Bogieville is directed by Sean Cronin, and the cast includes Sean Cronin, Arifin Putra, Eloise Lovell Anderson, Jonathan Hansler, Ayvianna Snow, Sarina Taylor, Andrew Lee Potts, Poppie Jae Hughe and Daniel P. Lewis.
I am on a vampire quest right now after watching Sinners earlier this year, so managed to watch a new low budget Vampire film titled Bogieville, where the story centers on Ham and Jody, a couple in love, down on their luck, and on the run. After Ham loses his job, they land in a run-down trailer park called Bogieville, where they're warned to stay indoors at night and never go near the basement.
Naturally, they do both, because of course they do, and what they find is a hidden vampire enclave living beneath the surface, literally and metaphorically, and soon, they’re caught up in a civil conflict within this fanged underworld. Oh, and we also have a police detective following a trail of bodies tied to a rogue vampire, and the story slowly winds toward an inevitable final confrontation.
Now, on paper, that all sounds pretty promising and intriguing I think. I’m not opposed to a vampire film taking itself seriously. In fact, I welcome it. But Bogieville does suffer from a kind of tonal identity crisis. The opening sequence, which involves vampires being drawn to a menstruating woman (yes, that happens), leans into camp and absurdity. It sets the stage for a film that feels like it might embrace the weird and go full-tilt genre. But then it pivots, sharply, into a quiet, talk-heavy exploration of vampire community dynamics. And while I admire ambition, the tonal whiplash is real, too.
The performances are, committed shall we say. A lot of the cast are actually British actors putting on deep Southern American accents, and it’s one of those choices that constantly reminds you you’re watching a performance. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it does chip away at the immersion.
We also do get a lot of meandering scenes that could’ve been trimmed, lines that repeat, and ideas we already get. There’s a tighter, leaner version of this movie somewhere that focuses on either the couple or the investigation, not both. As it stands, these two halves never fully click together.
That said, I did appreciate the film’s approach to vampire lore. The vampires here are sensitive to sunlight, they can smell blood with a kind of shark-like precision, and they’ve got that veiny, undead look that falls somewhere between Nosferatu and bad eczema. It’s not entirely original, but it’s executed well enough to feel like a cohesive world.
In the end, Bogieville is an odd, ambitious film that has some genuinely intriguing moments, with a hint at something deeper waiting to come out. But it all gets lost in the clutter, and the movie just tries to be too many things at once, and instead of blending tones, it fumbles between them.
It may not be a great film, but I think it is an interesting one, and that's something. And considering its low budget, it isn't a bad film either, watchable even, but it certainly has its issues, but I am prone to look at the positives for such a low budget film.
But something really good is there waiting to come out, if only some better decisions were made.