In the last couple of months, my search for entertaining low budget films on streaming sites hasn’t been very rewarding. I couldn’t even make it through a few of them (I won’t even bother to mention the names). Fortunately, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person was a pleasant surprise.
This 2023 French language Canadian film, directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, is set in Montreal. While it hasn’t been widely seen in theaters, it has an impressive share of film festival wins and nominations in multiple countries. Like many contemporary independent films, it will most likely reach its widest audience via streaming.
The title lets you know right away that it’s firmly in the horror-comedy genre, though not exactly how I expected. While there’s ample dark humor here, it’s not a laugh-out-loud kind of funny. Nor is there that much horror, at least for a vampire movie. It’s actually more of a dramedy, exploring a platonic relationship between two misfits, one human, the other a vampire.
Sasha (Sara Montpetit) is a young vampire with a problem; she doesn’t like to kill. Her fangs aren’t even properly developed, to the chagrin of her respectable vampire family. Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard) is a suicidal teen who’s bullied both at school and work. Sasha and Paul meet at a group for depressed and suicidal people. The idea is that Paul wants to die and Sasha is seeking willing victims.
The plot is in some ways reminiscent of Let the Right One In (both the Swedish and American versions), but Humanist Vampire has a style of its own. It delves more into areas such as mental health and family dynamics.
One of the main reasons this film works so well is that it doesn’t go overboard trying to be funny. The characters play it straight and avoid the pitfall of becoming parodies, as lesser actors might have done in this kind of movie. Sasha is appropriately morose as a vampire with a conscience, just as her sister Denise (Noémie O’Farrell) is a more typically feral and ruthless example of the species. Paul comes across as a genuinely troubled misfit teen. Despite the absurdity of the premise, we empathize with these characters.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and AMC.