Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020)

I do like the genre, and lately there have been some fun horror comedies. Coincidentally, I also saw Attack the Block this week, which is referenced occasionally in this film. But Osmany Rodriguez still has a lot to learn if he wants to equal that film. Nevertheless, the film has a lot of potential, but it constantly lacks the necessary fun. The characters are also not engaging in any way, which is unfortunately due to really bad actors and a lack of the necessary dialogue. Apart from a few characters, the rest is really negligible. That a vampire film can be fun is certainly true. But unfortunately, there wasn't much to laugh about here.

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Children's horror.

Ultimately, this genre holds its own just fine, perhaps not among hardcore horror fans, but certainly as a genre itself. For example, I found Goosebumps to be a fine film within the children's horror genre. Vampires vs. The Bronx is a bit harder than Goosebumps but still has a childlike tone.

The concept itself isn't that exciting. There's no point in putting it in the spoiler tags anymore because the title already indicates it: vampires invade The Bronx and take over pretty much everything. There isn't much mystery surrounding it, as it is revealed early on that they are actually there.

The children's acting is fairly mediocre, but ultimately still watchable. I don't think they will become the biggest stars. The adults' performances are mixed. Gadon, for example, was very poor, but Whigham does quite okay. The supporting roles are all decent; nothing special, but not terrible either.

The horror is reasonably intense for the younger viewers among us, but as the rating system suggests, for anyone over about 12, this will be anything but thrilling. I would be cautious with 9-year-olds. It is a sort of slasher for beginners, only one that isn't particularly well executed.

Everything is depicted in a rather dull way. The film needs a certain freshness, but mostly feels old-fashioned and tedious. The camerawork is very dull, and nothing special has been done in terms of visual quality. The editing isn't particularly interesting either, and the cinematography is very tame and simplistic. Not much effort seems to have been put into it, which is a shame because it could have been fun.

The finale, in particular, is ultimately a letdown. Otherwise, it is still reasonably entertaining and is quite short, but in terms of substance, it has little to no substance. It could all have been a lot fresher, faster, and more impressive. As it is, the result is mainly too tough and easy to watch.

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Decent horror for budding teenagers in which the Murnau brothers—with an illustration of Vlad Dracula as their company logo—buy up buildings in The Bronx in a dubious manner. Miguel Martinez [Jaden Michael] discovers by chance that the Murnau family consists of vampires and tries to prevent them from claiming the local bodega for themselves as well. But only his friends Bobby [Gerald Jones III] and Luis [Gregory Diaz IV] believe him. And so they turn to the movie Blade to see how they can take out the vampires. A fairly predictable horror comedy stays afloat thanks to the endearing, enthusiastic performances of the youthful lead actors. And yes, "Method Man" plays the role of a priest!

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