Yeah, so it goes without saying that I like horror movies…and when I saw this advertised, I was immediately intrigued by the idea. Vampires do tend to be overused in pop culture, but since there was no indication of it being a romance between a vampire and a teenage girl, I figured it would be interesting to watch.

This movie does follow a lot of the same rules as slasher movies, with the introduction of a group of young(ish) people the trailer makes very clear are going to die. I will say that I was a little bit disappointed that the trailer made it clear who the vampire was right from the start. I feel like the movie would have been better if the identity of the vampire had been kept concealed from the viewers.

While I did like Joey as a character and the bond she seemed to form with Abigail (that might have actually been manipulation on Abigail’s part), I was a bit confused about why she seemed able to read people so well, given what was actually revealed about her history and past job.

I do kind of feel like Kathryn Newton brings a very similar energy to each character she portrays. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I really didn’t feel able to connect with Sammy as a character. She just kind of gave off ditzy rich girl vibes, which was disappointing, considering she was supposed to be a really skilled hacker.

This movie definitely didn’t stint on the gore, and it felt very over the top at times, but it wasn’t very hard to suspend my disbelief. It was also good to see the characters discussing how best to kill a vampire based on the legends/stories surrounding vampires. Of course, they probably could have done a much better job other than splitting up the group, which was also fairly typical for slasher movies.

I did think there were a couple of good elements of foreshadowing in this movie, but far too much was given away in the trailer (like Abigail being able to fly, for instance). Plus, I mentioned that I didn’t really care much for Sammy’s character…and sadly, that was true for most of the characters in this movie. Really, they didn’t feel like people with lives outside of the events of the movie, and their connections to Abigail’s father felt kind of forced/shoehorned in.

On the whole, I think this movie could have been improved by holding back a bit more mystery. Really, if you watch the trailer, you know everything that will happen in the movie…or at least the major plot points. But it’s a movie that doesn’t require too much thought, so on that basis, it’s an easy watch. Just don’t expect anything too deep or heavy from this.