PLOT SUMMARY: Vampire fiction novelist Olivia's dreams come true when she encounters a real vampire. But she isn't prepared for the complications that come with harbouring a vampire.
It's been more than a decade since vampire movies and books were so popular you couldn't find anything in any other genre. I remember going to a bookshop, looking for a new book to read and picking up and putting down every book, especially in the young adult section.
The blurbs especially were cringe-worthy.
Example: Typical timid heroine meets bad boy and develops a crush on him. One night they meet and are about to kiss but the ignorant heroine realizes the mysterious hero is reaching for her neck instead...
Yes, gone were the days when vampires were creepy, nocturnal beings who looked scary. No, the new novels were all about good-looking, fit vampires who could walk in sunlight. And had a reflection.
These updated vampires sure took the horror out of the genre.
Red Snow manages to bring back a little bit of terror but also pokes fun at the genre.
RED SNOW Movie Plot
Jackie and Brock are vampires who entrap two men and feed on them.
Cut to Olivia, a novelist who is spending Christmas at her parent's cabin. She is obsessed with vampires and writes about them, receives rejections from publishers, and then reads more books.
She is planning a quiet Christmas in the cabin but also calls up her sister every now and then.
One night, as she's working on her manuscript, a bat slams against her window. She ignores it at first but then finds nothing better to do, she researches online on how to nurse it back to health.
She then takes the bat in and takes care of it after which she leaves it in a box in her garage.
The next morning, she wakes up and goes to check out the bat only to find a very naked man laying on the floor and growling at her, his eyes red. Olivia closes the door immediately. She's stunned but can also guess what has happened considering the man is wounded in the same place the bat was.
She gets excited but it is short-lived because soon there's a knock on the door. The man introduces himself as Julius King and asks if she has seen some weird people around. He shows her some photos on his tablet and claims there are three people roaming about attacking innocents and that they are vampires.
Olivia recognizes one of them whom Julius says is named Luke. Olivia keeps quiet about the naked man in her garage.
She sends Julius away immediately makes a cross of straw and goes back to the garage, armed with it. Luke tries to hide his nudity and assures her he is harmless. She offers to give him her mother's clothes and asks what else he needs.
Blood, what else.
Olivia is ready to go to extra lengths for him if he tells her his vampire secrets so she can find inspiration for her novels.
She rushes to the supermarket, gets some meat and asks the butcher for some pigs blood. According to her, they are just giving away pigs blood at the supermarket.
Luke slurps down a couple of microwaved pigs blood and is feeling like himself again.
They form a friendship although Olivia is wary of him. Soon enough she notices Julius following her because he suspects she is hiding Luke.
He breaks in and attacks them but Luke manages to bite him in the neck. Olivia is horrified to see Luke in his full vampire form, feeding on Julius. She locks the door and runs away.
Luke pleads with her to open the door and for things to go normal between them but she is rethinking her decision to keep a vampire in her house. When Luke tells her to give her something to read at least and she gives him her manuscript to read.
Later, during feeding time she notices he hasn't read beyond the first page and gets pissed off. To mend their friendship he reads the whole thing and then goes ahead and offers her constructive criticism. Olivia duly takes notes.
Meanwhile, Luke is being watched by his friends Brock and Jackie. They lure him out and ask him what he's doing with the little bunny aka Olivia and why hasn't he eaten her yet.
The trio go out hunting and do some killings. Jackie and Brock then target Olivia and Luke tries to help her but is subdued.
Olivia manages to make a getaway and makes a call to the headquarters and finds that they cannot send another vampire hunter until July. Olivia is not ready to give up her cabin to a bunch of homeless vampires.
RED SNOW Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Now that she has Julius' car, she finds his crossbow and garlic that still hasn't gone bad. She also finds a tablet where Julius had recorded the vampires being murderous. Feeling cheated that Luke wasn't who she hoped he would be and that she had given him normal clothes for Christmas, she decides to take back her cabin.
Brock is the first to be trapped and have a crossbow shot straight to the heart. He dies.
Jackie is the next to go. She goes to Luke, angered that her Christmas was ruined by the vampires. She scolds Luke and then shoots him with the crossbow too.
Ten months later, Olivia has written a bestselling vampire novel and is at a book signing. She is being praised for her work.
She later returns to her cabin and we see Luke alive and all tied up. She will give him blood only if he gives her some of his insightful critiques.
The movie borders on dark comedy and banks on the charming protagonist. It works.
Scare Scale: 3.5/5
I enjoyed this rather unique vampire movie. When Olivia was being attacked, Luke proved who's side he was on. He aimed the crossbow at his female running buddy. He would have killed her if she didn't overpower him. Olivia totally overlooked this. In my opinion, he didn't deserve his ending.
ReplyDelete