By BILL REICK
Starring Kimberly Gundani, Michelle Dowlan and Angelina Jeyarajah
Written and directed by Nathan Hill
Foundation Distribution
There are so many reasons to be fascinated with vampires. They’re an alluring creature, with hypnotic powers that draw us in both as victims and as fans. Vampire tales can be allegorical, with the monsters serving as stand-ins for addiction or our fears of the invasive “other.” These creatures of the night delight onscreen, stoking the audience’s desires and raising questions about centuries-old taboos.
Unfortunately, none of these topics are presented for comment in VAMPIRES IN AUSTRALIA, a recent, deceptively titled documentary. Viewers expecting an exhaustive look at bloodsuckers in Down Under cinema will be sorely disappointed. Beware: this selection has nothing to do with Ozploitation vampire flicks. It doesn’t even have anything to say about vampire stories told by Australian storytellers. There is no attempt to discuss Australian history or its Aboriginal religion and mythology.
Instead, it seems that the documentary just happened to be made in Australia.
So, after listing everything that this presentation is not, we can now shift our attention to what it is, or at least what it attempts to be. VAMPIRES IN AUSTRALIA is a single, poorly lit camera setup of eight Australian women speaking at length, in succession, about bloodsucking beasts.
While this could be a compelling opportunity to platform unique opinions and perspectives, the filmmakers fall flat in terms of production and prompting. While each subject is keen to wax poetic on the matter, the questions they’re answering are boring and overused:
“When did you first become aware of the term vampire?”
“Have you ever had a vampire dream?”
“Who is your favorite fictional vampire character?”
“Do you believe vampires really exist?”
While these questions might spark interesting conversation if posed to the right participants, the talking heads in VAMPIRES IN AUSTRALIA have little to do with the documentary’s themes. Three actresses, two pageant winners, a screenwriter, a model and a cosplayer take turns answering the questions, and the documentary is a disservice to each. While each woman’s experience in her industry is worth the time and exploration of a full-length documentary, the hour runtime is instead wasted on questions like “What do you think of a vampire’s wardrobes?”The narrator even mispronounces Akasha Collins’ name despite the actress saying it out loud just moments later.
VAMPIRES IN AUSTRALIA is the rare documentary with nothing to say and nobody to say it to. Talented interview subjects are squandered, with the most interesting moments happening in the last ten minutes of the too-long hour runtime. Two of the interviewees have memories of Queen of the Damned filming in Melbourne and St. Albans in late-2000. The documentary literally buries the lede, sequestering what could’ve been fascinating stories (if followed up with the right questions) to the final moments of a documentary most will have lost interest in by then.
VAMPIRES IN AUSTRALIA does not meet its potential and instead plays out like it’s meeting a quota. Writer/director Nathan Hill adds another entry to a filmography filled with titles like Vampire Hooker Hotel and Tomboys Unmasked. This one is sadly not worth the snores it would produce, should anyone somehow happen upon it.
