Parenthood is something I have avoided like the plague. Not that I wouldn’t die for my nieces and nephews, but the level of responsibility, and sacrifice it takes to raise a child is monumental. My hat goes off to parents, especially single fathers and mothers, who would do anything it takes to make sure their children are healthy and happy…and not blood sucking freaks. This is the basic premise of AARON’S BLOOD.
AARON’S BLOOD is set in a beautiful, sunny rural small town area. It could be the suburbs, or a middle of nowhere small town. Whichever it is, it feels safe. It feels like a great place to raise a kid. As in any small town, community comes together to help one another. What better way to show you care than through donating at a blood drive. You have to love how freaked out people get by donating blood.
Poor Tate (Trevor Stovall) is repeatedly bullied and harassed in school. He finally stands up for himself and it’s his father that gets called in. His father, a single father, Aaron (James Martinez) seems genuinely concerned, caring, and realistic. Tate and Aaron are characters that are played well, and seem to have an authentic bond. I just wanted to yell at the father, though. Never discourage your children from standing up against a bully.
Well, I guess unless your son is a hemophiliac, like Tate is. In that case, Dad may have the right idea. Poor kid. Of course, Tate’s bullies retaliate and hit him in the face during dodge ball, sending Tate to the hospital. Even though Aaron isn’t religious, he knows that what his son is going through is serious and allows a creepy priest, Father Kane (David Castellvi) to visit his son. At this point, I was expecting something disturbing to happen, to my surprise, that wasn’t the case here.
Aaron almost immediately starts having fevered dreams of losing his son. Tate makes a quick recovery and is right back to school, and the same bullies start fucking with him. The first sign of vampirism is acting out at school. Don’t fuck with vampire kids. AARON’S BLOOD is starting to have a real LET ME IN feel to it, and I like it.
Shortly thereafter, it seems like Tate and Aaron’s world starts falling down around them. Like, why is the creepy priest now trying to break into their house? Why is Tate having such a bad reaction to the sun? Fuck, and now the local old man vampire hunters are onto them.
Aaron believes that Tate became a vampire through a bad blood transfusion while he was in the hospital. This immediately brought to mind the tragedy of Ryan White who contracted A.I.D.S. from a blood transfusion. The terror facing Aaron and Tate is brought to a whole different level when put into that perspective. Aaron is no disposing dead bodies so that no one tries to hurt his son, and at the same time he’s trying to hunt down the blood donor.
By the the third act of the film, all the puzzle pieces start to fit together. There is a great twist to the vampire origin, that I should have seen coming a mile away, but didn’t. I love it when that happens. It’s heart warming to see Aaron doing whatever it takes to save his son.
AARON’S BLOOD is a great independent vampire movie. It’s not overly bloody, but it has enough gore to get it’s point across. The characters are all believable. People I want to care about. AARON’S BLOOD didn’t stick traditional vampire mythos, and I appreciated that. It was more about curing, than killing. If you liked LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, or its American remake, LET ME IN, but wanted to see it with a slightly more diverse cast featuring people of color, then AARON’S BLOOD is a must.
RECOMMENDED!
Tags: Aaron's Blood, David Castellvi, Horror, James Martinez, Michael Chieffo, Straight Outta Straight-To-Video, Trevor Stovall
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