Little Bites

I recently watched Little Bites (2024) on Shudder. The story follows a woman who allows herself to be eaten by a monster to keep her daughter safe. Meanwhile, child protective services starts asking questions, her health rapidly declines, and the pressure of keeping the monster fed becomes overwhelming. At some point, she won't be able to juggle it all...

This film is written and directed by Spider One (Allegoria) and stars Krsy Fox (Terrifier 3), Barbara Crampton (From Beyond), Jon Sklaroff (Three Kings), and Elizabeth Phoenix Caro (The Christmas Chronicles).

This was a mysterious and unsettling horror film, with Jon Sklaroff delivering a standout performance as both a villain and a monstrous presence. The ghoul's design and voice work are particularly effective, adding a sinister atmosphere to every feeding scene. The bites and gore effects are well done, and the film delivers some strong jump scares. The mother-daughter dynamic is well-executed, making the emotional weight of the story feel real. The mother's slow transformation and descent are handled well, and the film builds toward an ending that is both satisfying and chilling.

In conclusion, Little Bites is a solid entry in the horror genre that's worth a watch. I'd rate it a 6/10.

I enjoyed the movie. The first two thirds were really good, I'd give it an 8. The slow building tension, the acting was spot on. I was actually impressed with Krsy Fox's performance. Heather Langenkamp's performance was my favourite, she has a limited role but she makes it so memorable. The pace of the slow boil was good in my opinion. It wasn't so slow that I lost interest and it didn't rush and lose the delicate tension. The last third I almost felt like maybe the original script was changed? It took me out of the movie a bit hence my rating coming down to a 7. It was not bad by any means, I still enjoyed it. I would have preferred an ending that kept in tone with the first 2/3. I actually think that Spider One created a solid movie though. I actually would love to see him explore other genres, I think he could create an interesting body of work.

Single mother shoos her kid away with grandma so she can deal with the bloodthirsty demon/vampire living in her downstairs storage room. Minor, independently-produced horror outing was something of a family affair: writer-director Spider One is also married to the lead, Krsy Fox, who doubled as the film's editor; both were producers on the film, along with executive producers Cher and her son, Chaz Bono, who has a supporting role. There's nothing at all wrong with the acting--which is quite solid--and the production doesn't feel slapdash; however, Spider One's script doesn't go in for a backstory, leaving itself open to unanswered questions and gaps of logic. This guy just wants to get to the finale, which has a comical twist--though, again, it doesn't make much sense. *1/2 from ****

This is a movie I first heard about last year from Dead Meat and I've been waiting for the movie to come out. Now that I've watched the movie and found out the director of this movie is Rob Zombie's younger brother, I am now questioning my initial existence for this movie.

Positives for Little Bites (2024): The movie has an interesting premise to begin with and that's good. I also thought the performances from Krsy Fox as Mindy Vogel, Jon Sklaroff as Agyar and Elizabeth Phoenix Caro as Alice Vogel were all decent. And finally, there are some solid gory effects in the movie.

Negatives for Little Bites (2024): Like I said before this review, director Spider One is the younger brother of Rob Zombie and he is about as subtle as his older bro. Now, I am not a big fan of Rob Zombie as a filmmaker, so finding out these details made me worried about this movie. The movie doesn't do anything with its premise. There are a number of conversations in this movie and they are dull. There are random cameos by James A. Janisse (Dead Meat), Heather Langenkamp and Barbra Crampton that go nowhere. And my final negatives is that the ending of this movie was very confusing.

Overall, Little Bites (2024) is a bad vampire movie and while this isn't as atrocious as any of Rob Zombie's movies, this wasn't a good introduction for his young bro.

Starts well enough, creepy and atmospheric. Immediately thrown into the premise which isn't a pretty on in its own right. Pretty horrific situation with choices that are moreso.

Then, well, it's sits idling a bit. Almost feels like a film made out of a short but there was promise. Kept me interested for a bit and just further continues down the hole that feels like filler, only to stumble into a disappointing "flat" finish. Overall, interesting. Chalked this one up as many"missed opportunities" as it was creepy and atmospheric and built enough tension, only to waste so much time spinning it's tires, it loses it's early-on head of steam.

4/10.