By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The lighter side of sucker staking is seen in a horror/comedy that will be unveiled later this month.
Writer/director Ryan Barton-Grimley’s HAWK AND REV: VAMPIRE SLAYERS will have its world-premiere screenings as the midnight attraction on opening night, August 28, and closing night, September 5, of the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles. Barton-Grimley also stars in the movie, along with Ari Schneider, Jana Savage, and Richard Gayler. The synopsis: “Philip ‘Hawk’ Hawkins doesn’t just dream about killing vampires… He eats, sleeps, drinks and freakin’ breathes it. After getting kicked out of the Army for staking a fellow soldier with a blunt 2×4, Hawk almost dies of boredom working as a night security guard at a deserted warehouse in his hometown of Santa Muerte, California…USA. Just when it looks like all Hawk’s options in life have expired, filthy bloodsucking vampires appear and of course… Nobody freakin’ believes him! With his back up against the wall, his sweaty Karate Kid headband tied on tight, real tight, and hordes of bloodthirsty vampires closing in, Hawk enlists the help of the one person who kind of believes him… Revson ‘Rev’ McCabe, a dimwitted, vegan-pacifist groundskeeper. Together they join forces to save the whole entire freakin’ world. Well…at least their hometown anyway.”
“So why the heck did I make HAWK AND REV: VAMPIRE SLAYERS?” Barton-Grimley asks. “Honestly…The world is just so serious. It’s exhausting being tapped into media and technology 24 hours a day. It’s really intense how many issues are happening around the world. There are so many problems everywhere and I was looking for an escape. I was looking for a laugh and something heartfelt. I was looking for some much-needed levity and humor. I was looking for a break. HAWK AND REV: VAMPIRE SLAYERS is quite simply a love letter to my childhood and a more innocent and clueless time when everything seemed possible and like it would turn out OK. It’s a love letter to goofy weirdos with big dreams and ridiculous ideas. It’s just plain old-fashioned escapism. Sure, there are themes and morals and critiques of the ’80s, specifically toxic masculinity and homophobia, in there too, but at the end of the day, I really just hope you enjoy the ride and leave with a nice heartfelt feeling and the knowledge that maybe…just maybe…we’ll all be OK.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWHK_bugcuI
