Bloodsucking Bastards (2015) User Reviews

Blood type "B" in a good way

[s3276169 · 6/10 · 10 September 2015]

Bloodsucking Bastards is a "B" blood type vampire movie. That's not a bad thing. This film has enough comedic and acting bite to actually represent a worthwhile watch.

The storyline is utterly predictable but that's no shortcoming as there are enough lightweight laugh's and vampire antics, to keep the story rolling along. Combine this with reasonable acting and you have a winner here. Provided, of course, you accept this films "B" credentials and associated budget.

If you're in the mood for some vampire fun you could do a lot worse than this title. My advice watch it alongside polished Canadian comedic vamp flick, "Suck", for a evenings chuckle worthy vampire fun. Six out of ten from me.

Starts off as crude version of The Office, but surprisingly entertaining after the bloody itty-bitey part commences

[quincytheodore · 6/10 · 11 September 2015]

This mix of vampire comedy and daily life trudge can feel imbalanced sometimes. It's a pretty straightforward story with the usual good guy in work environment, his less productive buddies and the disgruntled love of his life. Then it adds literally gallons of corny bloody spectacle. While it may not open with much glee, the unworldly struggle towards the end proves to be ludicrously amusing.

Fran Kranz, the same guy from The Cabin in the Woods, plays as Evan, a hard working employee of a company that doesn't appreciate him enough. Instead of being promoted, he finds himself in the verge of losing his job and also probably his life as supernatural forces begin to influence the company. The movie makes fun of its characters in highly self-deprecating manner, definitely not your usual troupe to fight the undead.

There's an underlying analogy of dutifully working for scraps, which isn't polished enough at first. The fun starts as these mostly incompetent characters have to face not only their dreadful job, but the titular bloodsucking foes. It produces a hectic cynical parody that gets better as more blood is spilled.

Script is well written enough to be identifiable and the delivery from actors is often openly mocking both real as well as nocturnal life. There are lots of visual cues involved, which may be over-the-top yet strangely effectively humorous. Its pace and editing slightly resembles Shaun of the Dead, both have dead-pan sarcastic delivery of dreadful situation.

At the beginning the movie feels incessantly rude and a tad outdated, although there's enough comical content in latter half to raise the enjoyment from its stiff opening.

Not bad

[fil-nik09 · 7/10 · 21 September 2015]

I don't know if I watched before any of the horror comedies, at least in the real sense. I remember some parodies which were trying to be hell funny but they were lame. This movie has a bit of its funny moments but overall it is very entertaining.

What is most positive about this movie for me it is that is not boring. As I said, very entertaining. The story is pretty normal, but the whole vampire thing adds to the fun. I don't know if they were trying to make parody of some other movies. But although this one has a lot of bloody scenes - especially killing of the vampire crew - it is not scary but kinda funny.

Kelly Clarkson as a gay icon?! It seemed to me that it was that her purpose in the movie... and that the security guy and the other one are actually together.

All in all, not bad. Seven from me.

Hilarious

[medelste · 7/10 · 11 September 2015]

Pros:

I picked this movie to see Fran Kranz ("Cabin In The Woods"), expecting a low-budget slog. What a pleasant surprise when I began laughing out loud. The script is hilarious, and a lot of work must've gone into it. I worked on a network team that reminded me of this gang: bosses, office politics, and everything. "Oh yeah, I knew that guy!" or "Hey! I was that guy!" The office building setting couldn't be simpler. The actor playing Tim especially had me cracking up. I think what I liked most was the script's confidence -- you could tell these guys knew they had a funny thing going. This was also a professionally-made film, with decent direction and camera work.

Cons:

BB works much better as a comedy than a horror flick. The effects are fine, and usually funny, but it kinda loses the spark after the first hour. Still, highly recommended.

Bam Snap!

Fun Horror Comedy

[HorrorOverEverything · 6/10 · 10 September 2015]

Bloodsucking Bastards is a fun ride, has some nice gore and some actual laugh out loud scenes. The cast was good for the most part and helped keep the tone of the movie nice and light. There were a few characters on the annoying side but not enough to fully pull the movie down. One of my main complaints would be that things do take a while to truly get going, but at least there was some decent humor to keep things entertaining.

This was a nice surprising treat, I really like horror comedies but so many of them seem to fall flat. "Bloodsucking Bastards" isn't perfect and some of the humor was a little too dry but it definitely did a good job of being fun and not really taking itself seriously at all.

6.5/10

Had medium hopes, was disappointed.

[purplepumpkinpower · 4/10 · 2 November 2015]

In the same vein as horror comedies such as Shaun of the Dead, Bloodsucking Bastards tries to deliver laughs and scares but unfortunately fails to bring either to the table.

From the beginning you can see exactly what the movie is trying to achieve. An overworked underdog is put into a situation where he has to overcome monsters, get the girl, and avoid impending death. This much is readily Apparent in the trailer and is an easy enough story line to follow for a fun B movie. Unfortunately... you have to care about the characters to actually pull off that story line.

The comedic timing is off, and many of the characters are extremely unlikable, which can work in some cases, but in this case just doesn't due to the poor character development and the timing of the jokes.

I would say, stream this if you're bored, but don't plan a night around it or buy it.

Pretty Good Horror Comedy

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 23 August 2015]

The story of Evan Sanders (Fran Kranz), a dutiful and overworked employee stuck at a soul-killing corporation with his beautiful co-worker and girlfriend Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick) and his slacker best friend Tim (Joey Kern). Evan's world begins to crumble when Amanda dumps him and his boss Ted (Joel Murray) hands his coveted promotion to his nemesis Max (Pedro Pascal).

The film is marketed as a mix between "Office Space" and "Shaun of the Dead". Individually, these are some high bars, and together may be impossible to match. But the comparison is fair. "Office Space" definitely seems to have been an influence. And while this may not become the cult classic of either of those two, it excels far better than most horror comedies ever manage to.

"Horror comedy" as a genre (or subgenre) is more challenging than it sounds. Some in recent years have been great, including "Tucker and Dale Versus Evil" and the aforementioned "Shaun". Many more fail. "Brutal Massacre", for example, was chock full of horror icons and tried to be a good comedy, but ends up rather flat, ultimately failing in both horror and comedy categories. "Bloodsucking B..." gets the balance right. Some of it is downright funny, and there is more blood and gore here than... well, almost any movie ever.

The comedy also works on multiple levels. Most of it is obvious, but there are enough references to keep you finding more hidden gems. Talking of "calling in sick to see a baseball game" is clearly a reference to "Ferris Bueller". But is the name Max a reference to "Lost Boys"? Probably, but maybe not.

Definitely worth a watch. Even if you do not buy a copy, at least rent it or check it out on demand.

30 minutes of bloodsucking fun but the rest mostly just sucks

[Seth_Rogue_One · 4/10 · 12 April 2016]

Okay I've seen worse, but yeah not too impressive movie and takes far too long time for any bloodsucking to commence, first half of the movie is pretty much a (mostly mean-spirited) office comedy with mostly unlikeable characters.

The second half, or to be correct the last 30 minutes is rather entertaining and action-packed but we had to sit through 50 minutes of (mostly) unfunny jokes and little plot to get there, and you have to judge the movie on a whole not a good last third.

Horror in the office can be done well 'NOT SAFE FOR WORK (2014)' with Max Minghella is a good example of that, or if you need a bit of comedy in your office-horror 'INHUMAN RESOURCES' aka 'REDD INC. (2012)' is a much better alternative than this.

"You trying to repel me with a cross made of pencils?"

[sliceoffriedgoldblog · 6/10 · 22 December 2022]

Opening credits can really set the tone for the movie. In this case, Bloodsucking Bastards nails it with the opening credits.

Evan (Fran Kranz, Marty in Cabin in the Woods) is an overworked employee, freshly dumped, and just got passed on a promotion. Life isn't going well for him, but it's about to get worse (and more bloody). Turns out that the homie (nemesis Max) that got the promotion? Vampire. Him and his bestie Tim (Joey Kern, hot guy from Cabin Fever) are now up against an office full of vampires.

We start off with some off-screen deaths before jumping into the gore. Once it gets rocking, it doesn't stop until the end.

The cubicle-based bro banter in this is heavy, but it leans on the entertaining and comedic side rather than the annoying side. You can tell the comedic inspiration was derived from Office Space. For a B horror with a low budget - there's a good cast and crew behind it. You can tell the budget from the low quality camera work, but the actors slip into their roles with ease and set the tone well. The range of personalities in the cast made for great chemistry.

It hits the mark as far as horror comedies go. The underlying metaphor of a soul-sucking office environment vs. Blood-sucking vampires is clear as day. Worth grabbing a beer and having a free watch (with commercials, thanks a lot Freevee).

Rating: Bro banter: 5/10 First half: 4/10 Kelly Clarkson: 7/10 Janitor vampire: 8/10 Exploding vampires: 7/10 Frank the security officer: 10/10 Overall rating: 6/10.

Tries too hard

[michael-3204 · 4/10 · 11 December 2015]

Snarky horror-comedy that tries to blend the vibes of "Office Space" and "From Dusk 'Till Dawn" but doesn't quite have the wit or skill to pull it off. The comedy isn't as flat as the generic action sequences even if it goes mostly for good-natured laughs that lack, shall we say, the bite one might want from a vampire comedy. Too many of the cast members (especially Joey Kern and Pedro Pascal) are stuck doing shtick that seems like it could be thrown into any number of stories or sketches -- only Marshall Givens as a caffeine-fueled security guard and the underused Sean Cowhig as Jerry the Janitor manage to bring some spark of specificity to their roles. I wouldn't question the taste or sanity of anyone who enjoyed this film more than I did -- it isn't an abject failure -- but if you want to see Fran Kranz in a far superior example of comedic horror (one that actually doesn't forget it's a horror film), watch "Cabin in the Woods."

Office Space with vampires

[siderite · 8/10 · 13 October 2015]

Most of the humor in the film is coming from the office dynamics in a typical cubicled corporate office. I don't know if this is still current or not (I mean, it's all about open space now, right?) but it is still funny.

Then there are vampires, which are presented in a really refreshing way. In a way it is a full circle thing: vampires, as a metaphor for noblemen sucking the blood of the working people, now updated for the corporate world which just replaced finery with expensive suits.

The acting is not stellar, but it doesn't have to be. Where the movie excels is the script, with the little funny puns and interesting dialogue. While not perfect, it was mighty entertaining.

There are worse ways to kill an hour and a half.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 11 March 2016]

Mildly amusing, lightly entertaining horror comedy puts forth the idea that if a company's employees were made into vampires, they might actually be more productive. And so it goes in this goofy story of Evan (Fran Kranz, "The Cabin in the Woods"), a dutiful worker at a soul sucking corporation who yearns for a management position. Instead, his old college nemesis Max (Pedro Pascal of 'Game of Thrones') gets the gig. Soon, Evan and his indolent chum Tim (Joey Kern, "Cabin Fever" '02) are among the select few who must do battle with their former co-workers who've all been turned into creatures of the night - or of the poorly illuminated building.

This so-so movie does have its moments. Essentially playing like 'The Office' or "Office Space" with vampires added, it does deliver some modest chuckles. The pace is quick and the energy level pretty respectable. It's a little silly and tiresome at times for this viewer, but it does improve as it goes along, and eventually delivers a decent amount of splatter and a high body count. It does get a bonus point for being filmed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which always helps smaller movies like this to have a bigger feel.

The cast approaches their material with a healthy amount of enthusiasm. Kranz is a likable lead, and Pascal is a hoot as his smug adversary. Emma Fitzpatrick ("The Collection") is an appealing leading lady. Joel Murray ("Hatchet", "God Bless America") is fine as the jovial boss. Offering funny supporting performances are Justin Ware as Andrew and Marshall Givens as Frank the Security Guard.

Agreeable enough entertainment for 84 minutes.

Six out of 10.

Solid effort.

[Krackoon · 5/10 · 10 September 2015]

Gory, funny, nice character development, and some action.

'Bloodsucking Bastards' isn't quite on the same level as 'Dead Alive,' or 'Shaun of The Dead,' but you can see the director was probably influenced by both films somewhat. Fran Kranz did a decent job in the lead spot, although I'm not a fan of his. Joey Kern spent most of his time scene stealing, and carrying the film for the most part, along with Marshall Givens, who didn't get nearly enough screen time. The film does a good job with the gore, maybe too excessive at times. The humor of the film solely rides on Kern/Givens, so it's probably not nearly as funny as they were hoping it would be, since Fran Kranz style of humor just flies right over my head. If you're looking for more laughs, look no further than 'What We Do in The Shadows,' which packs a lot more bite. Pun intended. Don't get me wrong, I laughed several times, but there's a handful of other moments during the film, where I thought I should have laughed, but didn't.

'Bloodsucking Bastards' is certainly worth checking out. If you like gore, a little humor, you can do worse. I just thought the film was lacking whenever Joey Kern and Marshall Givens weren't on the screen, which, fortunately, isn't very often.

Random Ramblings of a Madman: Fran Kranz belongs on television - he's just not a guy who should be a lead in your film. He's the best friend of the lead in your film. Basically, he's a supporting actor, best forgotten about once the credits start to roll. 'Bloodsucking Bastards' is a nice effort, and an enjoyable one time viewing.

Entertaining Despite a Slow Start

[bournemouthbear · 6/10 · 2 October 2015]

Bloodsucking Bastards (2015)

If the film's title Bloodsucking Bastards hasn't given you a clue as to what to expect here then maybe the tagline 'Work it sucks the life out of you' will. Yep, this a vampire comedy horror billed as 'Office Space meets Shaun of the Dead'. By comparing itself to two cult flicks where laughs are high sets an awfully high precedent for director Brian James Connell's movie. It is a level that it fails to reach but that doesn't mean that his premise, where the bosses are literally sucking the staff dry in order to improve a company's performance, is without any charm or fun along the way.

It's initially difficult to warm to our lead character Evan (Fran Kranz). He's no Shaun, as in Shaun of the Dead. Sure Shaun is put upon at work, has a slobby best mate and girlfriend issues, but his circumstances are more or believable, and therefore more relatable. Evan is too much of a victim. for the most part, so it's no easy to emphasis with him.

Evan has messed up with HR director Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick), with whom he is romantically entangled, or was until he responded badly to her saying she loved him one evening. Evan finds solace in believing that a forthcoming promotion to Sales Manager will be his only to find it offered to a company outsider. The outsider is smarmy, slimy, slick Max (Pedro Pascal), an old rival of Evan's. No sooner has Max made himself known co-workers start disappearing and/or change into a more aggressive persona with Evan's colleagues slow to pick up on the changes.

Obviously filmed on a budget, but filmed and played with enthusiasm and glee, Bloodsucking Bastards overcomes its shaky start - it takes awhile to warm to the characters - and never overplays the vampire angle with puny related puns. Some visual panache is called for rather than the static camera-work on offer and it's also slow in finding its feet. The screenwriters clearly enjoyed dispensing the earlier 'witty' and crude insults, failing to realise that their script works better with the lighter asides - such as colleagues asking what the character Dave actually does each day at work aside from going around telling people they owe him money.

Fran Kranz (Evan) will be familiar to genre fans as the stoner from the overrated The Cabin in the Woods however the real stars in Bloodsucking Bastards are Joey Kern, as Evan's laid-back best friend Tim and David F. Park as Dave who seems to have no real function in their workplace. Things get suitably bloody come the climax and the earlier reservations are completely forgotten. Bloodsucking Bastards plays like Shaun of the Dead, albeit with vampires and not zombies, and whilst it's not in the same league is does pick up halfway through and becomes a lot of fun.

Check out more of my reviews at www.mybloodyreviews.com

Better than I was expecting.

[Dodge-Zombie · 7/10 · 11 July 2022]

There's a few movies out there about offices with a death count. So when I saw this I thought it had a lot to live up to.

I can honestly say it managed to fit in pretty well with the others. It's a pretty silly movie in parts but it actually works.

If you liked "The Belko Experiment", "Mayhem" or "Office Uprising" then this should be for you.

Recommended.

Not really "hilarious"..

[DBLurker · 5/10 · 7 February 2016]

Meh! I didn't hate this movie but nowhere in the movie I burst out laughing or thought "wow that was a good one" when it came to dialogs or action.

And this movie really tries VERY hard to be funny and clever. I enjoyed it but in the end, the vampires are generic, action is boring, protagonist is boring and so is the main villain. I guess the only interesting characters were the side characters.. but not that much.

I liked the bloody kills, they were funny, but everything else during action was boring. Vampires themselves are the generic types you see in average vampire shows like Buffy or Angel. Nothing new going on with vampire lore, definitely nothing new going on with the office setting.

In the end, it isn't a bad movie. I wasn't bored. I just wasn't entertained enough.

A fun vampire comedy

[korythacher · 7/10 · 29 July 2021]

This is one of the better vampire comedies I've seen and I was torn between a 6-7 rating. If this sounds like the kind of movie you like, then you will probably have a good time.

It wasn't hilarious, but it was pretty funny and over the top.

It had some pretty decent and fun cinematography in some spots and it was a very fun watch with a group of people.

It certainly gave me one of my new favorite nicknames for vampires that I won't spoil here!

Light timewaster

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 2 October 2018]

BLOODSUCKING BOSSES is a low budget comedy horror flick in the EVIL DEAD mould, except much more campier and jokey in tone. The story has the feel of THE OFFICE with lots of desk-centred humour and geeky characters commenting on the action. They think their lives are bad when they're being oppressed by their hated bosses, but a sudden vampire outbreak makes things much, much worse. There's a lot of gory humour here, particularly in the second half, which works well, although I did find the central characters rather annoying and overstated. Pedro Pascal is good value in support. The film is light, airy and completely forgettable, but it passes the time well enough.

Drenched

[scythertitus · 7/10 · 4 March 2016]

The most important thing to know about this film is that it really only gets going in the third act, both in terms of comedy and gore/violence. Before that there are some jokes and some blood but for the most part it is pretty tame and lame, although the story and characters remain solid throughout.

As a movie it is definitely entertaining, it does threaten to turn into a cliché, especially in terms of the love interest having no redeemable features since they are used to garner sympathy for the main. However in the end that doesn't happen and the film is actually pretty refreshing in how it handles things in terms of plot and overall resolution. Although the end does feel a bit rushed, but not enough to mar the whole experience.

Overall there is a lot more to like about this movie than dislike. It's unfortunate that most of the real laughs come two-thirds into the runtime, but as a whole the movie works and you could almost see it as a parallel for the breaking free of a corporate environment: things start off pretty generic and orderly and then gradually become more and more off-the-wall and original. I'm not sure if that's what the film-maker was going for but that's how it plays out; the first half is the dry tinder that fuels the fire of the second, so give it a chance and let it have room to breathe.

Prepare to be drained of life

[rooee · 2/10 · 7 May 2016]

This alleged comedy horror – meekly retitled from Bloodsucking Bastards – begins as an Office Space wannabe white collar satire and ends up painting the workspace red.

The Cabin in the Woods' Fran Kanz plays Evan, acting sales manager at a company which is purportedly a drab place to work even though its employees are able to play video games and watch porn at their desks. Evan has recently screwed things up with the hot HR manager, Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick). He's mercilessly mocked by his smartass colleagues, including best bud Tim (Joey Kern). The banter reaches breaking point when a git from high school, Max (Pedro Pascal), waltzes in and steals Evan's promotion. But there's more to Max than meets the eye. Turns out he's planning to create a vampire army out of the office staff. Can Evan and co wield chair leg stakes and save the day?

With its high concept promise it goes out of its way to be liked, but even as a basic concept the movie doesn't work. If the plan is to farm a staff that will function without free will, why crazed vampires and not docile zombies?

The try-hard attitude is evident from the first abrasive note of the techno-inflected opening credits and continues right through to the end, a long 80 minutes later. The bleak, fluorescent-lit office has been satirically explored so many times now that smug bosses shooting finger guns or stony faces listening to elevator muzak just isn't funny anymore.

The script from first-time writer Ryan Mitt is a cringer. If you're not on board straight away with the juvenile quickfire banter then this isn't the film for you. When it's not being cruel (the fat girl in the office is bullied, pure and simple) it's insufferably sarcastic in the least appealing internet forum manner: equal doses mocking and macho and inane. You know when guys in real life make each other laugh and then one of them suggests they should write a sitcom? This is what happens.

The lack of sincerity and conviction is fatal. There are good self- referential meta-horrors around (indeed, when we glimpse Matthew Lillard late on, we're reminded of a great one from 20 years ago), but this isn't one of them.

Between the bland and claustrophobic camera-work and the scrappy editing, we get no laughs or scares, and the occasional decent prosthetics can't make amends for the lack of inventiveness. Remember those great slapstick action scenes from Edgar Wright's Three Cornettos trilogy? Yeah, you'll be remembering them as you stare blankly at the dullness unfolding in the final act.

It's an absolute horror show, and not in a good way. Avoid.

I liked it! Light hearted, yet well done!

[metallipowerman5000 · 8/10 · 27 September 2015]

I'd say it's a weird mix between Office Space, Shaun of the Dead and Fright Night. I give it an "A" for originality as well. There were a few times when things were lining up for a cliché' horror movie moment, but suddenly things veer off the page or jump right to the point, in a hilarious way! I also appreciate how they didn't try to re-invent the wheel. It's almost like they knew where "their particular" sweet spot in comedy was...and kept riding it out through the entire movie. There wasn't any rocky highs and lows with comedy and horror mixing(like most movies of this genre). It was kind of chill and relaxed, yet just enough excitement to keep you curiously hooked on the edge. The personalities really sync in a light-hearted way, it feels pretty genuine and stupid at the same time. It's almost got like a weird sympathetic view towards the vampires too, it's silly yet believable, haha.

Extremely funny, but...

[Mr. OpEd · 6/10 · 11 March 2019]

I would have rated this much higher but there's just too #)$&*%*! swearing. EVERY character seems to have a potty mouth and that wrecks the few jokes with a foul-language payoff that are actually funny.

Good characters, good editing, good writing, but the cussing crushes it.

Bat Fart! 🦇💨

[007Waffles · 4/10 · 29 July 2022]

It looks like a terrible low budget student film with really bad acting, bad directing, and bad camera work. I expected to see a mic boom in each shot. I knew it was going to be cheesy but I didn't expect it to suck this much. I guess Pedro Pascal needed the money.

I recommend skipping to the last 25 minutes of the movie. Nothing worth watching happens before that.

Almost as bad as the American version of The Office.

[fedor8 · 28 April 2022]

Office workers in a firm deal with a vampire threat.

If Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell ever decided to crap out a vampire comedy, this is what it'd be like. For those of you with an intact sense of humour, that should serve as a warning.

The one-liners are sitcom level, sometimes quite cringeworthy.

You know what you'll get.

[perelof · 7/10 · 28 February 2016]

Not going to give a long review here.

The movie delivers what it's supposed to deliver. Cheap jokes and a predictable storyline. Nothing is a surprise, but in this case I actually enjoyed it. Good Sunday movie when you feel like clearing your mind before the next week and just enjoy a little humor. The characters where alright, even though the main characters was far to weak in my opinion (even though I love the actor from his roll in The Doll House). But I guess that was what they were going for. Unfortunately it got quite annoying.

The movie was fine, I enjoyed it but you can't expect the highest quality movie or you'll be disappointed.