‘HollyBlood’ Review – Ditzy Vampire Parody

How far can a teenager go to impress their crush? While the possibilities are limitless and crazy, in 2022 Spanish film ‘HollyBlood’ the hero pretends to be a vampire, because the girl he likes is obsessed with the legend of an immortal blood-sucker.

Directed by Jesús Font, the film stars Oscar Casas as the awkward Javi, who pretends to be a vampire to win over cute classmate Sara (Isa Montalbán). While Sara is quick to believe Javi due to some interesting co-incidences; little do the teens know they are being stalked by an actual ‘immortal’ being, whose motives are unclear.

Writer José Pérez Quintero keeps things silly and ditzy throughout the plot, landing a few good jokes in between; but for large parts ‘HollyBlood’ isn’t exaggerated/crazy enough for a parody and is cringe-y in large parts. The plot takes pot-shots at the Twilight saga and a bunch of regular horror movie tropes, but they aren’t quite hilarious. Isa Montalbán is quite adorable, but doesn’t have any chemistry with Oscar Casas. Carlos Suárez plays their goofy nerdy classmate Diego, an aspiring vampire-slayer with a YouTube channel where he rambles about demons and constantly engages in idiotic antics.

There aren’t many supernatural elements in the story, so thankfully there is minimal use of special effects, because the graphics are sub-par. Jesús Font and team obviously don’t take anything too seriously, but some better jokes and a more interesting soundtrack could’ve made the flick a lot more fun. With 90 minutes runtime and a random climax, it isn’t all that bad. ‘HollyBlood’ in-fact might prove to be a decent watch if a ‘brainless parody with little ambition’ is what you are looking to watch in your free time.

It’s a 5/10 from me. You can stream it on Netflix.