By Afonso Almeida.
Given the rising popularity of the horror film crossover genre, it is surprising no one had thought of combing a Prison movie with Vampires. And that’s exactly what the makers of Fanged Up have put together. Starring Daniel O’Reilly, better known by his stage/social media name Dapper Laughs, Fanged Up presents us with the story of a man down on his luck being sent to jail for the weekend, only to find it is overrun with vampires. It is a fun and promising concept, but that’s about all it is.
The film starts by introducing Jimmy, a local layabout very evidently not liked by anyone. After causing a fight to break out at the nightclub he works at, Jimmy is sent to prison over the weekend. Upon arriving he finds that his ex-girlfriend Mary has just started a job as the prison’s physician. As the two get re-acquainted, they unravel the prison warden’s plan to bring small time criminal offenders to the prison to serve as feeding fodder for his legion of vampires. Aided by a ragtag group of misfits from the prison, Jimmy and Mary attempt to escape the prison.
There nothing inherently horrible about the movie. O’Reilly makes for a solid lead, transitioning from his online videos to a full-fledged role. He seems quite comfortable on camera, and delivers a confident and self-assured performance. Sadly he seems to be the only one. His supporting cast delivers lines in a wooden and lifeless delivery, never quite finding the balance between comedy and horror.
The movie has a competent plotline, with familiar elements like strangers becoming a family, a reunion with an old flame, and surviving the night. Its biggest problem is a distinct lack of identity. Although a horror comedy can be tremendously successful, such as Shaun of the Dead, it needs to maintain its awareness of the world of the film. In Fanged Up, every scene is punctuated by rapid-fire banter and jokes. And while those could have worked perfectly in moderation, the sheer volume of them takes away from the characters being immersed in the situation they are in. Any opportunity for the characters to be scared or shocked is quickly traded by the chance to make a joke at the expense of the lead characters genitals (which happens entirely too often). Additionally, the emotional scenes of the film feel very telegraphed and forceful. Aided by a swelling section of strings, moments of characters making noble sacrifices and delivering soliloquies about the meaning of family are thrown off the cuff as if they were yet another cheap joke.
The horror portion of the film is equally neglected. There is no build up to the reveal of the vampires, which can be attributed to budgetary constraints of an 80-minute film. But that jumping of the gun is not traded off for character development or to even allow them to process what is happening. If you tune out for 2 minutes, you will miss the entire section where Mary discovers that the warden is a vampire, explains it to Jimmy, and they kill off their first vampire.
You can tell there was a lot of good intention going into the film. The design of the vampires and use of the special effects allude to classic vampire films, and the jokes as they are spouted by the characters read as if they perhaps really worked on the page, but no one took the time to revise them once filming got underway. Unfortunately, this movie wastes a fun premise by not knowing what it wants to be, making for a hollow, forgettable experience.
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