Skip to main content

The Hamiltons

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 turn out, the family is really a bunch of white trash vampires.

Plagued by something I can only call "low-budget-isms", The Hamiltons is a slow, plodding trip through miles of terrible acting and simply impossible plot set ups. Which sounds completely terrible but, on paper, the story wasn't actually that bad. I believe it could have been significantly improved by bringing in a more experience (and skilled) screenwriter to give it a revision or two. I also think the concept of the movie could have been handed off to a better director and come out a pretty watchable movie.

As it is, some of their borrowed techniques and non-standard plot devices actually stand up. Their noir-inspired voice over actually plays very closely to the voice over in Terminator (more than Blade Runner even) and presents as one of the strongest pieces of the movie. It also harkens to Stake Land, another recent, unconventional vampire flick. In reading a couple of interviews with the directorial team, I found myself surprised that they never sited Near Dark as one of their influences. I actually couldn't draw a closer comparison that that.

The idea that vampires are born, not made, is a great one that doesn't see much usage these days. They keep their young caged, as they are uncontrollable monsters that simply murder everything. I couldn't help thinking about The Lost Boys and Laddie (the 80's favorite child vampire). And I felt flash backs to my favorite horror comedy (My Best Friend is a Vampire) as the characters talked about vampires being "misunderstood members of society" who just want to live and get along with their neighbors, etc.

There is absolutely no reason for you to have to watch this movie, I've already taken that one for the team.

If you're having a hard time believing me, you can watch the trailer and decide for yourselves:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Witch (2015)

You know the drill - there's ALWAYS spoilers. Don't want the movie ruined for you, come back after you've seen it. Also - I'm still without an editor - typos and bad grammar await you! I keep hoping that the cultural obsession with zombies will end; literally every other damn movie that comes 'round seems to feature some sort of shambling, undead being bent on devouring the weak flesh of regular humans. Once upon a time, zombies have have been used as a metaphor for the blind consumerism created by our capitalist society, or the perceived depletion of resources by immigrants, or even the ravages of time and disease on our frail bodies. Now it seems that the deeper social commentary has been lost as audiences mindlessly consume "zombie fiction" in an attempt to keep up with trends. ( How very meta - a film buddy of mine commented on this assessment! ) All of this is just a sideways rant, leading up to my actual point: it seems that zombie may actually...

Mother!

Alright friends and readers–this one is probably doubly filled with typos and grammar errors because I wrote it while angry. Good luck and happy reading. There are unpopular opinions in every realm. As a film student, you can truly strike a nerve when you say things like, "I fucking hate the self-indulgence of independent films and the way people idolize them." Or, you know, "Low lighting and slow pacing does not a good movie make." Or whatever. You can of course, objectively, understand how this happens. When you are creating art–when you are outside the system  so to speak–you are free to explore things (subjects, techniques, etc.) that may need to be addressed and that freedom can become intoxicating and go to one's head. While it may seem only right  or only fair  to respect and accept each creative endeavor that every artist undertakes, it is unreasonable to believe that the world will remain forever patient with the self-obsession artists have. Th...

The Babadook

Spoilers and typos! Enjoy. We often look back nostalgically on childhood, envious of the joy we felt and the boundless imaginations we possessed. How conveniently we forget the other side of that coin: as children, we experience a depth of terror our adult selves continually try to recreate for cathartic entertainment. When we try to bring those childhood fears to life on the screen, we often end up with movies about "things that go bump in the night," which is a somewhat superficial approach. While it does provide an opportunity for a supernatural experience, it ignores the root of our fear: the unknown . As children, we lack life experience. We lack nuance. We lack understanding. Not knowing creates in us fear. Yes, we fear what lurks in the darkness but we also fear the adult world because we do not understand how it works. The Babadook works to exploit both  those fears. The short story: a widowed mother of a young boy experiences a mental breakdown and tries to...