Rating: B-
Dir: Christopher Darton, Seb Godin
Star: Norma-Sue Hill, Osawa Muskwa, Ryan Lunn, Sayla de Goede
Originally titled The Damnation of Dracula, the link to Vlad Tepes got dropped during the three-year production process. What is left is a quirky indie horror, full of heart, which helps counter some occasionally obvious limited resources. Things unfold in the small Canadian town of Serpent River, where the largely indigenous population are so neglected, they don’t even have a casino. Shocking, I know. They do, however, have the usual native problems, by which I mean vanishing residents, and toxic waste dumping, accompanied by federal authorities who barely reach the bare minimum of pretending to give a damn. These issues may be related to the monsters that are roaming town, slaughtering the locals and draining their blood.
Lined up against them are a rag-tag bunch of heroes, led by teenager Sarah Blackice (Hill), and talk radio host Remi Gates (Lunn), who has a show about things that go bump in the night (you may recognize some of the voices that call in, belonging to cult favourites like Vernon Wells and Kevin VanHentenryck). With the town sealed off from the outside world, and absolutely no help coming, they and their allies have to figure out what’s going on, and more importantly, how it can be stopped. Which is harder than it sounds, because these creatures are remarkably hard to damage. It turns out to be part of a long-term plot to “cleanse the world”, with the villain being closer to home than is comfortable.
You will need to overlook monsters that don’t go much past the “rubber mask” level; although what do you want, on a $32,000 budget? It’s the characters here that let us do so. For instance, Remi originally intended to be a weatherman, and his knowledge of the paranormal largely comes, as he freely admits, from Googling stuff. Everyone here has similar foibles, which lift them off the screen. Particular praise goes to Sayla de Goede as local bad-ass Jack Martel, who captures one of the creatures and demonstrates their tenacity… with a chainsaw. She deserves a feature all her own. The approach to gore is similarly energetic, the first entrails appearing during the opening credits – though, again, we’re taking more enthusiasm than art.
While there is some element of social commentary, it’s done with a lighter touch than, say, Gift of Fear, which whacked you over the head with its indigenous issues. Here, we have something that puts the horse before the cart, where it should be. This delivers an entertaining monster movie first, with only occasionally clunky dialogue that feels more like a lecture. The rest of the time, Sarah and the rest of the cast are simply people, trying to cope with a bloody and incredible situation. They are informed by their DNA and heritage, rather than being defined by them. The mix of Western and native folklore – there’s a wendigo subplot – feels like one we don’t see a lot and, allowing for the small budget, this was enjoyably above its weight class.