The Caretakers

Director - Steve Hudgins (Goatsucker, Hell is Full)
Starring - Nick Faust (Maniac on the Loose), Michael Coon (Lucid), and Bill Johnson (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror/Drama
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I have always had a soft spot for vampire flicks after growing up with the classics The Lost Boys, Monster Squad, Fright Night, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film.  I loved how savage these vampires could be while still holding on to portions of their humanity.  This vampire love lead me to find several amazing horror comedies over the years that focus on the vampire tales like Once Bitten, My Best Friend is a Vampire, and several more.  Sadly, vampires has turned into a guilty pleasure among horror fans due to the extremely popular film series the Twilight Saga.  This made vampires mainstream and a laughing stock among horror fans.  I love vampire films but these romantic horror films were terrible in almost every aspect.  I still watch films from my beloved sub-genre but now I have to take them with a grain of salt due to so many Twilight imposters.  Recently, Big Biting Pig Productions sent me a link to check out their new film The Caretakers.  You may remember BBPP from my review for their film Lucid.  I was not a fan of that film but I was thankful they let me check this one out anyway.  Thanks!

     The film follows an old caretaker that is fading quickly into the twilight of his golden years.  He is tasked for caring for a very powerful female vampire and knows that soon age will get the best of him.  His master brings on a younger man and his mute daughter to learn from the caretaker while he still has time to teach them.  Meanwhile, a wealthy man has hired a vampire hunter to track down his missing daughter when he suspects that vampires are responsible for her missing not knowing that she is still alive and is now a vampire. Soon both worlds collide and blood is shed.

     Vampire films after Twilight , and several before, suffer from romanticizing vampires which ruined their appeal.  When I hear vampires I think of Children of the Night and how menacing they can be.  I also like the comical aspect of becoming a vampire against your will and trying to live your life like so many vampire horror comedies from the 80s.  However, the thought of them in a love triangle is almost sickening to me.  Lucky for us, The Caretakers does not go that route fully.  There is a couple in the film but their focus is on bloodshed and not mushy gooey bullshit.  The acting in this one is indie rich.  The characters try their hardest to nail the emotions the scenes call for but have a hard time pinpointing those.  This results in them over doing it which makes it not feel as genuine.  This is something that does come with experience which I am sure they will soon master.  The story for this one is nothing we haven't seen before but it does pull in the viewer which is something we rarely get now a days in the world of generic vampire flicks.  The film has several new spins on this already told tale.  We do get a serial killer angle along with human trafficking, and even a different vampire tale in how they actually become vampires.  This may have been an old story but a lot of originality went into it.  Finally, the film does have several kill scenes but they are mostly lackluster but the blood does flow freely resulting in some decent carnage and entertainment.  The practical effects for these kills are mostly minimal but impressive none the less.  Overall, The Caretakers may seem like one of the hundreds of vampire films to come in the wake of the Twilight Saga but it is not.  It is a vampire film that tries to remain a horror flick.  It has a decent cast, a story with some great moments, and blood.  Check it out if you dig vampire flicks!