one else believes she's mostly irrelevant for the majority of the movie with her only contribution being delivering a message. Certain sequences also stretch suspension of disbelief, including a sequence where Li'l Mayor seems ignorant of every facet of vampire lore despite vampire movies existing in universe. It's a very clunky scene that isn't all that funny and grinds the pacing to a halt, but luckily the movie is a brisk sit at about 82 minutes and it never lingers on any one scene too long.
Vampires vs. The Bronx is a entertaining and promising feature debut from Osmany Rodriguez that hints bigger and better projects down the line. While not every joke lands and certain sequences and characters lack a certain amount of polish, this is a fun well paced horror comedy with a nice satiric bite(no pun intended).
Vampires vs. The Bronx is the feature film directorial debut for TV director Osmany Rodriguez, known for his direction of A.P. Bio and SNL. The film is a very strong showcase that manages to balance it's horror and comic elements reasonably well, even if there are occasional snags in the material.
The film is very good at establishing its characters with Li'l Mayor, Luis and Bobby played with genuinely good performances and chemistry by Jaden Michael, Gregory Diaz IV, and Gerald W. Jones III respectively. The film also has a talented supporting cast with Tony, played by The Kid Mero, serving as a likable mentor like figure to the boys and Father Jackson, played by Method Man scoring some well earned laughs as an overly serious neighborhood priest. The villains are also well played with Shea Whigham's sleazy developer Frank Polidori serving as an effective boo hiss/villain and the vampires are played quite well by their respective actors. The movie plays like a mixture of Fright Night with Wes Craven's People Under the Stairs, much like the latter movie the movie deals with gentrification in a similar fashion to how Craven approached the topic of Slum lords, and despite being a bit broader in terms of its satire it does manage to effectively convey its point while still being an effective horror comedy.
Unfortunately Rodriguez runs into problems when filming in dimly lit indoor areas, one sequence involving an abandoned courthouse is viewable maybe 60% of the time without much issue, but the remaining parts are difficult to see due to the poor placement and adjustment of lights in the scene. Luckily this isn't that recurring of an issue, and there's at most two other scenes with this issue. Some supporting characters I thought were also rather underdeveloped. There are two female characters, Livestreamer Gloria "Glo" and Haitian-American Rita and while Glo does have some level of character, her presence doesn't really affect the plot and we're never given a good reason why we give her focus. Rita seems like she'll be fighting alongside the boys, but despite knowing of the vampires when no one else believes she's mostly irrelevant for the majority of the movie with her only contribution being delivering a message. Certain sequences also stretch suspension of disbelief, including a sequence where Li'l Mayor seems ignorant of every facet of vampire lore despite vampire movies existing in universe. It's a very clunky scene that isn't all that funny and grinds the pacing to a halt, but luckily the movie is a brisk sit at about 82 minutes and it never lingers on any one scene too long.
Vampires vs. The Bronx is a entertaining and promising feature debut from Osmany Rodriguez that hints bigger and better projects down the line. While not every joke lands and certain sequences and characters lack a certain amount of polish, this is a fun well paced horror comedy with a nice satiric bite(no pun intended).