BOGIEVILLE (2024)

Available On Demand from Level 33 Entertainment!
Directed by Sean Cronin.
Written by Henry P. Gravelle.
Check out the trailer here!!

When a trouble-prone couple get framed for murder, they decide to hit the road. But their car breaks down in the worst possible place, a trailer park called Bogieville. What makes Bogieville so bad? It’s populated by bloodthirsty vampires and a human caretaker, Crawford (Jonathan Hansler). Stuck with the downing sun, the couple must make themselves useful to the vamps, or face their bloody wrath.

BOGIEVILLE is a film that approaches vampirism from a different angle. Every vamp needs someone to help them by day and the population of Bogieville are no exception. But Crawford isn’t getting any younger and the grumpy vamps may be looking for new blood as a caretaker, so suddenly, the couple on the run find themselves necessary for the vamps to protect. And with the cops on the couple’s trail, they need protection. While there are some side plots about how certain vampires came to be, the film mainly focuses on the couple being groomed for their new responsibilities.

While there is a romantic angle with the couple facing challenges from all angles, the bulk of the film is action oriented as the vamps take out those challenges in order to survive. What works is the modern, NEAR DARK aspects of BOGIEVILLE. There’s an expansive lore this film is based upon and while I think the budget prevented the film from realizing its full potential, I thought they conveyed a lot of the ideas about a secret community of vampires and a struggle for leadership between two vampires Madison (director Sean Cronin) and Billy (Julian Gamm) decently well.

BOGIEVILLE is acted decently too. The leads, Eloise Lovell Anderson and Arifin Putra come off as likable, though not the sharpest tools in the trolley. And while most of the vamps are just snarling monsters, they convey just the right amount of terror with their rows of long, sharp teeth. There are some moments that come off as pretty funny as the sheriff and a doctor form a bond over the course of the investigation. Though I don’t think they were trying to be as hammy as their performances came off.

This is a film with big ideas that translate those ideas surprisingly well. It’s set in the south and has that dirty feel to it, there’s plenty of blood and gore, and I will say that it’s never boring. BOGIEVILLE doesn’t have the potential to become legendary like NEAR DARK did, but it does have the same kind of feel. It definitely used Bigelow’s grungy vamps as inspiration. Check this one out. It’s got better ideas than most vampire schlock out there.