Illustration by Jack Zhang

Bliss is 26, lonely, and convinced she’s a vampire slayer. Her raison d’être is to find the Hellmouth, rid Lewisham of the forces of darkness and keep her housemates safe from the upcoming apocalypse. But when Molly takes her relentless bullying a step too far, Bliss comes to the tenuous conclusion that perhaps the demons she’s been hunting have been under her roof the whole time...

Welcome to our Greenlit campaign, we're thrilled you're here. Bloodsuckers has been in development for a year, and we're now months away from going into production. We've had extremely generous support from a number of backers, and are looking for the last installment of our production budget, and collaborators to join our outstanding team!

Bloodsuckers will be starring Thaddea Graham (Sex Education), Amber Grappy (One Day) and Laura Marcus (Bad Education).

Bloodsuckers won the prestigious First Flights 2023 grant and also is supported by Kodak Films. We are aiming for it to premier at SXSW next year.

photo credit: Jennifer's Body directed by Karyn Kusama

You know that nightmare housemate? The one who never washes the dishes, who never replaces the milk, who never pays the rent on time? Who might, quite possibly, murder you in your sleep? That housemate.

That’s Bliss.

But Bliss has good reason for being a nightmare. She’s moonlighting as a vampire slayer, and keeping the world safe against the forces of darkness is a full time job. And in her defence, when the apocalypse comes, paying the rent will be the last thing on anyone’s mind.

But Molly and Cherish don’t really get it. In fact, they’re starting to rue the day they ever invited Bliss to interview on spareroom.com. Maybe if they hadn’t been so desperate to fill the room before the contract was up they might have had more time to mull it over…

...but here we are, and now the house stinks of garlic and there’s crucifixes in every room and dear god if they hear that theme tune one more time…

…and the rent is still late.

photo credit: The Bisexual directed by Desiree Akhavan

Synopsis

After living at thirteen Lewisham Way for three months, local “vampire slayer” Bliss finds herself no closer to finding the location of the Hellmouth. What’s more she’s finding it hard to maintain a work-life balance, and her tendency towards being a neglectful housemate is getting on Molly and Cherish’s nerves. Tension between the three is palpable and it’s clear the arrangement isn’t going well.

After finding some disturbing evidence in the trash, Bliss is lead to believe that her housemate Molly is, in fact, a vampire. Consumed with the need to protect the world from the forces of darkness (and after a particularly heated argument over breakfast) Bliss plots to rid the house of this demonic entity and stake Molly in her sleep.

The plan is a success… sort of. She waits until night, sneaks into Molly’s room and stakes her through the heart. However, instead of turning to dust, Molly messily bleeds out. That definitely wasn’t part of the plan. After desposing of the body, Bliss returns to the house to pack up her things and go on the run. However waiting for her at home is Cherish, who perhaps isn't so mortal after all...

photo credit: Carrie directed by Kimberly Pierce

Director's Statement

During lockdown I inflicted my undying love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on my long suffering housemates who, after being subjected to multiple seasons over hundreds of hours, agreed to participate in a fan-made home-video to pass the time. The film involved me - a wannabe vampire slayer - killing off my housemates one by one. Tragically the film never made it past storyboards, but out of it was born Bloodsuckers.

Having come to horror later in life, I find too often the stories are male-led, with female protagonists portrayed as one-dimensional and destined for a sticky end. We want Bloodsuckers to first and foremost make us laugh, but also to centre female characters that are relatable and real, exploring themes that aren’t usually explored within the genre.

This film is also love letter to my favourite era of film - the late 90s/early 00s. Thanks to the amazing support from Kodak and Goldfinch, we have been donated 16mm stock plus development and scanning, to help cement our film in that period. This is our 90s teen movie turned hammer horror.

photo credit: The Craft directed by Andrew Flemming

Why this film?

Bloodsuckers is first and foremost a comedy. But inspired by cult dark comedies such as Flowers by Will Sharpe, Bloodsuckers uses comedy as a vehicle for exploring the more sobering theme of loneliness.

Londoners are more likely than others in the UK to be affected by severe forms of loneliness – 700,000 of them feel lonely ‘most’ or ‘all of the time’ - Campaign to End Lonliness 2022.

Bloodsuckers is an exploration of loneliness. Of what happens when you feel like an outsider and can’t seem to fit in, no matter how hard you try. Of how it feels to live in London, with sky-high rents and a community that's glued to their smart phones. Bliss struggles to navigate life in London and so, to combat her loneliness, she creates an alternative reality for herself. A reality where she has purpose and meaning, and where interactions with other people make sense.

But Molly embodies society’s unwillingness to bend to fit to those who don’t conform to expectation. She is the 'cool girl', seemingly effortlessly gliding through life. Her own insecurities render Bliss an intruder into her understanding of societal norms and so she treats her with disdain and at times genuine disgust. Her bullying is what pushes Bliss to the absolute limit.

I want this film to resonate with anyone who's ever felt lonely. In London, or anywhere else in the world.

photo credit: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World directed by Edgar Wright

Production timeline
Thanks to our incredible casting director we have our dream cast on board.

Over the next six weeks we will begin rehearsals and be making regular location visits with our heads of departments to prepare the set dressing and lighting. We will also be developing our shotlist with our incredible and award winning Director of Photography Rik Burnell.

We are aiming to shoot in June with a view to have the final film finished in time for festival submissions by September 2024.

photo credit: Buffy the Vampire Slayer directed by Joss Whedon

Where the money goes

We won the presitgious First Flights film fund and were awarded £5k as well as a generous donation from Kodak of 16mm stock to shoot Bloodsuckers on film. We have also raised a further £11k investment and are looking for the final £5k to get us through to delivery and festival submissions.

We will be shooting on a shoestring budget, but all our cast and crew will be paid a nominal equity rate. On top of location, equipment and art department costs we will also need money for post production, festival entries and marketing. Our intention is do to a festival run across the globe, including but not limited to SXSW, Sundance, Cannes, London Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and beyond.

CAST

Thanks to our incredible casting director Lucy Amos, we're thrilled to have our cast confirmed. Thaddea Graham will star as Bliss, with Amber Grappy as Cherish and Laura Marcus as Molly.

CREATIVE TEAM

Rosie Brear - Writer/Director

Rosie is a director/producer based in London. She originally trained as an actor at the prestigious Drama Centre London, before moving into production in 2019. She has since produced videos for artists including Coldplay, Wet Leg, Arlo Parks, Loyle Carter, Rina Sawayama and Self Esteem. Her previous directing work includes music videos for Orla Gartland, Fizz and Lynks.

She is currently in post production on a short film written and directed by Alex Lawther, and co-produced by SUMS film and media.

Rosie loves gothic horror and is working her way through a comprehensive back catalogue of all the horror films she was too chicken to watch growing up. Bloodsuckers will be her narrative directorial debut.

MrMr - Producers

MrMr is a female owned, hair-brain schemed, petty cash wielding, production force. One of the leading companies in the UK for music videos, our work includes campaigns for Pink, Dua Lipa, Prince, Harry Styles and The Weeknd to name but a few. Commercially we have done everything from Super Bowl ads with Serena Williams to hosing down an incredibly sweaty, roller skating Usher.

A few years ago we focussed our attention onto the narrative world and started developing our slate. Recent shorts include “5 Weeks”, winner of best short at Bolton Film Festival, and ’Eat It’ winner of best short at Nashville Film Festival. Feature projects include a horror about dating and a queer teen dance movie with Pink attached. We like to keep busy.

MrMr make films about women with big feelings and sloppy decision making. We also like to push our gay agenda because Lil Naz can’t do it all by himself

Nycollas Abreu - Line Producer

Nycollas is a Brazilian born, London based freelance creative producer, passionate about developing visual stories. specialising in the dynamic intersection of music, fashion, arts and culture.

Coming from a background in live events, he pivoted into creative film production amongst the backdrop of Covid. Since then he has established a passion for the industry having worked with Commercial brands such as Apple and Virgin Atlantic and fashion conglomerates Versace, Calvin Klein and Vogue.

Not to mention an impressive list of music video credits from pop powerhouses, Anne Marie, Romy, Shygirl and Iconapop.

Rik Burnell - Director of Photography

2023 saw the international festival release of Red Herring (Sundance Institute & BFI), world premier at TRUE/FALSE, European premier at Thessaloniki Documentary festival where it won the "Human Values" award, UK premier at Sheffield Docfest & London premier at Raindance where it won Best UK Feature. Other documentary work includes feature doc Green Lions: Cameroon 90’ made for DAZN & BBC shot on location in Cameroon & 1hr docs for UK TV Abused by my Girlfriend, Toxic Town & Hunting the Essex Lorry Killers.

Narrative work includes BBC THREE comedy-drama Vandullz, produced by Henry Widdecombe at Little Wander, Dope Fiend for Film4 which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival 2023 and other shorts including Seen made for Sky Comedy with Rangabee & Zigzag part of John Boyega’s Create programme which featured in competition at London Short Film Festival 2023.

Industry recognition includes awards & nominations at Raindance, BIFA, The British Arrows, UKMVA’s, Promonews, Vimeo Staff Picks, Boooooooom, David Reviews, 1.4 Awards, The Grierson Awards, The Broadcast Awards.

Rik is BAFTA Connect Member 2023 and represented by Cassarotto & Ramsey