The V Word – Masters of Horror: The V Word (2006)

Directed by: Ernest R. Dickerson | 59 minutes | horror | Actors: Arjay Smith, Branden Nadon, Michael Ironside, Lynda Boyd, Jodelle Ferland, Keith D.Humphrey, Terry D.Stevens

Vampires have been sought-after protagonists for scary movies of all kinds since the early days of Hollywood. It is therefore not so surprising that the series ‘Masters of Horror’ eventually also comes with a film about this frequently exploited subject. The trouble all begins when boys Justin and Kerry decide in the middle of the night to visit a morgue because they’ve “never seen a real corpse.” They are soon attacked by a wandering vampire, with dire consequences. ‘The V-Word’ can be roughly divided into two parts.

In the first part, the emphasis is mainly on building up tension and evoking a dark, creepy and gloomy atmosphere, while in the second part, the blood flows and sprays freely. The makers have also tried to incorporate a kind of small family drama about Justin and the difficult relationship with his father and (to a lesser extent) his mother in the film, but this subplot is hardly or not at all.

The biggest problem with ‘The V-Word’ is that the film builds on a theme that has been edited so many times and in so many ways. Dickerson fails to give an original twist to the theme, which means that this production is mainly a repetition of moves: we’ve all seen it before, and above all, better. The real horror fanatics will still be able to get a few nice things from this work, but most things such as torn necks, blood-sucking creatures of the night and scare scenes in the twilight are part of the standard repertoire of almost all films in this genre. What remains is an at times nice film that, however, does not manage to rise above mediocrity.