The Last Vampire on Earth

I'm all for amateur film making, and I do my best to appreciate the efforts. And my expectations were, I think, realistic. However, this looks too much like the first or second reading of not the final edit of the script while the camera crew has not yet figured where to put the lights and the sound crew is still struggling with microphones.

The basic premise of a moody teenageish drama without attempting gore effects or stunts is not a bad starting point for a movie where the makers are aware of their limitations, but when the filming material cost is about nothing, then just doing the basic checks: does this look ok, and what could I improve, and does this sound ok, and what could I improve, would have been close to a salvation for this. Just taking a bit more time to rehearse, plan, and review, this cast and crew would have had a nice amateur film in their hands.

Watch Redlettermedia's review and then watch the movie in all it's glory.

Chad, Without chad, we are nothing. God bless Chad.

This film is hands down one of the best adaptations of a novel for the big screen ever made, right there with The Lord of the Rings and Fifty shades of Grey. Versace proves to be one of the greatest cinematographers of our generation with his unique visual style, camera movements, framing and photography. The lead actors are extremely charismatic and fun to see. The script does a good job in creating good dialogues and set pieces and being faithful to the source material. This is a must see film.

RELEASED IN 2010 and directed by Vitaliy Versace, "The Last Vampire on Earth" chronicles events in northeast Ohio when a nice religious girl (McKenzie Grimmet) meets a mysterious-but-nice guy (Michael Bole) at college and falls in love. Problems arise when she and her family discover that he's a 2000 year-old vampire (!). Even worse, she's diagnosed with a fatal disease.

This is an extremely low-budget flick with wooden non-acting, stilted dialogue, bad lighting, questionable sound, basic camera angles and so forth. On top of this, the writer confuses traditional protestant doctrine & practices with that of the Jehovah's False Witnesses. For instance, there are references to "going to church" and the "pastor" when, in fact, JWs don't use this terminology. Their meeting facilities are called "Kingdom Halls" (which, to be fair, is referenced once in the movie) and their leaders are referred to as elders. The "Kingdom Hall" building depicted in the movie is a traditional church facility. Obvious flaws like this reflect bad (or non-existent) research.

The second thing you need to understand is that this is not a horror story. It's a youth drama or love story involving a winsome girl and a good vampire. If you can overlook the low-level of production and adapt to the movie's limitations, the story's generally engaging with a couple of boring parts.

The director was born in Russia and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. This was only his second movie, but he kept at his chosen craft and has gone on to bigger and better things in filmmaking. I love to see people make-do with what they got to create and improve as they persevere in faith. Do not despise humble beginnings.

THE FILM RUNS 90 minutes and was shot in Youngstown & Boardman, Ohio. WRITER: Mandie L Abraham wrote the screenplay based on her self-published novel.

GRADE: D