I have a lot of catching up to do now. Including this review, I have thirteen reviews to catch up with. I managed to catch every screening for movies I had yet to see at the convention, and I finished the book I had been reading while there as well. I will get to the book review once I get through all the screenings. As I usually do, I will split the reviews between here and my other blog, so I will be posting links as I go back and forth. First up Friday night was the film Aaron's Blood (2016), which ended up winning an award for Best Feature Film. I thought for sure another film would win it, but I think it was disqualified because someone from HorrorHound was in it.
Aaron (James Martinez) is a single dad trying to raise his son Tate (Trevor Stovall). Things are challenging for Tate as he suffers from hemophilia. He enjoys playing basketball and wants to join the team, but Aaron is against that, as he figures it is too risky for Tate getting hurt. A boy at school, who sometimes picks on Tate, trips Tate up and Tate hits a trash can. Tate ends up in the hospital where he is given blood to replace what he lost. After a bad dream where Aaron finds Tate to be missing, he finds out that Tate is better now and ready to go home. As the days go by, Tate discovers that something is changing. His reflexes are faster, he can move quicker and the sun is giving him a bad burn. Earl (Michael Chieffo) shows up to kill Tate, believing that Tate is turning into a vampire. Aaron stops him and finds out that there could be a way to change Tate back if he can figure out where the infected blood came from.
Writer/director Tommy Stovall and Trevor Stovall were on hand for the screening. Aaron's Blood was an interesting film. It wasn't my favorite of the movies I watched, but it was a nice surprise to see it win the best feature award all the same. Aaron's Blood reminded me a little bit of Let The Right One In, but it was also a lot different from it. The only things the two have in common are vampires and a young kid that is one. I rather enjoyed the story being presented here. It is different enough to stand out I thought. I'm sure this isn't the first time this type of story has been told, but I can't really think of any that I have watched so far. It was nice to see a film where the father is into his son's life and trying hard to protect him. Single parents don't always get enough love in horror films. Tate us a little confusing. He isn;t embarrassing the changes, but he isn't really fighting them either. It is a fine line and one that was hard to judge, because while he doesn't use his new "powers" much, he doesn't seem all that afraid to use them. Tate also refuses to kill someone, even though the person probably deserves it in his eyes. While I liked Stovall's acting overall, it also made it hard to figure out what his character thought about the changes taking place. This made the story a little frustrating. I was also a little frustrated with Aaron. I get he is trying to save his son's life, but he is barely around while doing that. He is asking questions about what it means to be a vampire and I'm thinking his son should be hearing all this just in case returning him to a human doesn't work. He also does some pretty stupid stuff like pulling a gun on someone he suspects is a vampire when there was an easier way to find out. This backfires on him at the wrong time, which made up for it somewhat. The film has a slight low budget feel to it, but nothing real noticeable.
The effects were pretty good. When Tate uses his extra fast reflexes, that looks a little off. It wasn't used often, though. Aaron's Blood is a little gory in places with some nice effects to go with it. Like a head getting cut off or a cut bleeding pretty good. There is also a gun shot that didn't make a lot of sense to me since a character was behind the person getting shot and the blood splatter ended up to the side of the character. The character behind the person should have been shot as well, but whatever. The acting was okay. While Trevor Stovall got a nomination for his acting, personally I thought it could have been better. As I said, I did like it, but it was so understated that it made it hard to figure out what the character was thinking or going through at times. Rounding out the cast was Farah White and David Castellvi.
I have to give Aaron's Blood a little credit because it did manage to throw me off as to who the vampire that turns Tate actually is. I don't want to say that it is a twist really, but the story does a good job at keeping you looking one way just to prove you wrong. I may not have thought that Aaron's Blood was the best the convention had to offer, but it is still a very good movie. It plays with what we know about vampires a little bit but mostly keeps the same rules as other vampire movies. If you are looking for a vampire movie that is a little different, you might consider giving this one a try. I'm not sure when it will be released if it hasn't been already, but be on the lookout for it all the same.
3 out of 5 Maybe I will get as lucky as Tate
Aaron (James Martinez) is a single dad trying to raise his son Tate (Trevor Stovall). Things are challenging for Tate as he suffers from hemophilia. He enjoys playing basketball and wants to join the team, but Aaron is against that, as he figures it is too risky for Tate getting hurt. A boy at school, who sometimes picks on Tate, trips Tate up and Tate hits a trash can. Tate ends up in the hospital where he is given blood to replace what he lost. After a bad dream where Aaron finds Tate to be missing, he finds out that Tate is better now and ready to go home. As the days go by, Tate discovers that something is changing. His reflexes are faster, he can move quicker and the sun is giving him a bad burn. Earl (Michael Chieffo) shows up to kill Tate, believing that Tate is turning into a vampire. Aaron stops him and finds out that there could be a way to change Tate back if he can figure out where the infected blood came from.
Writer/director Tommy Stovall and Trevor Stovall were on hand for the screening. Aaron's Blood was an interesting film. It wasn't my favorite of the movies I watched, but it was a nice surprise to see it win the best feature award all the same. Aaron's Blood reminded me a little bit of Let The Right One In, but it was also a lot different from it. The only things the two have in common are vampires and a young kid that is one. I rather enjoyed the story being presented here. It is different enough to stand out I thought. I'm sure this isn't the first time this type of story has been told, but I can't really think of any that I have watched so far. It was nice to see a film where the father is into his son's life and trying hard to protect him. Single parents don't always get enough love in horror films. Tate us a little confusing. He isn;t embarrassing the changes, but he isn't really fighting them either. It is a fine line and one that was hard to judge, because while he doesn't use his new "powers" much, he doesn't seem all that afraid to use them. Tate also refuses to kill someone, even though the person probably deserves it in his eyes. While I liked Stovall's acting overall, it also made it hard to figure out what his character thought about the changes taking place. This made the story a little frustrating. I was also a little frustrated with Aaron. I get he is trying to save his son's life, but he is barely around while doing that. He is asking questions about what it means to be a vampire and I'm thinking his son should be hearing all this just in case returning him to a human doesn't work. He also does some pretty stupid stuff like pulling a gun on someone he suspects is a vampire when there was an easier way to find out. This backfires on him at the wrong time, which made up for it somewhat. The film has a slight low budget feel to it, but nothing real noticeable.
The effects were pretty good. When Tate uses his extra fast reflexes, that looks a little off. It wasn't used often, though. Aaron's Blood is a little gory in places with some nice effects to go with it. Like a head getting cut off or a cut bleeding pretty good. There is also a gun shot that didn't make a lot of sense to me since a character was behind the person getting shot and the blood splatter ended up to the side of the character. The character behind the person should have been shot as well, but whatever. The acting was okay. While Trevor Stovall got a nomination for his acting, personally I thought it could have been better. As I said, I did like it, but it was so understated that it made it hard to figure out what the character was thinking or going through at times. Rounding out the cast was Farah White and David Castellvi.
I have to give Aaron's Blood a little credit because it did manage to throw me off as to who the vampire that turns Tate actually is. I don't want to say that it is a twist really, but the story does a good job at keeping you looking one way just to prove you wrong. I may not have thought that Aaron's Blood was the best the convention had to offer, but it is still a very good movie. It plays with what we know about vampires a little bit but mostly keeps the same rules as other vampire movies. If you are looking for a vampire movie that is a little different, you might consider giving this one a try. I'm not sure when it will be released if it hasn't been already, but be on the lookout for it all the same.
3 out of 5 Maybe I will get as lucky as Tate
