Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1

I love Vampire movies but this one put me to sleep. I kept waiting for the movie to get better but it did'nt.Everything about this movie sucks the acting,script everything.Who are these people that gave this movie a good review,in fact i'm taking back the one star I gave this movie and giving it a minus five star rating.I'm informing everyone not to waste there time and money on this movie.

I thought this was the tv series about vampire diaries...it's,rather, a documentary of some sort that scared my socks off!Horrible thing!

Sisters Helen and Lara Baxter have typical sibling rivalry, quickly and effectively set up within the first scene featuring the two, in the indie horror flick "Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries, Part I." Goth-chick Lara (Eilis Cahill) worships at her Anne Rice altar while over-achieving Helen (Devon Bailey) gets all the school awards -- and all the boys. Lara wishes her sister was dead, and soon that wish is granted. But Helen returns as a vampire, and the film then tells the story of a devoted mother (JoJo Hristova) and the rest of her clan as they cope with a family member who has returned from the grave. This new Helen is handled without much flare (or over-questioning the "whys" and "hows"), in part due to her mother's religious devotion. Soon biologist brother Raymond (Michael Strelow) chimes in with some pseudo-science regarding the cause of Helen's vampirism, while Lara fills in the blanks with her mythological knowledge. Starting out with promise, and some good practical makeup effects, the film soon runs out of things to say.The story itself is pretty straight-forward, and although technically the film is plagued with muffled dialogue and poor lighting, these aspects are easily forgiven; after all, it is low budget. Championed with enthusiasm by one-man-band Phil Messerer, who acted as writer, shooter, producer, director and editor, "Thicker Than Water" was perhaps too much a burden for one man to bear. The trouble with wearing so many hats is there's no one else around to tell you what works, and what doesn't. As a result, for a horror-comedy, most of the jokes fall flat, which is unfortunate because the over-the-top gore and bizarre actions of the family members really need a good counter-balance of comedic situations, but alas this is not the case. As with many films, the comedy that works is featured in the trailer.Interspersed within the main story is a back story of the vampiress "Oya," featuring Freemasons (check) and an ancient culture (check), which I guess in some way is a counterpoint to what modern-day Helen is going through, perhaps setting up future tales, as "Thicker Than Water" is part 1 of a proposed trilogy. The trouble is, each time this back story is presented, the movie hits a brick wall, and we're left to take a washroom break or grab a drink rather than sit through these unnecessary scenes. What really would have helped the story is a tighter edit; many scenes are too long, somewhat repetitive, and the over-use of montage really drags the plot. Add to that too much voice-over, some bizarre musical choices, and too many crotch-level & extreme close up shots, and you get a story with a lot of promise but without the best execution. By the time a vampire shows up straight out of an Anne Rice novel, all you can do is say "huh" and wonder why this and another plot twist was added so late into the story.I have to say the acting is a standout; lead Bailey effectively chews the scenery, while Hristova makes the best of what little she is given as the devoted mother. Cahill effectively portrays the emo "all the world is against me" teenager, although she eventually becomes a little too annoying for her own good.Overall, "The Vampire Diaries" series shows promise, and if Messerer can Let The Right One In by bringing in a collaborator or two, part 2 may be a worthwhile sequel to this story.[...]

With low budget independent films - those not made independently by the huge studios - you find a few gems in the muck. Thicker than Water: The Vampire Diaries is that.It has its faults, as all films do. There's a bizarre Mayan temple start and creepy (but not in the good way) double-intro voice over situation. Then we shoot over to the cool part of the story.Story goes...a young Goth chic, Lara Baxter (Eilis Cahill), complete with the cheerleader twin sister, Helen (Devon Bailey), live in a tourist shanty on the eastern shores of the United States.Lara is into black and red and hangs at the local Wicken filled Freakatorium Shoppe of Curiosities. Her sister, a bubble of sunshine, has the local letter-jacketed testosteronies buzzing around her and a Pollyanna look at life.Mom (Jo Jo Hristova) is an ex-professional skater from a foreign suppressed land close enough to Transylvania to make her immediately suspicious. And brother, Raymond (Michael Strelow) is an uber eccentric scientific loose canon channeling Crispin Glover; but with originality and less spoofing.The family is very dysfunctional. But when Goth chic tries to give Cheerleader chic acne via some voodoo curse, perhaps Lara was a tad a heavy handed on the toad spit. Because viola! Helen becomes a vampire.Whoops-an-undead!But the seemingly McHateful Clan suddenly really pull together - and pull apart others - to keep their family together. Here TTW:VD becomes unique; women leads, a cool story line, and real emotional relationships.Underneath all this we are hinted to that there may be more to Helen's transformation than sis' ill-thought voodoo curse juvenilely involving a cut up Barbie, some hair strands, and a few cage-free eggs whipped gently with teenage hate and crested with a nice firm cow's heart.The family believe (for now) that the spell is what has turned little Ms. DoRight into a creature of the night.I am ignoring many of the faux pas of the Mayan jolts, and odd back-story of the dad who is instantly out of the film via divorce. Because the cast left behind are wonderful.