The latest addition to Netflix’s Halloween selection is another by-the-numbers vampire flick...
Director: Adam Randell
Starring: Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Debby Ryan, Lucy Fry
Running time: 108 minutes
Netflix’s latest vampire release, Night Teeth is the second of Megan Fox’s (albeit just a brief cameo) Halloween horror picks this month. Though it stars a cast of familiar favourites, it leaves the viewer in anticipation for a dramatic journey that never arrives. To put it simply – this vampire film seriously lacks bite.
The film follows Benny (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), an unmotivated, broke college student who lives with his Abuela. The less successful of two brothers, despite his flaws, is arguably the most likeable character in the plot. Desperate to make money with his failing music, he believes he’s struck gold when an opportunity to chauffeur two women in his brother’s (Raúl Castillo) stead arises. Featuring some pleasing neo-noir aesthetics, Benny rides through the city of Los Angeles taking these two passengers to an abundance of parties where they carry out their demonic duties.
The heavily overdone concept of human and vampire living together “peacefully” so long as they abide by the needs of the blood-thirsty fiend is ever-present. That is until, ringleader Victor (Alfie Allen) – an unexpected, lower-brow casting compared to the renowned Game of Thrones – decides to break this equilibrium and start a war. He appears here as a modern-day Dracula, overseeing the drama from a much more contemporary version of the gothic castle.
If you’re looking for innovation, you won’t find it here
As vampiric villains go, Allen completely misses the mark with this unconvincing and inadvertently comical performance. Night Teeth uses all the familiar tropes and cliches of the sub-genre – think death by sunlight and crossbows – failing to create any sense of originality in what is a very much tried and tested area of film.
The dynamic duo of Blaire (Debby Ryan) and Zoe (Lucy Fry), convey all of the stereotypical sapphic tropes, yet lack the seductive execution director Adam Randell desires. The pair lead Benny on a whistle-stop (bloodbath) tour of the city under Victor’s orders. Jumping from party-to-party, the bloodsuckers leave an abundance of bodies as they go, in an attempt to gain territorial power before the night’s out.
If you’re looking for innovation, you won’t find it here. Despite a notable feature of the recognised “All Black Lives Matter” mural across Hollywood Boulevard, the striking visuals and quirky camerawork become lost. As poor as the name itself, this lack-lustre film leads the viewer into a rabbit hole of predictability, that ultimately leaves you disappointed and unsatisfied.
Night Teeth is out now on Netflix
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