The Transfiguration

Genre: Drama / Horror- Release date: 21 April 2017 Cert: 15 A young boy Milo (Eric Ruffin) lives on a housing complex in NY, where he is bullied by his peers. His taste for blood and love of horror movies presents a lost soul. What is unclear is how, if at all he became a vampire. Milo finds the equally lost Sophie (Chloe Levine) and they form a relationship which is threatened when she discovers his dark secret. Sophie's character gives the lonely Milo someone to talk between plotting his next kill. There is the mention of an absent mother, subtlety hinting this may be the root of his "abnormality" and question if he is a vampire not just a deeply troubled boy who needs help. Director Michael O'Shea leaves you to make up your own mind. Ruffin's acting convinces us that there is some substance to this story. Stars Eric Ruffin and Chloe Levine. Director: Michael O'Shea. Written by Editor alt-Africa.com @alt_africa

although this is categorised as horror on IMDb and Netflix, i would argue that this film debut by writer/director Michael O'Shea is really more of a psychological thriller. it's a very slow-paced, but highly compelling, philosophical character study

Eric Ruffin gives a great performance as the leading character, who appears to be autistic: he has a special interest in vampires, aversion to eye contact, reduced affect display, selective mutism and a seemingly limited understanding of social norms, though there's clearly something else at play, driving the strange compulsions which are one of the primary focuses and key mysteries of the film

Larry Fessenden, actor and director of Habit (one of my favourite vampire movies), makes a cameo appearance. the script and dialogue are well-written and inspire analysis and meditation. i enjoyed this quite a bit and look forward to seeing what else O'Shea comes up with in or has in store for the future

Milo (Eric Ruffin) is a quiet black teen obsessed with vampires in the New York City hood. He gets bullied by the local kids. He is haunted by the death of his mother and lives with his older brother. He is befriended by Sophie (Chloe Levine) who lives with her abusive grandfather. One day, Milo is approached by a young white couple from out-of-town looking for drugs.

At about the point of the white boy, I was expecting the big turn. Certainly, I wasn't sure it would go down that road. When that happened to the white boy in the basement, I was hoping that road be forgotten and the story would go down the more logical road. The police, the gang, and the brother could combine to be a harrowing realistic tale. Nevertheless, this is very solid indie with an interesting twist. Chloe Levine could be a future star. Milo is a little too quiet to truly know.

Watch Martin (1977). It's a far superior movie and it's pretty obvious The Transfiguration borrowed very heavily from it. The transfiguration is very very slow and I'm someone who doesn't mind a slow burn, but it needs to burn. Worth watching, but definitely see Martin before this.

This intriguing little film tries to merge various genres into one. What we have is the story of a young black boy living in a one parent household (actually it's his big brother as his guardian) who fantasises to help get him through the days in an otherwise hard life on a violent gang led estate. The dark side is that the boy has an obsession about vampires, which leads him to copy his 'heroes'.

The film references lots of vampire movies, and you can see the labels of the videos he watches to get him up to speed on the genre. However, as he begins to kill to ape his heroes, it is uncomfortable. His other escape turns out to be a lovely girl who moves into his building, and he is finding a life beyond his fantasies, but it begins to have an impact on that relationship.

This is a low budget but intriguing movie. The odd critic has tried to say it's a copy of Let The Right One In, but it's not. It's a different take on the idea and merges other ideas in.

It's thoughtful, emotional and very well acted by the young crew. It stood out, but sadly has gained little attention. Disappointed to see the reaction to it by some, but it's a nice simple gem. Give it a go. It's worth it.