With one of the greatest (and longest) titles at the 2024 deadCenter Film Festival, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is a tender and lovely coming-of-age French-Canadian horror comedy from writers Christine Doyon and Ariane Louis-Seize and director Ariane Louis-Seize, making her feature-length debut.
Vampires Still Suck
The film follows Sasha (Sara Montpetit), a teenage-presenting 68-year-old vampire who is physiologically unable to feed due to a rare condition that causes empathy rather than hunger at the sight of human blood and suffering. She survives on medical blood bags procured for her by her parents (Steve Laplante and Sophie Cadieux), also vampires, a courtesy that is fast becoming a hardship and a nuisance for them.
Things begin to change for Sasha when she encounters Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a teen who simply does not enjoy life. She spots the boy standing on the roof of the bowling alley where he works, contemplating committing suicide. This leads Sasha, in a kind of trance, to stalk Paul in a labyrinth of large freighter crates, a wonderfully shot and edited scene emphasizing shadows and the eerie sound of Sasha tauntingly whistling at Paul. When he finally sees the “monster” on his trail, Paul attempts to run away, he runs into one of the crates, causing his head to bleed and, for the first time, Sasha’s fangs to appear, a change that breaks the spell and prompts her to flee the scene.
Upon learning that her fangs had come in, Sasha’s parents decide to cut off her blood supply. They send her to live with her cousin Denise (Noémie O’Farrell), an expert at hunting humans, hoping that Sasha will learn a thing or two about drinking blood. Instead, Sasha herself becomes suicidal, and in desperation decides to attend a group meeting, where she runs into Paul again. Knowing she is a vampire and learning of her inability to feed, he offers himself to her. Sasha initially agrees, but not before she helps Paul satisfy his dying wish of standing up to his bully Henry (Arnaud Vachon).
Blending Genres to Reinvent a Classic
The rest of the film is a “one crazy night” type narrative, in which Sasha and Paul get into all kinds of hijinks and trouble during their quest to get back at Henry. It’s the type of storytelling one might find in a teen dramedy from the 1980s, and it’s utterly charming in its morbid way. Charmingly morbid, or morbidly charming, moreover, is the best way to describe Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. Its blending of different genres keeps the film feeling fresh, and it never fails to surprise audiences with its unique take on well-worn vampire lore. The entire cast deftly handles the deadpan humor, especially the young leads, and the moody cinematography from Shawn Pavlin is sure to warm the most Gothic of dark hearts.
If you missed Humanist Vampire at the deadCenter Film Festival, don’t worry: the film will be released in theaters on June 21st in select cities.
Find more deadCenter 2024 coverage at The Cinematropolis.
