Text © Richard
Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet
The Things We Cannot Change
Directed by Joshua Nelson
LAS
Productions
94 minutes, 2022
It is impressive when a film takes a topic down to basics. For most vampire tales, as soon as one is bit and joins the “team,” it is all bets off and they instantly become a villain (e.g., 1985’s Fright Night), with rare exceptions (such as 1987’s Near Dark or 2007’s 30 Days of Night). A vampire with a conscious is always interesting.
The film is like a series of vignettes, approaching the topic of vampirism as an addiction closer to narcotics than, say, alcohol. A large part of the story deals with a 12-step program (from which the title is derived) for neck biters who are highly compelled to – er – bite necks, led by Dr. Abraham (Richard Rampolla). Some are in total distress with their lives since they were “turned,” and others just accept it as part of nature. As one, Veronica (Laurie Lemire) states, natural, like a wild animal; she wants the vampires to go out and kill as she believes vampires are the superior race, like Stephen Dorff’s character in Blade (1998).
There is a playing around with the vampire mythos to fit the story, with which I have never had an issue. For example, a vampire can bite to the point of killing, or let the person live, which will turn them into one of their own. We get to hear a number of stories of how and why our cast has become what they are, such as Zoey (Jennifer Torres), a bullied teen who found solace with the “strange” group at school. As I said, some were sorry they made the choice, others not so much. They also live a long time, but whether they are “immortal” or longevity-enhanced is not clear. Also, they do not appear to be the Undead, just readjusted, and can still eat plain food, though the need for blood is insatiable. Another deference to the lore is they are not bothered by daylight and can be photographed. All of these work in the context of the story, and the film’s budget.
Through this community and vignettes, we meet people who are trying to live a relatively normal life, like housewife Kristen (Jenn Nobile), whose husband just found out about her addiction, and others who just accept it for what it is, like sharp tongued as well as toothed office worker Lucy (Katie Raulerson), who had a unique way to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, or Victoria (Debra Holtzman), who is still human but wants desperately to be turned because she believes it has to be better than the life she has now. It is this different characters as well as their situations that keep the story going and interesting.
As much as this is a horror film, per se, it is more of a psychological thriller. In fact, the word “vampire” does not appear in film even once, because it deals with the symptoms of addiction, rather than the preconceived notions of it. As the old expression posits, the territory is not the map. That being said, Kitty Hecker’s SFX is well done. It is also interspersed rather than a gorefest, to maximize the effects. And when it does show up, most of the time it is quite effective. Also, as one can see by the photos with this review, the vampires’ look is quite striking and cool.
The cast is part of the director’s circle of actors (as he is one himself, though he is not in this film) who appear in many of his releases, both features and shorts (he has released over 70 of them, to date). For an indie with this low a budget, he makes the most of it, and his cast is actually quite good. While there are a few beauties in there, most of the cast is quite everyperson looking, like someone from next door, which makes the overall focus of the film, which comes to light at the end, more harrowing.
Another fine point I really enjoyed
was how the red sunsets are made to look like blood, with floating blood cell corpuscles
imposed over the image, appearing to be sunspots on the camera.
IMDB listing HERE
Trailer can be found HERE
