Yeah - anyone who completes a movie should get credit for it, and for this to be completed by a high school kid is pretty impressive.
This does not make it a good movie.
Other reviewers cite the low budget, but that didn't detract from the movie; in some films, it adds to the charm of indie movies.
The dialog was the worst of it; stilted, awkward lines that nobody who was actually in a high school would believe came from human people. That many of the actors clearly didn't believe their lines didn't help any.
The idea was good; a vampire is running amok at a SF convention, and the only people who know about it are the teens who have to try to stop him. It's formula, but it's really tough to make a horror or teen comedy without it having been done before, and the twist of it being at a SF con, where vampire costumes are everywhere, gave it a chance to be fresh.
It would have helped if the SF Con was at all believable. I expect that the writer/director got some help from people who have actually gone to SF Cons, but didn't believe them; every degrading, negative stereotype was portrayed, few of which I've ever seen at a Con. "Your Tribbles and You"?? I've seen films that make fun of SF Fandom, and do it well; there's things to make fun of, but to do it well, it's important to know what you're making fun of, and Ms. Hagins clearly did not know her subject.
She clearly knows teenagers better; she got two decent characters into the script, and paired them with some passable acting skill. Her other teen characters were, sadly, such cardboard cutouts that the people portraying the characters could not connect with who they were supposed to portray; the audience has no chance of taking them seriously, either.
Pretty good, as a film school project, and the author/director shows some promise. But it's a school project, not something ready to release to the movie-going audience. It may look better as a double feature with something by Ewe Boll, but that still wouldn't make it something to recommend to others.
This does not make it a good movie.
Other reviewers cite the low budget, but that didn't detract from the movie; in some films, it adds to the charm of indie movies.
The dialog was the worst of it; stilted, awkward lines that nobody who was actually in a high school would believe came from human people. That many of the actors clearly didn't believe their lines didn't help any.
The idea was good; a vampire is running amok at a SF convention, and the only people who know about it are the teens who have to try to stop him. It's formula, but it's really tough to make a horror or teen comedy without it having been done before, and the twist of it being at a SF con, where vampire costumes are everywhere, gave it a chance to be fresh.
It would have helped if the SF Con was at all believable. I expect that the writer/director got some help from people who have actually gone to SF Cons, but didn't believe them; every degrading, negative stereotype was portrayed, few of which I've ever seen at a Con. "Your Tribbles and You"?? I've seen films that make fun of SF Fandom, and do it well; there's things to make fun of, but to do it well, it's important to know what you're making fun of, and Ms. Hagins clearly did not know her subject.
She clearly knows teenagers better; she got two decent characters into the script, and paired them with some passable acting skill. Her other teen characters were, sadly, such cardboard cutouts that the people portraying the characters could not connect with who they were supposed to portray; the audience has no chance of taking them seriously, either.
Pretty good, as a film school project, and the author/director shows some promise. But it's a school project, not something ready to release to the movie-going audience. It may look better as a double feature with something by Ewe Boll, but that still wouldn't make it something to recommend to others.