Vampire flicks come at us from all angles these days. Most of the films suck, plagued with cliche story lines and a heavy dose of gothic cheese.

No thanks!

But The Familiar takes the vampire world to another level by bringing an extremely fresh and interesting perspective to the the story: through the eyes of a vampire’s assistant. The protagonist loves everything vampire and ends up scoring his dream job. Sounds cool, right? Wrong! Soon, the allure of the job diminishes when the young man becomes stuck doing all the mundane, shit tasks that would make one hate their job no matter what field. He sweeps up, manages bank accounts, pays hookers (the vampire loves hookers), chops up the victims and disposes bodies. Top it off with a dick head for a boss, the vampire verbally abuses his loyal employee throughout the story, and the narrative unfolds.

This film hits home because people can relate to the protag’s experiences. Think about a job you have been stoked on and when you show up the boss hands you a broom or asks you to clean out the employee microwave. One’s heart shatters as they scrub away that ten month old burrito that has been nuked and nuked and nuked and seems in the midst of evolving into the Toxic Avenger all the while the person asks, “I went to school for this?” Toss in a tosser for a boss and you’ve been served a classic shit sandwich. Yummy, yummy. It sucks and writer Kody Zimmermann knows it. His attention to this sort of detail helps engage the audience. The vampire symbolizes your asshole boss!

The Familiar is an all around solid flick. It has played several film festivals, winning multiple awards including the much coveted FANG BANGER Stiffy! It’s well shot, acted, written, and directed, but what I enjoyed most was the comedy. It’s hilarious and truly an original take on a worn out genre. The film engages for a full twenty-two minutes and leaves the audience wanting more. Good thing for us The Familiar sets the story up nicely for future installments. This story is begging to be made into a feature. Let us hope.

For any fan of horror or the vampire genre, The Familiar is a must see and will not disappoint! Get your ass out to STIFF and check it out!