I think the era of the 80’s throwback is coming to an end. That wave of nostalgia that kicked off early in the last decade and reached its’ nadir with Stranger Things in 2016 is starting to fall out of popularity (I say this in the full knowledge that at least a couple more seasons of Stranger Things are yet to come). The Thirty Year Cycle is beginning to move on to the 90’s as a focal point of reference and wistfulness, though undoubtedly there are some hangers-on. I was considering this while watching Vampires vs. the Bronx, a Netflix horror-comedy from newcomer Oz Rodriguez which, though set in contemporary times and making use of plenty of modernisms, is explicitly in the spirit of those 80s kid-fronted genre staples like Gremlins, The Goonies, and Monster Squad. And though the movie is fun enough, it did communicate a kind of tiredness in these conventions and the signs of the 80s novelty wearing off.
However there are some interesting notes and subversions to this. Chiefly, Vampires vs. The Bronx is a reclaiming of the 80s family genre film for communities of colour. The kinds of films it pays homage to were usually very white (excepting for the frequently parodied ‘token’ character), and this movie is centred on three kids of Latino, African-American, and Puerto Rican heritage respectively –an accurate representation of the demographics of the Bronx is likewise illustrated in how few of their neighbours and associations are white. It’s an extremely ethnically and culturally diverse place. This of course is tied into the other major theme of the film that makes it stand out: gentrification. And that’s where the vampires come in.
It isn’t very subtle. The pale white vampires run a real estate agency that is of course called Murnau Properties (with a little likeness of Vlad the Impaler as their logo) through which they are buying up land and businesses all over the Bronx with plans to house hundreds of coffins in the empty buildings. They even have a familiar in Shea Whigham, who adds the front of New York businessman legitimacy to their operation. In the long history of vampires and vampirism being metaphors, it is honestly refreshing to see one that’s new and immediate in a way that translates to this movies’ core audience (urban teenagers most likely). These are some very pointed and specific shades of symbolism too, the queen vampire played by Sarah Gadon, interacting with the kids and their environment through pleasant niceties, but never once pulling off that she belongs there. It’s worth noting too that barring Whigham, the vampires are the only white people we see in the movie, just to make it abundantly clear that this is a case of white people moving in on a POC neighbourhood. And that they must be stopped before they irreparably damage it.
We meet a number of characters of this neighbourhood, from a trio of self-absorbed girls always making fun of the three boys, to a vlogger, a priest played bewilderingly by Method Man (didn’t think I’d be seeing him again so soon in a movie), Zoe Saldana as a salon owner who is essentially this movies’ Drew Barrymore, and Chris Redd basically playing himself. They do their part in making this bit of the Bronx feel lived-in, and adding personality to the kids’ lives. And as for the kids themselves, they are archetypes, even direct shadows of the Stranger Things gang, but are played with enough enthusiasm to not feel dull -especially vampire geek Luis (Gregory Diaz IV).
The Stranger Things influence is undeniable, as is that of Attack the Block, which the movie at times comes across as a lesser American version of (the very title suggests the same kind of urban confrontation with dangerous otherworldly creatures -and it never quite lives up to that). Rodriguez makes no secret of the fact he’s playing in other filmmakers’ sandboxes: at one point the kids watch almost a full scene of Blade and the film is dotted with Edgar Wright-style kinetic editing -not to mention all the nods to various vampire films before it, such as Interview With a Vampire, Let the Right One In, and even Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And with all of this, it is difficult for Rodriguez to really make a distinctive mark outside of the admirable cultural mosaic he is showcasing. He certainly has a significant statement of his own to make by the end, but I think the film and that message would have been better served had they not been so entrenched in the aesthetics and conventions of other genre filmmakers.
However, Vampires vs. The Bronx comes off as very true to a place and a people. It is a love letter to the Bronx and the diversity that flourishes there. Occasionally, Rodriguez will include a snippet of Luis or Miguel (Jaden Michael) with their mothers, who will speak to them in unsubtitled Spanish, because it’s enough that the characters understand and certain audience members do too. The film is pretty funny and self-aware, sometimes as much as What We Do in the Shadows, but a chunk of the humour does come from a specific cultural place. This was quite clearly a movie made with love -love for a genre, for various filmmakers, for a particular place, and for its community. Its’ main fault is that it doesn’t reconcile all of these loves evenly and originally in spite of its sharp ideas and allegories. By all means a fun movie, but not one with a bite potent enough to make a new creature of the night.
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