What I'm Watching: Bit
Oh huh. It’s been almost a year? My bad. I’ve been watching lots of stuff, just haven’t squeezed in any reviews. But that changes today, with a review of the VERY brand new vampire movie, Bit!
I first heard about Bit…a year ago? A little more? Some time just before Outfest 2019, where the movie generally premiered. I’ve become a fan of actress Nicole Maines, so when she started hyping she was gonna star in a vampire movie? I was all in from the word go.
And a lot of time passed. But a week or two ago, they finally announced the movie was gonna drop on Video On Demand…well, today! Fortunately I’m a night owl (often called a vampire myself, but I digress) so was handily up when Amazon posted it, and I sat down and watched it over dinner. And here we are. I literally could not be writing this review any sooner.
“In this world, it takes a tremendous amount of guts for some people to merely exist, much less be who they truly are.”
Bit centers around freshly graduated Laurel, who is venturing off to California to live with her brother for a bit, spread her wings, and get a taste of independence before figuring out what she wants to do with her life.
Unfortunately for Laurel, any plans she has are rudely interrupted when she runs into a local gang of vampires who take a shine to her, feed on her, and ask her if she wants to join them. Like any reasonable person, Laurel says yes.
From there, we meet the crew, learn the lore, and watch as Laurel tries to learn the ropes. The movie doesn’t waste any time. There’s no long drawn out sequence of Laurel slowly turning and realising. It’s very up front about what it is. It knows we live in a world filled with vampire movies, and it trades off that wonderfully. It references the occasional vampire movie, it uses the common lore while ditching what it doesn’t want, and builds its own.
Most notably in the new rule book, no boys allowed. Men have their issues with power, and after her own experiences with those abuses, the leader of this group, a vampire named Duke who has been turned since the 70s, she made it a rule that no men would ever become vampires again. Based on her experiences, it’s easy to empathise with Duke, and the rest of the Bite Club.
While one might get the sense that the movie is gearing up for a showdown between Duke and Laurel, and it does deliver on that front to a degree, there is still a lot going on beyond these two and their potential rivalry. There are vampire hunters to be wary of, and there is the vampire who turned Duke, Vlad, lurking in a vault somewhere, unable to be killed, and a constant threat looming over the proceedings.
Duke is a wonderfully realised character, brought to life by Diana Hopper. She revels in her power, after decades of being under Vlad’s thrall. She’s been around the block, she’s in charge, and she knows it. And while she may be harsh from her experiences, there are some wonderful moments, especially when she’s alone with Laurel, where she opens up, and you see a softer side, that does not at all take away from her strength. Also there is this little character detail where she lights a cigarette up after every kill, like she just finished a round of sex. I just love that.
We get several different views on the power fantasy of vampires here. We have Vlad’s typical male power fantasy of control, lording it over his brides, forcing them to do his bidding by glamouring them, in a none to subtle metaphor. We have Duke’s vision of “a world where every woman is a vampire. Let men be the ones who are afraid to fucking jog at night.” It’s a vision of a world where women are no longer the victims, and have agency, but it is still one built on cruelty and revenge. And even Laurel has her vision of what to do with this gift…but I’ll leave something for you to find out for yourselves.
It should be no surprise that I’ve seen a lot of vampire movies in my day, from the classics, to the offbeat, and this one lands squarely on the side of the classics. Or it will, given enough time. It’s a well made movie, that has its own style and vision, that isn’t TOO slick and stylish that the story gets lost amidst the style. It is made for today’s world, as Vlad says “it IS the new millennium…” but there is also enough familiar here to hang a good, solid vampire story on.
Brad Michael Elmore’s script is ahem sharply written, and his direction matches it perfectly. It never takes itself too seriously, while also keeping the stakes very real. I’ve not seen anything else by him, but his talent is undeniable, and I want to see more. He also paces the movie very well. Laurel isn’t even bit until the end of the first thirty minutes, and I never once felt like the movie lagged while waiting to get to that point. And once it does bring the vampires in full force, after a brief tease at the start of the movie, it really doesn’t let up. It pauses a bit to gives us some backstory, but even that is fascinating as we meet Vlad, learn what he did to Duke, and okay yes. Using Boney M’s “Rasputin” is an easy way to win me over. And I think someone is a fan of The Matrix…
Nicole Maines as Laurel brings just the right amount of disaffected teen angst, with innate goodness and heart, that gets consumed by a wild time in the big city (and being turned into a vampire your first night in town). Watching her stumble her way into things, and then the sheer joy she brings to suddenly having what is essentially super powers bring a lot of depth to the character, and there’s more depth and baggage the movie reveals as the story goes on.
I also really liked how they dealt with the character of Laurel being transgender. It is brushed upon in the dialogue here and there, but is never really directly addressed, and I really appreciated that. Laurel is who she is. It’s a part of who she is, but it’s not the whole of her being, and that’s the way it should be. That’s a level of nuance and maturity to the writing and subject matter, that we need to see more of, and normalise it. That same level of maturity is seen throughout the whole girl gang of vamps, as their sexuality is part of their characters, and they just…are.
If there’s any flaws, it’s that some of the other characters feel a bit underdeveloped. But the acting was so well done, that you can feel their backstories, and I have faith that there’s more to these characters, that could be delved into in the future.
There’s probably better reviews of this movie out there. I need to watch it a few more times to really pull out all the themes (Look, I’m bad at themes, and it’s also six AM and the sun is coming up) but what I can say is that this is a very good vampire movie, with a smart script, and it may just be this generation’s “Ginger Snaps”, hopefully doing for vampires what that movie did for werewolves. It’s well acted, and very quickly builds up a new world of vampires all its own without burying you in exposition, with some solid vampire kills, and a good bit of blood and fire, which is always a plus.
“Bit” was well worth the wait, and I highly recommend seeing it. It’s a modern classic, a very fun movie, and one of my new favourites.
