So Vam

Kurt is a young outcast in a conservative town, who dreams of moving to the big city to become a famous drag queen, but his plans are derailed when he is turned by a predatory old vampire. Escaping into the night, Kurt becomes part of a gang of rebellious young bloodsuckers who feed on bigots and abusers. But the vampire who made Kurt is still out there. Until he faces that monster, he will never be free.

So Vam opens with a trigger warning:

“The following film contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing, including depictions of bullying, scenes of homophobic violence, and the use of queerphobic slurs. Content also includes a brief reference to sexual assault, racial violence, and instances of strong language and violence.“

So, just fyi on that.

Kurt lives in a small Australian city. Young and gay, he is a persecuted outsider, and is often bullied by the local assholes for daring to live his truth. Dreaming of someday becoming a drag queen, Kurt's search for a supportive community leads him straight into fangs of an old predatory bloodsucker.

Killed by this cruel vampire, drained of his blood, at the last moment, Kurt is rescued from his clutches. When he awakens, he discovers that he's been brought back to life by a gang of rebellious vampires, and is now a vampire himself. Having found a new family, as well as a new found confidence, each night, Kurt joins with the others as they hunt and feed upon the bigots and assholes in the city, and during the day, he returns to his family and his life as a high schooler.

But Kurt's killer is still out there, and they're creating a small army of their own, threatening all that Kurt loves with their ugly, rotten hate. With no other choice, if he wants to finally become who he has always dreamed of being, he must face this monster, and destroy him.

So Vam is a film by 21 year old Alice Maio MacKay, an Australian, low-budget, trans filmmaker, whose multiple films are usually crowdfunded and are all very heavily influenced by the works of filmmakers like Gregg Araki and John Waters.

Above all else, this film is intended to be a bloody and violent revenge fantasy against White fascist Christian Nationalist, all told from a queer and trans point of view. At its core, the film is all about found families, but it's also a (metaphorically) honest depiction of life as a constant target of the petty, oppressive, and vindictive, little asshole bigots of the world. The film is unflinching in its extremely accurate depiction of who the real bad guys are, just as it is clearly driven by some of the fillmaker's own bitter experiences.

If this idea bothers you in any way, then you should probably just fuck off now.

But also...

While this is an Australian film, obviously, it also feels kind of Canadian, like the unpicked-up pilot episode for a supernatural spinoff of Degrassi Jr. High. This is because it's generally cheesey and melodramatic, but it's mostly because So Vam is clearly a low budget amateur film, like... pocket change low budget.

So Vam is so low budget, it's often difficult to see much else. It's basically a litany of issues, it's clunky, it's awkward, there's too much too-shaky camera work. The sound is so bad at times, the dialogue sounds like it was recorded in a vent, and the ADR is even worse. At times, it is so poorly done, I'd wonder if the film was dubbed English. And the reason there's so much ADR is clearly the result of having a cast that is obviously gleaned from amateur locals. Even rerecorded, most of the actors sound like they're either reciting a list, or like they're in a hurry to finish the scene, because the Youth Center basement room they're filming in is booked after 5.

And like all really low budget films, the lighting is incredibly terrible. There's a couple of drag performances in the film that would've been great to see, but they were obscured by shadows, or by the audience that is supposed to be watching the performance and is standing in front of the camera. It was so bad, I wondered if it had maybe been done deliberatly, like they were trying to emulate the experience of watching a show in a packed club or something? To be faire, I'm pretty sure the audience was there to obscure the stage's construction, but judging by the rest of the film, I don't think there was any additional meta-artistic reasons, and that it was only a practical acknolwedgement of the film's low budget reality. Either way, it didn't work out very well.

That's the bottom line... So Vam is a mess, the absolute definition of amateur.

Worst of all, while the film itself is definitely campy... or vampy even, if you will, the filmmaking is not. There's no "fuck it" attitude to it, no verve to the shots, no style to gloss over the cheap sets, certainly no sense of wild daring that you see in the films of Araki or Waters. So Vam is mostly... just very basic. Like I said, it feels like a spin-off about the vampires of Degrassi Jr. High. And sure, while a lot of this is clearly due to budgetary restraints, and there are some interesting ideas here, the fact is, the film simply doesn't make enough of what it has.

One one hand, it's impressive for someone so young and inexperienced to have made this film. They've made several in a very short time, in fact, and that kind of passion is impressive. On the other hand, it's clear this film was made by someone very young and inexperienced, and that they're probably rushing all their finished projects to completion too quickly, and, at least for the moment, all they really have to offer here is passion.

That's So Vam in a nutshell.

A lot of this can be excused as a valiant effort. Like I said, the filmmaker is young and inexperienced, but they have some talent, and very clearly have passion and drive and vision. And also, like I said, this is clearly a low budget film, and there's only so much you can do with limited funds, especially when utilizing a lot of local actors... or at least, a lot of friends. But again there’s a lot of rough talent and a lot of passion here, so I guess what I’m really saying is that, it is what it is. You either roll with the reality of low budget films, or you don’t. Yes, the effects are laughable, but that’s half the fun. And yes, the vampires are overly dramatic Hot Topic kids, complete with drama-queen Gothy swagger. And yes, the whole film is really just an extended play on that one scene in The Craft, as our outcast heroes all stride in cool slow motion through a high school hallway, except, y’know, from the Dollar Store in Canada (actually Australia, which is clear from the way they all say “no”)

But this is all to be expected. So Vam is a crappy little low budget film that is still pretty fun for what it is, and what it is, is obvious right from the start. It's obvious just by watching the trailer, honestly. So, yeah, it seems kind of silly to point that out. Kind of like going to Wendy's and then complaining that the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger off the Dollar Menu isn't very good.

It costs a dollar, you dummy!

The one true sour note is when the film goes out of its way to excuse Bram Stroker’s racism simply because he was queer, which is not only really shitty, it's out-of-left-field delivery just plopped down in the middle of a scene makes it feel like a Tumblr rant the filmmakers have been holding on to for far too long. That was bullshit, and like a shoe left out in the middle of the room for you to stumble over unexpectedly, it's an annoying little reminder that sometimes... often times... too many times... white comes first, know what I mean?

Anyway, overall, I wouldn’t give So Vam a thumbs up, but I wouldn’t give it a thumbs down either. It’s not great, sure. It's not that good either, honestly. But it's also not completely terrible. There's potential here. I'll be watching for more from Alice Maio MacKay. I'm interested to see what she makes with a little more time and experience under her belt.