Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers

Director - Ryan Barton-Grimley (Lexus Man, Killer Friend)
Starring - Ryan Barton-Grimley, Ari Schneider (Gloria Bell, Criminal Minds), and Jana Savage (Rude Boy - The Movie, Stabbin Cabin)
Release Date - 2020
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Slay time is over...or is it?"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Most will say that 2020 has been the worst year that they have ever lived through and I would agree.  However, the one bright side to this abysmal year is that some pretty solid movies are getting released.  Companies like Blue Underground, Vinegar Syndrome, and Severin Films has been releasing some top notch movies on blu. Also, some awesome indie movies are getting released.  Some have turned the pandemic into a productive time finish projects.  A few days ago I was sent a press release for the movie Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers.  The artwork, from The Dude Designs, looked great.  I was asked to review it a few days later and couldn't pass up the opportunity.  This year may have sucked but movies like this makes it a little more tolerable.
     The film follows Hawk (Barton-Grimley) who suspects that new tenants in a warehouse where he works are vampires.  He recruits his friend Rev to help him catch them before they can kill again.  However, they quickly find themselves unprepared for a supernatural battle.  Hawk reaches out to a man he met in military prison to help him but that turns sideways.  It returns back to the two preparing to battle the vampires along with a woman writing a book on vampires.  The three prepare to fight the vampires when they realize they are not vampires at all but a goth rock band and the real vampire was in front of their faces the whole time.
     Hawk and Rev is the kind of film that I love to discover.  They don't take themselves too seriously and offer up some laughs.  The story may be lacking but the characters are entertaining and that's good enough for me.  The acting in this one is extremely fun.  Barton-Grimley and Schneider are absolutely fantastic together.  They compliment each other so well and their characters worked with one another.  The characters they deliver could be the next Tucker and Dale.  I can see these two go on so many misadventures in the future.  The supporting cast is fun as well.  We get so many memorable and entertaining characters on screen.  The story for this one is simple enough.  We get two oddballs fighting suspected vampires while a real vampire is in their midst.  Its not the most appealing story but the characters are so entertaining that you follow them on this journey while enjoying every second of it.  Finally, the film is relatively void of blood beside a few moments at the beginning of the film.  However, that changes during the final act when we get blood by the buckets.  The effects are a mix of practical and visual which works very well for the film.  Overall, Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers is not the next genre icons that many of you will get tattooed on your leg or buy shirts of from Rotten Cotton.  However, this is the kind of film that will live on among horror fans who are looking for a good time with some blood and laughs akin to films like Tucker and Dale, Jack Brookes: Monster Slayer, and Bloodsucka Jones.  Give this one a spin and enjoy yourself.  You will not be disappointed.