Director(s) – Michael Hegg and Joe Sherlock (Odd Noggins, Odder Noggins)
Starring – Dee Alsman (Underbelly, Twisted Fates), Emily Andrews (Hairspray, The Devil’s Trail), and Erin Arbogast (Vicious Circle, The Popcorn of Doom)
Release Date – 2004
Rating – 3.5/5
Last month I started working through a good portion of Skullface Astronaut’s filmography. This started from a post I made at the end of September when I asked for indie films to watch and review during my October horror binge. Director Joe Sherlock was kind enough to send me over links to several of his movies so I decided to have a few mini-marathons every couple of days. This time around I decided to start 2004 horror comedy Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires. Like always, I want to thank Joe and Skullface Astronaut for sending these over.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a backwoods family who has won a contest to have an interior designer remodel one of their rooms. While he is getting acclimated to his new surroundings, a female vampire and her servant has relocated to their neck of the woods and plans on turning the yokels into her bloodsucking servants. **Spoiler Alert**
Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires is probably one of the most amateurish films in the Skullface Astronaut catalogue but it’s probably one of my favorites. I was in high school in the early 2000s and was obsessed with indie and no budget horror flicks. I was an active member of the UHM message boards and founds so many of my favorite films through them. I could totally see myself loving this film if I would have watched it when it was originally released. It’s the perfect amount of goofy and I’m a sucker for a vampire flick.
The acting in this one is extremely fun but it’s obvious that this was the first film for a lot of the cast. I applaud their dedication but the inexperience does make a few of the scenes feel a little awkward. The story for this one is simple and straight forward but at times it didn’t feel like a horror flick. With that being said, I loved the way the film was set up. While the horror does take the back seat, the characters and their personalities steal the show. I would have loved a bigger role for the vampires in the film but it works without it.
Finally, the film doesn’t really have any deaths or effects for the viewer to enjoy. It’s a no budget film and the crew did the best with what they had. Sadly, memorable deaths were not part of the cards. Overall, Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires is one of the few hixploitation horror films that I’ve been lucky enough to review. It’s a subgenre that I wish more filmmakers would approach because you can get project like this. The film is funny and the characters are very memorable. The vampires do get the short end of the stick but it still works. Check it out.
