Danni and the Vampire - 2020 quick review

Danni and the Vampire - 2020 Dir. Max Werkmeister written by Max Werkmeister. Starring Alexander Landau (Danni), Henry Kiely (Remy), Caron Clancey (Margaret), Scott Vermeire (Kaine), Lew Hopson (Father Williams), Autumn Harrison (Volunteer), Megan Therese Rippey (Zelda)

Danni and the Vampire is a sequel to the 2014 short film The Jersey Devil, in that film college student Danni hunts down the cryptid to stop it from committing any more on campus murders. When she finally captures the Devil she realizes it’s just an animal and doesn’t deserve to be killed. So she releases it and has a feeling of pure joy and fulfillment. In Danni and the Vampire we reunite with Danni as she travels across the country looking for a way to feel that joy again. Two groups of cryptid enthusiasts (one trying to capture and kill the cryptids and the other trying to save them) approach Danni about dealing with a vampire being held captive. Danni hits it off with the vampire and the two have a wonderful time together.

I love this film. It is a fun horror comedy. Two friends just trying to make each other happy. Do they do bad things to achieve this happiness? Absolutely! Remy, the vampire, is largely shown to be the kinder of the two. He only goes after bad eggs, he’s very polite to humans, he scrapbooks, and he makes puppets (out of the body parts of the bad people he’s eaten). Remy is a delightful himbo vampire. Danni is, I feel bad saying she is a mess. When you pair this with the previous short you get a sense that Danni has been going through a long running panic attack. Even from before capturing the Jersey Devil. She wants to fit in and have friends but she is weird. Very very weird, and the people that have been around her have either been cruelly normal, self obsessed, or kind of lame. Landau captures, in the short and in this film, what it feels like to be odd and alone. Constantly searching for weirdos like yourself, but coming up empty. But she does find a weirdo, he just happens to be a vampire.

You can watch this film without watching the preceding short but I think it is worth it. The short is low budget, weird and fun. The feature film is still low budget but it looks really good and has more time to paint a richer world around the characters. Danni and the Vampire is a delightfully charming indie horror film that really deserves more exposure.