By Seth Lukas Hynes
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person and The First Omen
M, MA15+
4.25/5, 4.5/5
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is a touching, intimate French Canadian horror comedy-drama that refracts family pressure, tough love, teenage rebellion, bullying and suicidal ideation
through a vampiric prism.
Sara Montpetit stars as Sasha, a young vampire who is too compassionate to kill people for food.
When her family cuts her off from their blood supply, Sasha befriends Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a suicidal student willing to give his life for her, and commits to fulfilling his dying wish before they do the deed.
Montpetit plays Sasha as melancholic and waifish but with a strong will, and Sasha and Paul develop such a sweet connection as reserved kindred spirits.
The pacing is easygoing yet efficient, with the first act succinctly establishing Sasha’s hungry empathy, Paul’s kind nature and the bullying he experiences at work and school.
Paul’s quest to get back at his tormentors, Sasha’s starvation and her tense but enduring bond with her family all feed (pun intended) into each other for a nuanced, low-impact but deeply engaging experience full of heart and dark comedy.
In a year full of legacy franchise entries, The First Omen may be the best of them all.
Anchored by a phenomenal, fearless performance by Nell Tiger Free as Margaret, a nun-in-training who uncovers a conspiracy to birth the Antichrist, The First Omen is a compelling character study and an entrancing, old-fashioned slow-burn with a superb steady escalation of dread and intrigue.
An outstanding directorial debut for Arkasha Stevenson, The First Omen features radiant cinematography, detailed but organic dialogue and shocking yet measured imagery that never goes too far, and it sets up the original 1976 Omen without wallowing in its foundations.
Both films are available to rent or buy on iTunes.
