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Summer of Blood follows Erik, a lazy, delusional, pompous creep who has been dealt a much better lot in life than he deserves. When his attractive, young lady friend proposes to him, he turns her down and is then put out on his ass. A newly single Erik tries his luck in the dating pool but finds that his charms do not have universal appeal. But that all changes when he is bitten by a vampire and suddenly becomes irresistible to the opposite sex. Now his only problem is finding a steady supply of human blood to quench his insatiable thirst.
Summer of Blood is written and directed by Onur Tukel. Tukel also stars in the film alongside Alex Karpovsky, and Anna Margaret Hollyman. Tukel is genius as Erik. He does a fantastic job of bringing the character to life in a way that I couldn’t imagine any other performer doing. He is perfect for the part physically and also does a great job of getting inside Erik’s head. He is equal parts delusional and arrogant and the mixture proves to be a winning one. Erik is the kind of character that horror fans will love to hate.
Erik’s complete lack of self awareness is totally hilarious. Tukel sets him up as a character that exists in a bubble. He has been given a better lot in life than he actually deserves and that’s gone to his head to the point of making him completely unaware of what a prick he is.
While Onur Tukel may steal the show as Erik, he isn’t the only standout performance. Dakota Goldhor (Thumbsucker) is really funny as Erik’s hipster co-worker Penelope. Also, Anna Margaret Hollyman is both enjoyable and likable as Erik’s soon to be ex-girlfriend.
It’s not always easy to stick the landing when it comes to blending horror and comedy but I am very pleased to say that Summer of Blood does it and makes it look easy. It’s one of the funniest horror comedies I’ve seen in years. It melds comedy and horror with the same effortless brilliance as films like Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.
There are plenty of perfectly timed one-liners. The scene where Erik comes across a man bleeding profusely from his neck and offers him a tampon and then remarks, “I hope you’re HIV negative” is expertly executed. There are plenty of other fantastic quips included within the film’s 86-minute runtime but I don’t want to spoil any of them.
The film is relatively short – clocking in at about 86-minutes. It doesn’t waste any time getting started on making its audience laugh or delivering copious amounts of gore though. The pace stays steady throughout the film’s runtime and there is no point in the film where the laughs or the carnage cease to be consistently delivered.
The gore is practically executed and very well done at that. There’s plenty of carnage that transpires onscreen and it should be a delight for horror fans.
WICKED RATING: 8/10 [usr 8]
Director(s): Onur Tukel
Writer(s): Onur
Stars: Onur Tukel, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Dakota Goldhor
Release: Friday October 17, 2014 (Limited theatrical and VOD)
Studio/ Production Co: Dark Sky Films
Language: English
Length:86 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Horror-Comedy
