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The Baxters, like any good American family, have a dysfunctional side. Mom (JoJo Hristova) is a bitter, Bible-driven, ex-figure skater from Bulgaria who gave up her dreams to marry. Dad (Anthony Morelli) is flaky and distant (literally, as he leaves within the first fifteen minutes of the movie). Raymond (Michael Morelli), the geeky son, isolates himself in his room as he pursues his amateur experiments into neurosurgery and biochemistry (all the while hiding his stash of gay porn). Daughter Helen (Devon Bailey), the girl-next-door type, is a vegetarian and a popular girl at school. Lastly, we have our narrator, Lara (Eilis Cahill), Helen’s twin sister. Lara is heavily influenced by the darker side of life: wearing goth clothes, frequenting occult stores, and creating a shrine to her favorite writer, Anne Rice. Both sisters are constantly at each other’s throats.
After an argument with her sister, Lara decides to create a curse that will give Helen anal warts. But something goes wrong; Helen ends up with a nose bleed and dies from lack of blood. A few hours later, as the family mourns, Helen comes back—as a vampire. The family decides to protect her from the outside world, going to any lengths to supply her with fresh victims to reluctantly feed on (remember, she’s a vegetarian).
Phil Messerer’s Thicker Than Water (he wrote, shot, directed, produced, and cut), was obviously a labor of love. Shot on digital video and on an ultra-low budget, Messerer’s film does, at times, betray its budget with some awkward camera angles, sloppy composition, and a few sound glitches (mostly near the beginning). However, for the most part, what we have here is one of the best independent films of its kind that I have seen in many a year. The writing is spot-on and complex, combining humor and pathos in equal amounts to create a smart and sanguine dark comedy horror. The themes of family and faith are played out beautifully, revealing the characters and taking them on a real emotional journey.
Did I mention the darkly witty dialogue? It’s worth mentioning again. In one poignant scene, Laura and her mother discuss why Laura isn’t joining a party that she has arranged. “You’ve got to stop treating me like a child,” says Laura. “I just turned 16. Palestinian girls blow themselves up at my age.”
With writing black as pitch, Messerer also shows a flare for gore with the help of Randall Leddy’s SPX. These effects are some of the best I’ve seen in such low-budget fare, and I look forward to seeing more from this guy in the future. The actors work their way through the nuanced script, creating characters that we ultimately come to laugh with and understand.
Running a little over 80 minutes, Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 crams in a wealth of story. The only thing missing is a director’s commentary, or, at the very least, a making-of documentary. This is definitely the type of production that I wanted to know more about.
If you’re not used to seeing this kind of low-budget production, the digital aesthetic may be a little hard to get used to. However, this relatively new form of filmmaking has a lot to offer. And, in the right hands, it can certainly entertain. If this is only part one, I, for one, cannot wait to see the continued adventures of this blood-soaked clan.
