Red Snow (2021)

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To be clear, this title gave me a bit of confusion, as this seems to be a title that has been used time and time again for various other films that aren't the same story, and so the "Christmas" version of 'Red Snow' ended up being something I didn't really expect. I knew it took place around Christmas, I knew it involved vampires, but for me to truly enjoy a vampire movie surrounded by a winter setting, I'll stick to '30 Days of Night'. That said, I can still credit it for surprising me here and there.

In fairness to the film, it didn't get a wide release and passes as a straight-to-streaming film with not a whole lot of bells and whistles. If you're looking for a big-budget vampire movie with a bunch of fantastic special effects, I should forewarn you that the effects here don't really go far beyond practical makeup effects, which, to me, is honestly a breath of fresh air, once again proving a vampire movie doesn't really need to go all-out to be at least somewhat effective. Unfortunately, for my tastes, this is a film that dabbles far more in the romantic/fantasy category, which can be good, but I prefer more animalistic vampires.

We meet Olivia Romo (Dennice Cisneros), a struggling author specializing in vampiric romance novels who's spending the Christmas holidays alone at her late mother's cabin in Lake Tahoe, writing her fantasies. One such manuscript, 'Touched by a Vampire', she sends to various publishing companies for review, only to be constantly brushed off. One night, while writing, Olivia hears a loud bang on the window, heads out to see what it was, and finds an injured bat. Being kindhearted, she reluctantly decides to take the bat in to nurse it back to health.

The following morning, Olivia is met with another loud thud, which prompts her to inspect the garage where she left the bat, only to find a young, handsome man in the buff, complete with fangs and white-out eyes, hissing at her. Instead of being terrified, as any normal human being would be, she gets excited at the idea that vampires are real and that she has one in her garage. Soon, she helps him out by getting him a whole whack of pig's blood, which the vampire, introducing himself as Luke (Nico Bellamy), drinks down in an effort to restore his health, his injuries being more than just hitting a window.

As it turns out, Luke had also been shot by a vampire hunter by the name of Julius King (Vernon Wells), who pays Olivia a visit in search of Luke and his two vampire associates, Jackie (Laura Kennon) and Brock (Alan Silva), who are evidently in the area as well. Olivia denies having seen anyone suspicious, and it results in a strange friendship blossoming between Olivia and Luke, as Luke gives her a bit of an education on vampire-kind, which includes things I appreciate, like the idea of sunlight just hurting really bad instead of completely vanquishing them, and things I dislike, like the idea of Nosferatu being an insult to vampires everywhere.

From all of that, I can see it being relatively easy to decide that the film is altogether lame; there's really no aspect of anything scary here, considering it's a movie about vampires, and as I said, it falls a little more under the romantic vampire category, so it won't be for everyone who enjoys a good vampire story. However, I will defend the film by saying it's far more of a comedy than a horror, depicting a sort of vampire-crazy single woman who, to me, reflects many of the 'Twilight' fans out there. So, there is a touch of holding up a mirror to society in that regard, even if it's a little late to the party.

'Red Snow' isn't exactly what I'd call a hit, or even really that good altogether. Still, it doesn't take itself seriously, has a touch of originality, and is actually decently funny in parts, though there aren't any real knee-slappers. Again, this wasn't widely released, so one shouldn't treat it like a Hollywood blockbuster. It's fun, if a bit on the weird side, and totally passable as a darker Christmas film, but it doesn't hold a candle to great Christmas horror/comedy movies like 'Krampus.' Check this one out for free if you're going to.

3/5

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