The Night is Young (2024)

Smith’s Verdict: ***1/2
Reviewed by Tanner Smith

Whoa, this is my first post on this blog in over seven months? Huh…well, I’ll get back to posting regularly sooner or later.

Today, I checked out Patrick (They Wait in the Dark) Rea’s found-footage LGBTQ vampire flick “The Night is Young.”

Actually, I watched it twice. The first time, I thought it was uneven but with enough good parts to warrant a second viewing, after which I enjoyed the film a lot more.

Lesson learned: don’t always go with your first emotion because then you won’t see the forest for the trees.

I was hooked from the film’s central idea of an influencer chronicling her bad dates and finding herself on a date with a vampire. But as the film began, I was surprised to find how invested I was in seeing the main character, Nora (Sarah McGuire, who also co-wrote the film), go through these bad dates–this whole first act works wonderfully; it’s funny, it’s well-acted, and the Nora character is very engaging.

And then, I remember, “Oh, right–vampire movie. OK, where are we going from here?”

Actually, where we go from here is pretty wild, as Nora meets Emelia (Valeri Bates), who is a vampire being hunted by 3 vampire hunters (Dan Daly, Kurt Hanover, & Kristin Rea) who don’t mess around–and thus begins one crazy date night, to say the least! Lives are in jeopardy, bodies pile up, blood is spilled (and spread), and even during all this madness, there’s room for romantic tenderness as well!

I love when found-footage goes crazy like this. But during my first viewing, I was so into the comedy of Nora’s misadventures in dating, the fun dynamic between her and her constantly-filming videographer brother Jake (Jake Jackson), and even the subtle aspects of characterization that Sarah McGuire exhibits terrifically…that I was a bit thrown off when it became a vampire story.

But the film’s lead characters (Nora, Emelia, & Jake) are so engaging, I’d follow them through any story–and this one’s a good deal of fun. Upon first viewing, I thought the vampire hunters distracted from the more interesting parts of the story, as they all share the personality of…”kill.” But during the second viewing, I was invested in the 3 leads even more and getting more into the spirit of what the film is, which is a fun, twisted vampire flick; and thus, I ended up enjoying rooting against these people.

Back to the leads. I already mentioned how interesting and likable Nora is (and Sarah McGuire is naturally charismatic in the role). Valeri Bates, as Emelia, is terrific, and she brings an intriguing mix of playfulness, menace, and pathos to the role of a vampire who could be your trustworthy friend one minute and then a vicious bloodsucking beast the next–and she and McGuire share good chemistry together. But I was surprisingly impressed by the work of Jake Jackson as the constantly-recording Jake. He’s not onscreen very much and is often a voice behind the camera, and yet he still manages to show a charming presence.

(Or maybe I just like Jackson’s work here because he reacts to the mayhem the same nervous, wisecracking way I probably would–for example, I love the bit in which Emelia first bares her fangs, literally, and approaches the camera as Jake repeatedly asks, “We’re cool, right?”)

So yes, I had a good time with “The Night is Young”–both times. And I think you will too.