Emily Mody - Blood & Donuts (CUFF 2018)

Posted on Monday, April 16, 2018 at 02:00 PM

Blood & Donuts (CUFF 2018)

Review by Emily Mody x CalgaryMovies.com

Blood and Donuts directed by Holly Dale is a Canadian feature length horror/comedy film. The story follows Boya (played by Gordon Currie). He is a moral vampire who is woken up from a twenty-five year sleep after he is hit by a golf ball. After returning and finding his belongings as well as a seedy place to stay, Boya befriends a young cabbie named Earl (played by Louis Ferreira) who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. While on one of Earl’s various misadventures, Boya ends up meeting and falling in love with Molly (played by Helene Clarkson), a woman who works at the local donut shop.

I enjoyed Blood and Donuts. I would not say it is a must see but if you enjoy vampire films and feel like you have seen a lot of what this genre has to offer maybe check this one out. It is a lighthearted film and it made me laugh. I would consider Blood and Donuts a horror only in regards to the subject matter, this film is in no way scary, or at least it was not for me. It felt more like your standard monster movie fare. The plot line is very simply structured allowing for the emphasis to be on characters and the development of relationships between them. The acting is bearable. This type of genre always makes it difficult for me to tell if the actors are highly skilled because I find the writing does not demand much of them. Every character and every plot point in this film came off as silly which was nice in some ways because it made for a film that was enjoyable in it’s simplicity.

Blood and Donuts reminded me of the film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui. The story follows a teenage girl, Buffy, who meets a mysterious man who informs her that her destiny is to hunt and slay vampires. The film is kitschy and simple in much the same way as Blood and Donuts. Both films belong to the horror genre but are more comedies than anything else. If you enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer than I am sure you would also enjoy Blood and Donuts.

Blood and Donuts runs a total of 89 minutes. The film is rated 14A in Canada and Restricted in the United States for violence, gore, language, and sexual content. I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in exploring the vampire genre but does not like to be scared.

Blood and Donuts will be screening as a part of the 15th Calgary Underground Film Festival 2018 (CUFF) on Wednesday, April 18th 2018 at 9:45pm at the Globe Cinema. The screening is going to be a special showing for National Canadian Film Day and will therefore have free admission. Cinematographer Paul Sarossy will also be in attendance.

Calgary Showtimes: Blood & Donuts (1995) >