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A feature film comedy about vampires who have sublimated their innate craving for human blood in return for a life of peace and quiet amongst their former prey. They hold down jobs, get on with their neighbours, sleep soundly at night. One of them has even fathered a child with a human. A Half Breed. Now, some seventeen years later, he has to find his son before the boy undergoes a very special kind of blood-soaked puberty in a distant hell-hole of sun, sand and savagery that his mother has kidnapped him to: Sydney, Australia. This town had better get ready for one hell of a dysfunctional family. |
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Director: Richard Turner Writer: Michael Gillett Producer: David Hannay and Richard Turner Executive Producers: James Vernon Australian & New Zealand Distribution: Arkles Entertainment International Sales: Screen Corporation and H20 Motion Pictures Development Finance: Australian Film Commission |
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SYNOPSIS
At 17, Matt is a very worried teen. So are his parents. Both are loving, caring individuals who only want the best for their son. But only one is human. The other is a five hundred year old vampire. Teo is a law-abiding Cold Blood living the quiet life in cosy Eastern Europe, where centuries-old familiarity has turned tradition on its head. He and his kind are no longer persecuted, but simply accepted as law-abiding rate-payers on a regulated diet. They forgo their traditional feeding methods and instead line up every day at the nearest clinic for their 'fix' of fresh haemoglobin. It is not easy keeping the coven on their new path: for even to Teo they now at times seem no more than glorified circus clowns performing for the amusement of tourists. But he has a more pressing concern: the need to find and initiate his son and install him as Teo's heir apparent before his 18th birthday on the day when the sun is at its zenith and the moon is new. Matt was spirited away by his mother, Silvana, when still a baby and Teo has been searching for him all these years. Now has he tracked down where they are holed up: an utterly inhospitable hell-hole of surf, sand, bare skin, sun and more sun, the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Here, Matt and Silvana have hidden for many years. She's no longer the blushing virgin that Teo first fell in love with, but a hard-nosed woman determined to fight 'tooth and nail' to keep Matt from 'crossing over'. Matt, for his part, is only vaguely aware of his true nature. But aware enough for him to feel different from his peers and work hard to fit in. Which only makes him stand out more. But at a new school his oddness attracts the sassiest girl in the whole school, Skye, an Asian Australian whose having her own problems balancing between her traditional family values and wanting to fit in with here peers. When Teo descends on this volatile mix the boy is already showing troubling symptoms of his imminent transformation - and he's scared. So is Silvana, for she's dreaded this moment for a long time. Her only support is Carl, the charming owner of the diner where she works and the kids hang out after school. He's more than willing to help, especially if it means getting closer to yummy mummy Silvana. The appearance of a long-forgotten local coven of vampires, who still thrive on stalking and killing their prey and have their own plans for a fresh, newly-hatched vampire like Matt, force Teo and Silvana to face their own feelings for each other and consider the unthinkable. Through all this, Matt is increasingly torn between his competing inner selves as he confronts his greatest challenge: whether he will be able to remain true to his mother's nurturing ideals, or else turn to his father's 'dark side'? And if he does, will he come to accept the vampire’s new, enlightened lifestyle or be consumed by the savagery practised by the local coven? Only Skye seems to understand him, but her parents aren't amused when they find she's given Matt refuge for the night. What ensues is a race against time as the competing sides try to find Matt and enlist him to their cause. The result is a surprisingly funny and warm fish-out-of-water tale; a tug-of-love story about a uniquely dysfunctional family that has at it's core the gentle message that 'normal' is over-rated! |