Red Snow is a 2021 American horror comedy movie directed by Sean Nichols Lynch. The film features Dennice Cisneros as a writer of supernatural romance stories who lives in Lake Tahoe. During the Christmas holidays, she faces a problem with vampires. The movie first showed in other countries at London FrightFest on August 26, 2021, and was made available to the public on December 28, 2021.
Plot
Struggling vampire romance novelist Olivia Romo spends her Christmas holidays alone at her late mother's cabin in Lake Tahoe. One night, an injured bat crashes into her window. Olivia brings the hurt animal into her garage to care for it. The next morning, Olivia is surprised to find the bat has changed into a handsome vampire named Luke.
Olivia buys pig's blood from the local butcher to feed her new guest. Soon, the weakened vampire is standing and speaking. The two unlikely friends begin to get to know each other and develop a weak friendship, but Olivia becomes worried about Luke's goals as his past problems start to affect him.
Vampire hunter Julius King visits Olivia, pretending to be a private investigator. He tells Olivia he is searching for three dangerous criminals, one of whom is Luke. Olivia hides Luke's identity, but King sees through her lies. He tries to capture Luke by force, but he is killed in the process.
Luke tries to improve his relationship with Olivia by offering advice about her book. Just as he earns her trust, his vampire friends Jackie and Brock arrive, suggesting that Luke has strayed too far from his strict vampire ways and must kill Olivia.
Jackie and Brock enter Olivia's home on Christmas Eve, and Olivia barely escapes in King's abandoned car. While the vampires go on a killing spree, Olivia discovers the truth about Luke's past from King's records. Olivia contacts one of King's friends, Simon, who warns her not to face the dangerous vampires alone. Despite this, on Christmas morning, Olivia returns to her cabin and fights the vampires, killing Jackie and Brock by stabbing them in the heart. Olivia then shoots Luke with a crossbow, seemingly killing him as well.
Ten months later, Olivia becomes a successful author of vampire fiction. After a book signing in Los Angeles, Olivia returns to her cabin, where she has locked up the barely alive Luke in her garage. She forces him to be her muse in exchange for blood.
Cast
- Dennice Cisneros portrayed Olivia Romo
- Nico Bellamy portrayed Luke
- Laura Kennon portrayed Jackie
- Vernon Wells portrayed Julius King
- Alan Silva portrayed Brock
- Edward Ewell portrayed Simon
Production
While working on the project, Lynch got ideas from some of his favorite vampire films, such as Fright Night and The Lost Boys. He created the characters of Olivia and Luke especially for Cisneros and Bellamy. Other actors were chosen from the San Francisco Bay Area. The film was filmed in real places in Lake Tahoe over a period of 12 days. There was also one extra day of filming at a bookstore in Berkeley, California.
Release
The film first showed at Panic Fest, a festival that screens horror and other types of films in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 14, 2021. Later that year, it was shown at film festivals in many places around the world, including London FrightFest, New York City Horror Film Festival, GenreBlast, and Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre.
The film became available for online streaming through several services in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Korea on December 6, 2021. It was also released on DVD and through online streaming services in the United States on December 28, 2021.
Reception
The film has a 75% positive rating from 12 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Martin Unsworth of Starburst gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and said the acting by Cisneros was good, noting, "she showed great excitement when meeting a real vampire and performed the role well." Cath Clarke of The Guardian said the film's humorous style was not well received, stating, "she called it a dark comedy with some silly, messy scenes."
The film received the Audience Award and Best Horror/Thriller Feature at the 2021 GenreBlast Film Festival. It also earned Best On-Screen Duo for Cisneros and Bellamy. At the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, the film received the Best Feature prize. The New York City Horror Film Festival named the film Best Horror Comedy Feature in its 2021 edition. For her role as Olivia Romo, Cisneros received Best Actress in a Feature Film in the International Category at Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre in Argentina and the Masque Rouge award for Best Performance at the Portland Horror Film Festival.