HollyBlood

It's a parody of Twilight that arrives about a decade after Twilight stopped being relevant. Since Twilight's already been parodied ad nauseum the basic premise of this movie instantly feels a bit stale. The cast is affable and there are some funny moments, although they're too few and far between to sustain any kind of comedic momentum. (To be fair I watched with English subtitles, which undoubtedly threw off the timing of some of the dialogue-based humor.) The movie doesn't quite manage either the outright silliness or the sharpness its concept demands. Too often it feels like a straight remake of a teen romcom rather than either a zany send-up or a subversive indictment.

No pun intended - you have to suspend your disbelief, but you have to get in line with the style of humor this throws at you. Humor is always something that may work for someone and not work for someone else entirely. Especially when it is as silly as it is here.

Add the horror factor into it and you may feel cheated in a way the movie did not intend to cheat. We get a feeling that the main character may be telling stories - and it is quite obvious, but he has the heart in the right place. When he is not lying that is - can you really blame him though? I guess you can - but also again, it is a silly comedy. Something that I don't think is meant to be a bluepring on how to behave. Not to mention that certain things are not even possible (and plausible) in the real world anyway ... sit back, relax and let this wash over you. Otherwise you'll likely be annoyed.

Exhausted preferred viewing material on Netflix, so I started looking at shows or movies that deviate from my usual and came upon this title. Judging by the title and the poster, my expectations were already not very high, and were confirmed within the first 5 minutes. Nevertheless, I continued watching. Overall, the acting and dialogue can be a bit mediocre, not to mention the special effects and makeup, but by the end of the movie I felt as if that was intentionally done to add to the comedic effect. The comedy was what kept me watching. Whether it was what someone said or done that made me laugh, the comedy seemed evenly spread out through the movie and kept me engaged. There were definitely scenes and dialogue that had my laughing out loud. This movie is great for those wanting a good afternoon or evening laugh without having to get too involved in the storyline.

Tonight I decided to watch something silly whilst the football was on. I settled on Hollyblood. I'd had it on my watch list for a while, but kept putting it off because I wasn't in the mood for a silly horror film. It was silly, very very silly. Its a film that has a parody of a film in it, the titular Hollyblood. The scene from that are cringeworth, but also in some parts laugh out loud funny. Its clear from the outset that Hollyblood is a spoof of Twilight, and thankfully it only shows us two scenes (one where the main male characters are shirtless and growling at each other). Getting into the film itself, its about a girl (Sara) who loves Vampires, a new boy (Javi) who likes her and a hapless Vampire hunter. The script itself isn't the best, and the acting is patchy but the scenes between Javi and his Dad are pretty funny, just bordering on cringeworthy.

No idea why this doesn't have a higher average rating unless it's because Twilight fans can't take a joke. I, personally, LOVED how the "HollyBlood" movie within this movie pokes fun at the Twilight saga. Especially how it loves shirtless men acting all aggro and buff.

The only thing I loved more than that was Javi's dad, Fernando. The recently divorced dad energy was so well played. His encouragement to Javi, after assuming his son is something other than straight after seeing the HollyBlood site on Javi's laptop, is so funny but also a genuinely endearing attempt to connect and show a child that you love them regardless of their sexuality. Jordi Sánchez acting, his expressions and body language, was just perfect for this story and he absolutely stole the movie for me.

The subplots with Diego, the wannabe vampire hunter, and Carmen, Sara's "disabled" friend are so good that going into any more detail about them would spoil how delightful they were. Isa Montalbán played the character of Sara so well and Óscar Casas was priceless as Javi. The weird little gym teacher and ridiculous dance sequence in gym class was hilarious. The real vampire was good, but that's where the movie starts to plateau for me.

The Manu bully storyline was my least favorite, but teen movies of this sort do always have an obnoxious bully so he serves his purpose well. The ending also falls flat for me. With so many moments that made me laugh out loud throughout the movie, I just think there could have been something more to parody how these teen movies typically end instead of having the exact same kind of cheesy happy ending. The "HollyBlood" fight scene from the movie within the movie was priceless, though.