Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend

As a years-long fan of Philosophy Tube I of course had to check this out. Basically it is a dinner conversation between Dracula's current girlfriend and one of his exes. Vampirism has long been a metaphor for sexuality and predatory behavior and here it also represents abuse so we see how one might rationalize it during it and only properly recognize it when confronted by someone who already got out. This explores the long-term effects of toxic relationships. It's very rich. There's also some great stuff showing empathy for service workers making fun of fancy restaurants and LA. It gets into some of the pressures felt by young women.

It reminded me somewhat of what little I've seen of Fleabag albeit with dialogue in place of asides. It's incredibly well shot and edited and shows how much you can do with what appears at first to be as simple setup. There are some lgbtq+ themes aided by the the director who also handles other things including visual effects and cinematography being a member of the community and both lead actors being trans individuals. There is a consistent tension on account of the situation and all it represents in more ways than one which is sometimes mined for fear and anxiety and other times comedy. It's not constantly trying to be funny but it succeeds when it is and the several hilarious moments had me laughing uproariously. 8/10.

The metaphor is a bit in your face but then again the Vampire metaphors have always been in your face for like a century now and still have never gotten old. So there is always something relatable.

The cinematography is quite theatrical and can be a bit monotonous if you are not used to that much, but the characters are fun and the acting is really good. I feel there might be missing a point of catharsis at the end but then again your rarely get that in real life on the matters the movie is dealing with, so It strikes as more relatable as such. Lovely short movie in general, an enjoyable watch that does not overstay its welcome.

I like Abigail Thorn's Youtube endeavours. She researches her stuff really well. So I was interested to see this. And oh wow, is the dialogue painful. Don't misunderstand, the content that this film attempts to discuss and deal with is serious, important, and essential in today's age. The writing and dreadful direction interfere with the unlying importance of the material however.

Somewhere beneath the absymal production is a good film dealing with important topics just bursting to get free. Sadly, like the characters it doesn't quite get there. That makes it an incredible shame. You can see what's being attempted. You can see how close they could have gotten. It just doesn't hit the mark.

My opinion, and it is just my opinion is that this is catering to those types of people who don't want to do the thinking. They don't want to do the work to understand the topic being presented to them. It's literally the only theory I could develop about how writing this dreadful ever got given a production budget.

The metaphor is a little in-your-face, but it works. I appreciated the contrast between the horror elements and the light-hearted humor, which also complements the seriousness of the real issue discussed here.

The little "easter eggs" were enjoyable, the acting was ok, the visuals were beautiful, and the small details were compelling.

It manages to be humorous without falling into making fun of the situation that is so dismal to many real people, and it accomplishes this by breaking tension with the absurdity of the fantasy elements, but without undermining the emotional moments of the characters.

Well done!

Too often characters will be entirely one thing or another to ensure you feel one way about them. Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend lets it's two leads be a bit more complex than that. They're not perfect, they're people - albeit ageless people that hide from the sun and crave the blood of the living. Sometimes they're more sympathetic, sometimes they're not, but they're always engaging. The whole film manages that balance wonderfully. It's funny, it's dramatic, it's suspenseful, it's horrifying. Sometimes it's one of these things, other times it's all of them at once. But it still feels cohesive, and the story is driven by the characters and not just the needs of the plot. At a little under 32 minutes it's the perfect length for it's story, with enough time to allow the occasional quiet moment but not so much that you notice the time.