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Review: Michael Okum’s Midnight in Her Eyes (Watch Inside!)

Michael Okum is back with his first major project since Expressway to Your Skull was released by Brain Damage Films in November 2015. Moving away from trippy slasher thrillers and into the realm of the great, international movie monsters, Okum has delivered a vampiric horror short that’s just as trippy as it is nostalgic, erotic and experimental. One thing I know about Michael O based on his resume so far – he’s really not afraid to test his skills as a writer/director and he pushes the limit to deliver titles that are out of the box. Midnight in Her Eyes is no different. And for the first time in a while, his short film shows the build up, execution and repercussions of a vampire siring; more than just a fateful encounter with a member of the undead. For anyone who hasn’t watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the siring ritual is when a vampire drinks your blood and then makes you drink theirs, thus beginning your change from a human to a vampire. Awesome.

Midnight in Her Eyes stars Augie Duke (Bad Kids Go to Hell) and Paul S. Tracey (“Bloomers”); with supporting cast members Chloe Caro, Mark Aaron and Tina Walsch. It was written, directed, produced and edited by Michael Okum and features Guillermo A Luna as cinematographer. I can’t gage this title on acting because it was almost all silent, besides atmospheric backing scores and slight whispering. As a production, though, I have to give Guillermo and Michael a ton of props for creating a product that is reminiscent of 1990’s b-movies while also being one of the better quality shorts to come out this year. It’s a complicated mix of film-making techniques, but it works! The use of angles, lenses, framing and transitions created the perfect environment for this slow burn story to flourish. Well done!

Midnight in Her Eyes is sensual, bizarre, memorizing and bloody. It’s everything you could want out of a vampire short. This film is available online now until July 23, 2018. Catch it for free below! Final Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Michael DeFellipo

(Senior Editor)

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