SILENT BITE (2024)

New streaming on Tubi from Cleopatra Entertainment, Dystopian Films, and Nux Luna!
Directed by Taylor Martin.
Written by Simon Phillips.
Check out the trailer here!!

A quartet of bank robbers in Santa costumes lay low in a hotel while waiting for their get-away driver. But unbeknownst to them, a group of female vampires are also taking residence at the same place, and they’re hungry.

I have to admit, the only thing that made me rush to see this film is the fact that three of the lead robbers starred in Adrian Langley’s BUTCHERS series, a serial killer series that I’ve found to be entertaining, though less through as its sequels have been released. Seeing the familiar faces of Simon Phillips, Michael Swatton, and Nick Biskupek, is what made me pull the chute and watch.

Simon Phillips, who also starred in ONCE UPON A TIME AT CHRISTMAS, THE MOUSE TRAP, GAHENNA: WHERE DEATH LIVES, and quite a few other horror films, has been one of my favorite genre actors of late. As with his feral performance in BUTCHERS, Phillips always delivers a powerful, charismatic, and gritty performance, no matter the quality of the film. Here me plays the leader of the Santa Clauses as well as the writer of the film itself. Phillips’ character Father Christmas is a no-nonsense ringleader who seems like he’s channeling Moe Howard or Oliver Hardy while interacting with the other overly macho and somewhat bumbling robbers. Seeing Phillips boss around the slightly more dim Snowman (played by Michael Swatton from BUTCHERS I and II), and the overly grumpy Grinch, played by BUTCHERS II: RANGHORN slasher, Nick Biskupek, is immensely entertaining, yet may go over the heads of younger viewers. Seeing these three sharing the same celluloid again makes me smile and hopefully marks the beginning of a series of collaborations for the gruff but lovable trio.

The film also sports some nice performances from Paul Whitney as the hotel manager who is trying to play both the vamps and the robbers against one another and Luke Avoledo as the naïve criminal newb Prancer. There are a few acting rough spots from the gals who play the vamps. Each sort of has a monologue, but though they are easy on the peepers, seeing them spout a few sentences in a row definitely accentuates some room for thespian growth.

The plot is a fun one. Vamps vs. robbers. But I think the script needed another pass and the dialog could have been a bit crisper. A lot of this film works, mainly because it focuses on the banter between Phillips, Swatton, and Biskupek. There are some great scenes with Phillips as he tries to educate the newbie criminal and others where the robbers code is delved into a bit. These are the most interesting of the film. Once the vamps close in, it feels a bit cliched, as if I’ve seen some of the scenes where the cast argue about ways to kill a vampire. But the buildup to the big confrontation between the vamps and robbers is what made the film work for me.

This off-kilter and often humorous holiday horror may not be a classic in the making, but Phillips is getting better at writing screenplays and his performance, along with Swatton and Biskupek, are worth the price of admission alone. Though the vamp cliches abound, SILENT BITE has enough fun moments to pass on to you all as worth seeking out.