Scares continue to reign at the box office this pre-Halloween week with Smile 2, but I took a break to catch two newly streaming films. Both are directed by women, acclaimed and appropriate for spooky season, though one of them is closer to a dark coming-of-age comedy than horror.
That would be Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. This gem from our neighbors in Québec, directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, earned a slew of festival awards and screened locally in February at the White River Indie Film Festival. Stream it with a MUBI subscription or rent it on various platforms.
If you’re growing weary of killer clowns, you may appreciate the turnabout in the movie’s opening scene. Six-year-old Sasha (Lilas-Rose Cantin) is elated when a clown comes to entertain her on her birthday, then horrified as her loving family devours him.
They’re all vampires, but Sasha has been endowed with empathy — the vampire equivalent of neurodivergence. Subsisting on baggies of blood, she grows into a goth teen (Sara Montpetit) who would rather entertain human beings with her piano playing than suck their vital force. But human food is poisonous to her. After her family gives her an ultimatum — kill or starve — Sasha contemplates suicide via poutine. She finds her way to a support group, where she meets equally misfit human Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard). Depressed and bullied at school, he willingly offers himself up to feed Sasha’s thirst — but she’s starting to like him.
Original takes on vampires are elusive these days, and we know where the story is going. But the acting, script and cinematography still make Humanist Vampire an experience perfect for anyone whose gothic whimsy itch wasn’t sufficiently scratched by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Like the Addams Family, Sasha and her kin live in a sunless world of Victorian draperies and industrial chic, but their humor is dryer and nastier. Noémie O’Farrell alternates amusingly between deadpan and snarl as Sasha’s older cousin, whose cruelty counterpoints the sensitivity in Sasha’s big eyes.
It’s impossible not to root for Sasha and Paul. These two winsome outcasts are intensely shy, rare in a genre of movies that typically runs on witty banter. In production notes, Louis-Seize says she gave special attention to depicting “the silences filled with unspoken things.” We see that in a long, wordless shot of the teens bonding as they listen to an old vinyl record — mouthing the lyrics, swaying, glancing furtively at each other.
That beautiful moment conveys the sweetness at the heart of this occasionally gory film, which feels like it was made as a valentine to morbid emo teens and the people who love them.
If vampires feel played out, so does the horror franchise that began with The Omen (1976). The prospect of a convent-centric prequel to the demonic-child saga did not entice. Months after The First Omen left screens, however, I started hearing horror fans praise this feature debut of former photojournalist Arkasha Stevenson. Stream it on Hulu or rent it.
The First Omen pivots around a star-making performance by Nell Tiger Free as Margaret, a fresh-faced novice who arrives at a Roman convent planning to take the veil. The year is 1971, and the city is rife with political upheaval and temptations of the flesh. Margaret’s faith begins to waver as she bonds with an orphan (Nicole Sorace) whom the nuns consign to the “bad room” for her supposed sins — an echo of Margaret’s own troubled past.
Then Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) comes to Margaret with a horrifying tale. There’s a secret cadre within the Church that will do anything to scare modern folks back into the pews, including creating the Antichrist. And Margaret’s orphan friend might be part of their breeding program.
Cartoonish as this conspiracy scenario is, it works as a sly commentary on the whole franchise. Not for nothing did the spread of secularism in the 1970s coincide with the rise of religion-themed horror flicks such as The Exorcist and The Omen. While the Catholic Church didn’t fund those films, it wasn’t averse to using demonic scares as free advertising.
The First Omen sends a different message, focusing on the evil that lives in human hearts. The film’s most viscerally disturbing scenes depict church elders asserting violent control over women’s bodies. While few viewers will be surprised by what happens to Margaret, Free’s expressive, intimate performance ensures that our sympathies remain with her on her harrowing journey from innocence to experience.
Director of photography Aaron Morton gives every scene a sinister glow. Memorable imagery abounds: In one shot, a wind-blown curtain conceals and then reveals a monstrosity. In another, when Margaret wakes after a forbidden night at a disco, her strewn-out hair evokes a giant spider.
The First Omen does have its derivative moments, including a death that pays homage to the 1976 film and a clumsy ending. And franchise purists will object to some of its deviations. Overall, though, it’s way more chilling than it has any right to be, reminding us that originality can find unlikely ways to thrive even in a landscape of remakes, sequels and prequels.
While horror can be a nihilistic genre, both these movies explore its humanist side. Vampires and demon spawn aren’t exactly cuddly in these stories, but they do deserve love.
This article appears in The Tech Issue 2024.
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