Movie Review: 'Kicking Blood' is a Nice Twist on the Vampire Genre

Kicking Blood stars Alanna Bale as Anna, a vampire. Anna has a taste for blood and while she is a murderer, she tends to enact her need for blood on bad people who deserve to have their life force sucked out by a vampire. Her first kill, that we see, is that of a man who works at the same library where Anna works. First, Anna witnesses this jerk breaking the heart of her elderly co-worker all while also acting creepy toward Anna.

So, Anna shows up at this co-worker’s home seemingly to give the man what he wants. She is acting seductively and playing off of his creepiness, toying with the man until she decides to take what she came for, his blood. On her way home from this kill, Anna meets a man lying in the streets wishing for death. This man is Robbie (Luke Bilyk), an alcoholic who is hitting rock bottom. He’s lost his friends, his family and his job and seems ready to die.

Anna brings him home with plans to help him die. However, Anna doesn’t kill him. The two have a conversation and Anna goes to bed to kill time until she can go to work at the library before the sun comes up. Returning home, she finds Robbie suffering from alcohol withdrawal and encourages him to take a drink. He refuses and makes up his mind not to drink alcohol again, something that Anna finds unbelievable.

Anna leaves and spends the night hunting with a pair of fellow vampires, Boris (Benjamin Sutherland) and Nina (Ella Jonas Farlinger). The three decide on a victim, an arrogant jerk and cocaine addict who admits to being out to cheat on his wife and family while they are out of town. The three toy with the man, humiliate him, and watch him slowly come to the realization that he’s in grave danger.

Returning home, Anna finds Robbie still suffering and has an epiphany. If Robbie can give up alcohol, could she possibly give up blood? That’s the rest of the plot of Kicking Blood and it's pretty compelling. Alanna Bale is a mysterious actress with wonderfully veiled eyes, and an unearthly quality that works well in performing as a vampire. Bale holds the center of Kicking Blood with an icy confidence that slowly melts away toward something human and vulnerable.

Luke Bilyk isn’t nearly as interesting as Bale but he serves his purpose. Robbie’s purpose is to show Anna that people are capable of change, even after they’ve done horrible things. Robbie seems to have every reason to give up and drop inside a bottle until his life ends but he decides to change. Luke makes a decision, he sticks to it and he perseveres. It’s not exactly an inspiring story but it serves the purpose of motivating Anna to make a rather massive change in her life.

Kicking Blood was directed by Blaine Thurier and it's a stylish piece of direction. The film is very dark aesthetically and that darkness slowly giving way to light, is a simple but effective aesthetic for a movie about a vampire giving up her dark side to move toward the light of humanity. The film is not definitive as to whether or not such a thing is possible and that is also an effective way to explore this idea while remaining true to the nature of vampire movies.

All of that said, Kicking Blood turns on the performance of Alanna Bale and Bale is the reason to see Kicking Blood. Bale is a terrific presence. I mentioned her mysterious quality, her veiled eyes but she’s also quite charismatic, her line delivery has personality and her manner is a mix of confidence and a growing sense of ennui that is all communicated through her body language and affectations. It’s a full bodied performance and one I enjoyed a great deal.

Kicking Blood arrived in limited theatrical release on March 31st, 2022.