Theresa & Allison

A low budget production reminiscent of early Giallo or Fantastique, both in terms of its theme and the exuding naivete, and made contemporary through utilisation of the fact that, in the meantime, the boundaries were pushed much higher. There is some evident enthusiasm which tries to compensate for the lack of skill and the low budget, but that was insufficient to make the viewing any much more enjoyable. Mostly female cast performance ranged from competent (lead and support) to not so (bits and extras), with exception of the male principal, who pocketed this role on some other merit. Congruent with the theme, there was quite a bit of blood and gore, but this never feels overwhelming for the average connoisseur of the genre. The same goes for the sex and nudity, which were measured and in the function of the story. So, in conclusion, this 3/10-star genre movie caters to a specific viewer for whom it might be of some interest, while the others would find it a waste of time...unless you are a pubescent boy (or a girl?). Oh, yes, and this blatant upvoting fools no one. No, it's not a 10-star movie by any stretch of the imagination.

Just couldn't get into this. Interesting premise and yet another new take on the vampire genre (see Byzantium which is far superior albeit on a much bigger budget) but ultimately badly acted by supporting cast (the characters of Paisley, Tony and the Russian mother were at best wooden). Some interesting ideas though around government complicity, family and survival. Ultimately undone by the supporting cast.

The opening of this was quite amazing. Some great imagery, great acting choices, interesting tone. Thought it was going to become a vampire allegory ala The Addiction, but with a more modern slant. A tribute to what you can do on a micro budget.

Then upon the introduction of the second titular character every scene becomes monologues of characters talking about far more interesting things than what they had the budget to film and how those things informed who they are, breaking a primary rule of filmmaking, show don't tell. We don't need to know what a character will do if we never see them act and their actions have nothing to do with the movie. That's just a writer sacrificing story and characters for the sake of world building.

Which is dumb, because the world they built was rife with cliche after cliche. The smaller more interesting story of Theresa seemed on the verge of saying something original about the modern world with its juxtaposition of horror imagery, graphic nudity, and disassociated longing for something else.

Ariella Hope is good though. In the first half she is in fact quite excellent. You feel her desire, her pain. You care even though she's just been introduced. She conveys empathy as naturally as Jake Gyllenhaal. Then later she tries her hardest to make it seem like every new character that comes in and talks for ten minutes is providing something relevant to her journey, even if they don't. Not even remotely. You believe her conflict even though it all just centers around someone she met that day. She has a lot of talent and I really wish they had used that ability to tell the story I thought they were going for: vampirism as a metaphor for mistaking sex as intimacy, the dangers of projection, confusing longing for a connection.

Instead, they talked for an hour and a half about a world they never showed us for a bunch of sequels they aren't likely to make, starring all the characters I didn't care about.

Obviously low budget, dreadful acting, poor dialogue. Trust the reviews of 4/10 and less. This is garbage at best, almost 2 hours of my life, I won't get back. Do not watch, find something better to do.

You know it's going to be terrible as the insipid first act enfolds.

I don't know where all the high reviews have come from. Oh, wait, maybe I'm not woke enough to appreciate another woeful remake.

Not even worth watching.

Avoid