Review: Bloodsucking Bastards, mustaches and vampire slayers

One of the strongest sub genres in horror at the moment is that of the bloodsucking variety, as vampires have been on a tear over the last few years. One of the very best films of 2015 has already been claimed by the fanged undead in What We Do in the Shadows, so it should come as no surprised that Brian James O’Connell’s horror-comedy Bloodsucking Bastards is yet another solid outing for the classic monsters. In the film, after blood-hungry vampires take control of a corporation and start turning its employees into the undead, it’s up to a group of unlikely co-workers to stop the evil brewing amidst the cubicles.

It’s easy to compare O’Connell’s latest to Office Space because the majority of Bloodsucking Bastards is straight-up office humor with a handful of friends who hate their jobs just bullshitting their way through a long work day. The first half of the film is spent bouncing some fantastic humor off of its characters, giving each of them their own moment to shine—Joey Kern and his glorious mustache steal almost every scene.

But it’s once the vampires enter the equation that the film really hits its stride, putting these wonderfully weird characters in a hellish situation. Aside from the ass-kicking security guard (who needs his own spinoff), the few left standing are probably the last people you would want hunting vampires—there is, however, something charming in seeing the everyday kind of guy or gal getting a shot at being the hero, even if it’s just for a moment.

Bloodsucking Bastards is a very simple, straight to the point kind of movie that delivers blood, guts and humor in equal dosage. It’s not a complex story with complex characters—it’s a light-hearted blast of hilarious carnage that throws buckets of blood at its characters every chance it gets. And while the final act comes and goes perhaps a little too quickly, what the film does so well is that it builds an interesting world in an uninteresting office building—the man-eating vampires and exploding bodies certainly helped, that’s for sure.

I really don’t have much else to say about this one. If you’re looking for something fun with plenty of humor and a shit load of blood, then Brian James O’Connell’s Bloodsucking Bastards outta do you just fine.