A Queer Australian Vampire Film Reflecting On Bullying and Belonging

Vampire movies have been a classic in the entertainment world ever since their conception. 1922’s Nosferatu is the oldest surviving adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and it has been plagued with controversy ever since it came out in theaters. Hollywood’s earliest vampires were not even vampires as the world knows them today, as seen in films like Twilight. A movie like The Vampire, which was released in 1913, depicted vampires as temptresses, femme fatales with a bone to grind against men. However, the original vampire movie, Nosferatu, was ordered to be destroyed by Stoker’s estate, and that was done to comply legally with the rights. Its legacy was not forgotten, and movies like 2022’s So Vam take inspiration from the classics to reinvent a story rehashed before into something that represents an entire generation.

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There is something special to know about So Vam immediately though: the filmmaker, Alice Maio Mackay, is a trans girl and only seventeen years old. Mackay was sixteen when the movie was being filmed, which makes it even more impressive for their resume. So Vam was co-written with Benjamin Pahl Robinson (Afterimages), and Mackay produced it with a budget of roughly $12,000. Despite the movie being a small movie out of Australia, it has been making its way through the film festival circuits and has established itself—and its director—as a film to watch out for because of its themes, representation, and storyline.

One notable cast member is RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Ben De La Crème, who has been establishing a pretty solid acting career. Key members who portray the main characters are Xai, Grace Hyland, and Emma Bleby, among others. Set in contemporary Australia within a conservative town, largely within the borders of clubs, schools, and a bowling alley within the community, there is a lot of ground to cover with So Vam. As Mackay said previously in an interview, “I wanted to include all the things I’d love to see in a film myself: Vampires, drag, trans leads, and all that with a camp sensibility.”

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A Bullied Teenager is Turned into a Vampire

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“Who needs real?” the protagonist, Kurt, listens to a voiceover in the opening scenes of So Vam. “Not me…I listen to the song of [a] dream.” A high school student in Australia, Kurt does not have what is considered an idyllic life—So Vam is not a drama about a student who has it all. Kurt is gay, bullied at school mercilessly, and has a lackluster home life. The inspirational quote at the beginning seems out of place initially, as it cuts immediately to them being bullied for being gay by their classmates, shouting slurs, and tossing his bicycle to the side as he tries to pass by. As it turns out, in this cursed situation they have found themself in, Kurt has only one friend at school: Katie.

Despite living in a conservative town, they somehow find some form of hope inside themself to move away to a big city and live out their dreams. Becoming a drag queen is one of their biggest dreams, but it would be impossible to do so where they are now. Kurt will not give up despite the circumstances, continuing to survive despite the constant abuse, but it all comes crashing down when an older vampire kidnaps them. After fleeing from a bowling alley and fighting with Katie, they are compelled by a stranger in a black cowboy hat to come into a car and get an experience they have never had before, leading to an even stranger series of events.

Suddenly the horror movies they used to watch with Kate come increasingly true as they are turned by another vampire just before he dies for real. As it turns out, the vampire who rescued Kurt, quickly identified as April, belongs to a group of vampires that are not the conventional kind one would find in a horror movie. They choose to exclusively find their food sources from abusers and what they see as the world’s vermin, creating a dichotomy that distinguishes between what may be good and what is bad. With the power dynamics of bullying previously introduced at the movie’s beginning, clear moral messages and themes about belonging, found families, and what it takes to find one’s true self.

Kurt then undergoes a different kind of transformation after their turning into a vampire. While they previously could not find a sense of belonging in the community he lived in, the one they discover with the vampires becomes something more than he could have ever imagined. For once in their life, they feel like they belong in space. This is what gives them the confidence to continue coming to school and overcome the obstacles that once plagued them. However, at the same time, the vampire that tried to kidnap him originally is on the loose and might have a taste for revenge. He has not forgotten that Kurt was saved by an opposing vampire gang, so this will not be the last of him seen on the screen.

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A Promising Take on a Supernatural Coming-of-Age

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So Vam finds itself balancing between horror and drama but leans more towards the dramatic elements to get its point across. The title card declares this movie as a queer film, and it fulfills that promise. Its protagonist, Kurt, finds themselves being relentlessly bullied because of their sexuality, but when he becomes something otherworldly and supernatural, the world as they knew it before completely changes. Their only other friend at school, Katie, notices the difference in Kurt as she continues to interact with them, but they are still struggling to adapt to the changes. Throw in an evil antagonist into the equation and that makes this spiritual journey a lot harder than it was supposed to be from the beginning. With loved ones now being kidnapped, the antagonist on the prowl, and the high school bullies still existing in the spaces where Kurt ran into them, there is a lot to think about throughout this movie.

Perhaps some of the film’s shortcomings, including the fact that it most likely did not have the biggest budget, may come across as distracting to some viewers. Sound, too, is inconsistent and muddles the storyline in pivotal scenes. The acting and dialogue are stiff in certain moments, leading to some pretty awkward scenes lagging in terms of pacing. On the opposite end of this argument, So Vam does give a platform for upcoming queer and trans people to be cast, allowing a layer of authenticity to appear. Hollywood and other national film industries have had a problem with casting LGBTQ+ actors in the roles that would properly represent them, so it is refreshing to find a movie that does casting like this. However, it is worth mentioning that the movie could have needed a stronger cast to properly execute what it was trying to achieve.

Moments felt rushed at times and could have benefited from an extra ten to fifteen minutes of run time, expanding on certain plot points and characters to reach deeper into the world that the movie has created. Very rarely does Australian cinema come to the mainstream consciousness globally, and So Vam could have benefited from exploring the crevices not tapped into in the larger movie world. It also would have benefited the film’s storyline to expand a little more on the character’s backstories instead of dropping convenient facts, like Katie is Kurt’s only friend, or April runs a gang of vampires that only feeds on bigots and abusers. Expanding on why these characters act the way they do and make certain decisions would have done a massive favor and increased the stakes. Otherwise, in its current form, it feels a bit fragmented as it progresses through the storyline and is only tied together through Kurt’s journey.

By the end, So Vam establishes itself as a valiant effort by a debut filmmaker that is only seventeen. It has a dreamlike quality incorporated throughout, concocting a fairytale ambiance to scenes. There are some beautiful shots utilizing color and bright lights, making this movie feel like it embodies the generation it represents. There is not anything novel about the concepts that So Vam brings to the table. Many archetypes have been seen before in film, television, and literature. A child, previously bullied, now searches for his identity and is given a redemption arc. But in seventy-three minutes, So Vam tries to subvert expectations on the genre by adding elements that are more indicative of the times the filmmaker lives in. It is not revolutionary, but it does its job within the constraints it was placed under.

So Vam will release on Shudder on August 25, 2022.

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