(022021)
Vampires vs the Bronx is an unexpectedly clever and socially conscious horror
comedy. The big twist here that the film presents vampirism is as a metaphor for
gentrification. The gentrifiers are a real estate company called Murnae.
The film was directed by comparatively new film maker, Oz Rodriquez, and it was
produced by the SNL kingpin, Lorne Michaels, but it works better than the vast
majority of SNL spin offs he produced. Rodriquez and Michaels started working
together because Rodriquez had been directing digital shorts (which have
sometimes been highlights of the show) for SNL since 2013.
The most prominent cast members (who occupy strong supporting roles) include R &
B singer, Coco Jones, and former Wu Tang Clan member, Method Man, who plays a
concerned priest who tries to set the young protagonists on the right path. In
addition, Chris Redd may be a familiar face because he is a current Saturday
Night Live member, and there is even a cameo by Zoe Saldana (Guardians
of the Galaxy
and
Star Trek), who shares the director’s Dominican heritage. Canadian
actress, Sarah Goden (of Mutant X) gets a juicy role as a vampiric version of a
“Karen.”
The film has many Do the Right Thing like scenes in which we see effective
little snippets of street life. Although they are fictional, they are so
intimate and convincing they seem like they are real encounters filmed with
people unaware they are being filmed for a doc. One of the hints that change is
coming to the neighborhood is that the owner of a struggling bodega is stocking
and selling more items like humus that appeal to yuppies.
The film features three very different urban youth characters who are basically
decent, but bad luck and being at the wrong places at the wrong times often get
them in trouble. Miquel Martinez (Jaden Michael) is basically the regular guy
character that everybody can identify with. His two best buddies are the two
polar opposites, Louis Acosta (Gregory Diaz IV) who is a nerdy and bookish
Puerto Rican kid who is into pop culture, and the high school dropout, Bobby
Carter (Gerald W. Jones III) is the most streetwise of the three, and he is in
danger of getting recruited into a gang.
The straight arrow Miquel tries to organize and promote a block party to raise
money to help his favorite local bodega owner raise money to keep up with the
escalating rent. His friends reluctantly help him and the three begin to notice
odd things going on in the neighborhood. Denizens keep disappearing but the
local population believes that they are just moving to better places or getting
priced out. But there are sinister forces at work.
Miquel witnesses a blood sucker commit murder, and eventually proves the vamps
exist to their friends, but the adult world thinks the kids just have overactive
imaginations (just like in Fright Night). When the kids try to tell a parent she
says, “He’s not a vampire, but of course he’s a really bad man, he is in real
estate.” Gregory Diaz IV tries to prepare for fighting or defending himself from
the vamps by absorbing information from the Blade movies (as many pop culture
aficionado kids would do in the situation.)
The 12-year-old in each us will probably be thrilled when whole town teams up
against the vamps in a glorious final showdown that includes some but not too
much violence (this is as entertaining and scary as a PG 13 horror film can be).
But the film always relies more on good story ideas than flashy special effects.
Vampires vs. The Bronze plays like a great updated version of Attack the Block
(which was also was about poverty-stricken minority people teaming up to repel
invaders to their community) with some elements of Do the Right Thing and Fright
Night thrown in. Despite the familiarity of some of these elements both the
story and cast seem unexpectedly fresh. Also, the film arguably captures the
male childhood experience almost as well as Stand By Me or Goonies. With this
title, this film is much better than it should have been or had to be.
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Directed & Written by:
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Oz Rodriquez |
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Starring:
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Jaden Michael, Gerard W, Jones III, Sarah
Gadon |
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Rating:
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PG13 for violence, language, and some suggestive
elements |
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VAMPIRES VS THE BRONX
© 2021 Broadway Video
Review © 2021 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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