The Vampire Next Door (2024)

Not a TERRIFIC film, but it got into my head in some ways.

First of all, one excellent reason to watch this is that two of the actresses are QUITE attractive, IMHO. One had a Megan Fox-y kind of appearance, but with a sexier voice. The other kept reminding me... mostly of Imogen Poots, (which I mean to be a compliment, I always thought she was beautiful), but she also reminded me a little at times of Amanda Detmer, and maybe Natasha Lyonne, always in a good way.

Also, most of the main characters are played by people who can really act. You can tell that this is a pretty low budget movie, so I was surprised at how capable most of them were.

Anyway, the basic idea is that a 20 year old guy, Cameron, who still lives at home with his parents, and who works in an ice cream shop, meets a new girl/woman his age, in the neighborhood. The guy is juuuuust a bit (totally) aimless and unfocused. He made me think of the Josh Hamilton character in Blowin' Smoke, AKA Freak Talks About Sex. Cameron is already interested in another girl in his neighborhood, and a girl he works with at the ice cream shop is throwing herself at him too. This is all a little implausible to me, because he is just kind of a slacker and not really THAT attractive, and two of the girls he gets mixed up with could be models.

One of the girls turns out to be a vampire, and she wants him to chauffeur her around as she kills OTHER vampires. A buddy of his has a crush on one of the other girls, and he agrees to help the buddy pursue that girl, mostly because he thinks the girl will see what a loser the buddy is and come running to HIM instead.

Soooooo that's the first three quarters of the movie.

OK, I shouldn't spoil the ending, just in case anyone actually watches this. Suffice it to say, complications crop up, and Cameron actually ends up growing up a bit.

The rules for vampires are pretty dodgy in this movie. They can walk around in daylight, and they aren't really soulless hell-things. They are much more like Twilight vamps, or maybe a little like some of the Interview with the Vampire vamps. The whole movie has kind of a girl power vibe, if you think about it. It's mostly power struggles between girls. Cameron isn't really much of a protagonist, exactly. He is just a character who kind of gets caught up in the worlds of vampires and girls, and has a few adventures.

Again, this isn't really THAT great of a movie, but the acting is solid enough. I felt like they did a decent job with what they had to work with. Also, this is embarrassing to say, but as someone who always thought Imogen Poots was beautiful, the actress who resembles her is kind of a "find" for me. Search Google Images for Bella Chadwick. That's her. I hope she does more horror or sci-fi movies in the future.

Alllllllll righty then. That's all, folks.