Vampire Dad

A throwback to monster comedies. Silly, satire for all.

I think 'What We Do in the Shadows' is a much funnier series.

This one is hard. On the one hand, Vampire Dad genuinely made me laugh more than most movies ever do. It was just so quaint and cute and silly and looked gorgeous.

BUT, on the other, it was more like a demo, unfinished with so many ideas that were just left hanging or unexplored. It's so frustrating because its dripping in potential.

Basically, the story is the dad is turned into a vampire so he can offer counselling to the creatures of the night, BUT that's the weakest part of the movie (as the jokes don't land and it's all just a bit weird).

All the actors - all the elements are there. I could watch Sarah Palmer read from the telephone directory, but none of it lands (her role is just unnecessary, she's like Endora from Bewitched, but without a proper character or any meaningful dialogue).

So it was hard to judge. It's cute and it's funny, but it's utterly lacking in any substance. It's an hour and 20 and I felt it was dragging after an hour.

It made me laugh way more than What We Do in the Shadows, but it needed a tighter script and more laughs from the main points, to really stand out. The animated series You're Not a Monster did this so much better.

So, with great regret, for a vampire movie, Vampire Dad has no bite, but the potential is awesome. Let's see a TV series.

So check this out if you like your vampires, but there's not enough here to really satisfy.

Vampire Dad is not a great movie. The script is not tight. The movie feels like the writer ran out of ideas and needed to pad it out to get it to about 76 minutes. This sounds pretty negative, BUT I will also say this movie made me laugh HARD many times, usually due to Barak Hardley's performance as Bob. So although I cannot say this is a great movie, it's hilarious at times.

The performances of the leads are very strong--Emily O'Brien and Jackson Hurst are fantastic and have wonderful chemistry with each other. The set designer did a great job--I particularly noticed the use of vibrant colors to suggest the era. There's a kickass surf rock soundtrack by Voodoo Surfers.

I did not love the use of animated segments--I wondered if perhaps those were added because it was easier than building sets or finding locations for those scenes.

I agree that the movie never quite does what it needs to do to capitalize on its premise. What it does have in spades is charm. I do hope they'll do something more with this cast.

This is not a movie anyone needs to see, but I had a good time and you could do a whole lot worse.

1-3: Don't waste your time 4-6: Decent 7-9: Good/Great 10: Outstanding.

I must admit that I had expected more comedy from this 2020 movie. Writers Frankie Ingrassia and Kathryn M. Moseley didn't really fully manage to produce a storyline that felt wholeheartedly or properly enjoyable.

Sure, the movie was watchable once, but this is hardly a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. Simply because the storyline just didn't have sufficient contents to support a second viewing.

The acting in the movie was adequate, taking into consideration the limitation of the storyline and script. And the fact that director Frankie Ingrassia didn't really manage to make something unique or outstanding here, just didn't help to make it a memorable movie.

The concept of the movie might have seemed interesting on paper, but it translated poorly to the screen.

It just felt too scripted and forced, and the movie was just way too predictable.

My rating for "Vampire Dad" is a generous four out of ten stars.