Blood & Donuts

It's not every day you see something original and clever done with the vampire genre, but this does it and then some. This is a unique, low-key, low-gore, charming little movie. Gordon Currie is very likable (and *real* easy on the eyes!) as Boya, the vampire who went into hibernation in 1969 and crawls out to face a grimy world of small-time mobsters, cheap donuts and a bitter ex-girlfriend who's waited 25 years for his return. Determined not to prey on people, Boya runs through dozens of rats and pigeons while forming shy friendships with a nervous cabbie and a smart, ironic donut waitress. The character has such fundamental sweetness and sincerity that he's impossible not to like, reticent and embarrassed about his vampirism but quickly bringing his undead powers to bear when his new friends need help, and quietly mourning the short lifespans of humankind (a theme often blared loudly in vampire films but gentle and subtle here). Much more about people, friendship and self-sacrifice than your average vampire film, and a nice change.

If you're a "B" movie fan, you can't help but like this film at least a little bit...

It starts out with news coverage of the lunar landing in 1969 for seemingly no other reason than to establish a reference in time and then shoots 25 years into the future. From here we meet a dim-witted cab driver and a donut shop waitress (whom the cab driver has a crush on).

Aside from the usual details, which nearly make up a plausible plot, they've also thrown in some interesting little details like when our hero get stabbed through the heart with a shovel handle only to remove it and announce, `Don't believe everything you read'.

From time to time this film does tend to move a bit slow, but in the classic `B' movie tradition the ending is not to be believed. really.

In 1994, in Toronto, the vampire Boya (Gordon Currie) awakens from his twenty-five years of sleep in a basement hit by a golf ball. He takes a cab to the local cemetery, retrieves his belongings from a grave and lodges in a low budget hotel nearby an all-night donut shop. Boya does not drink human blood anymore but rats and pigeons blood instead. While in the donut shop, Boya befriends and protects the taxi driver Earl (Justin Louis), who is having trouble with two criminals, and falls in love for the waitress Molly (Helene Clarkson). Meanwhile, his former passion of 1969, Rita (Fiona Reid), who misses her lost youth, is trying to locate him.

"Blood & Donuts" is a weird vampire movie, but also with a great potential of cult-movie. The unusual story is completely different from most of the films of vampire; actually it is a tale of loneliness, friendship, love and self-sacrifice. Goya is probably more human than any other character in spite of being a vampire. This is a typical very low budget movie that works, supported by magnificent story, screenplay, direction, performances, cinematography, special effects and music score. Actually the cinematography is top-notch and the music score is fantastic. I noted in IMDb that the excellent and unknown Helene Clarkson apparently interrupted her career in 1996. I regret only the terrible spelling mistakes in the subtitles in Portuguese of the Brazilian DVD released by Lider Distributor. Last but not the least, wait until the very last scene in the end of the credits. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sangue de Vampiro" ("Vampire's Blood")

I liked this movie, it's not your typical vampire horror movie where all the vampire does is go around feeding on the blood of strangers where this movie is about a vampire that looks as if he is trying to look like a sexy vampire but instead with his hair in almost dreads and homeless shabby clothes, dried up skin and ticking strange facial expressions I can't tell if he's supposed to be a human or beast. He looks as if he's spent too many days in the sun and has almost dried up and came back to life again. He meets up with this waitress at a donut shop that looks almost like him, a across between man and beast with scary eyebrows. The best scene is when he's taking a bath and decides to have sex with her in her sleep. He see's her on a regular basis and forgets about another lady that he also had an affair with decades ago. He finds a friend, a taxi driver who almost get's beat up and the man moves in with him and finds out that he's a vampire. The story continues where the vampire is afraid of dying and this is why he continues to life all these years. The vampire plays a sympathetic character as we feel emotionally sorry for him as he drags himself and others into his personal life. I would watch this movie but beware of the fact that it's not your typical blood, flesh and gut's vampire movie but if your with a date and you have popcorn, rent this one, you'll enjoy it.

Going in you know it's going to be strange, but is it going to be good strange, bad strange, or just strange strange? The reason "Blood and Donuts" is good strange is it actually has a very clever script. Introducing Boya, a vampire just awakening after being asleep since 1969, and his trials and tribulations dealing with women and gangsters. He not only has an attraction for the donut shop girl, but a love from his past is hot on his trail, looking for revenge. Throw in David Cronenberg as a neighborhood boss, and you have enough to keep the movie going. The characters are likable, with Gordon Currie a standout as the sensitive rat eating vampire. The film is dialog driven, and the photography is creative. I recommend "Blood and Donuts". - MERK