Recently, it has become fairly common for me to start watching a movie only to realize (45 minutes later) that I'm watching a zombie movie . Not nearly as common is my watching a movie only to discover that it's a vampire movie . I think it's easier for folks to craft a story that uses the concepts or elements of a zombie movie in other contexts than it is to create a more abstracted vampire story; zombies can take the form of slack-jawed movie watchers or glass-eyed mall shoppers not just shambling flesh eaters. When people attempt to explore the depths of vampirism, they tend to fall into one other bucket - that of the succubus. The set up for The Hamiltons is designed to lead us to believe that that family we're watching is made up of socially awkward cannibals, like the family from Texas Chainsaw Massacre , or perhaps just deranged serial killer's like in House of 1000 Corpses . There is no immediate indication of the "big reveal" - as it will
these are movie musings for snarky movie nerds. there's always spoilers.