BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL (15, 89 mins) Horror/Drama/Comedy/Romance. Jack Rowan, Nigel O'Neill, Louisa Harland, Fra Fee, Michael Hough, John Lynch, Andrea Irvine, Robert Nairne, Stella McCusker, Lalor Roddy. Director: Chris Baugh.
Released: August 6
DURING an atmospheric prelude to carnage in writer-director Chris Baugh's Northern Ireland-shot vampire horror comedy, an elderly couple (Stella McCusker, Lalor Roddy) enjoy a leisurely night-time cup of tea.
A singlet droplet of blood from one nostril becomes a trickle and then uncontrollable torrents from every orifice, attracted to some unearthly visitor at the front door.
Boys From County Hell changes some long-established rules of the vampire genre –stakes through the heart, sunlight – while special effects ladle on the sticky claret with gusto throughout its gleefully violent craic.
Baugh's script has some appealingly droll moments. When the local undertaker struggles to make sense of the mounting devastation over a hot brew, his nervousness as narrator – "I'm not sure where to start" – is met with delightful indifference by one hungry neighbour.
"Maybe with a biscuit or two?"
Eugene Moffat (Rowan) lives in the sleepy Irish town of Six Mile Hill in a tumbledown farmhouse, which has been in his late mother's family for generations.
Tourists flock to the close-knit community to visit a moss-encrusted burial cairn, rumoured to mark the spot where vampire Abhartach was laid to rest.
According to legend, Abhartach's reign of terror inspired Dublin-born author Bram Stoker to pen Dracula at the tail end of the 19th century.
The local pub is named in the writer's honour.
When fresh blood is spilt on the cairn's razor-sharp rocks, dormant evil stirs but remains safely contained.
Unfortunately, Eugene's building contractor father, Francie (O'Neill), scoffs at superstition and orders his ragtag road crew to disturb the burial site during groundwork for a bypass.
The controversial demolition order is poised to evict Eugene's best friend William (Fra Fee) and his parents (John Lynch, Andrea Irvine) from their home.
As night falls, the screaming begins and Eugene and Francie put their differences aside to return Abhartach (Robert Nairne) to the ground, aided by William's gutsy girlfriend Claire (Louisa Harland) and hirsute drinking buddy SP (Michael Hough).
The fractious father-son dynamic brought to life by Nigel O'Neill and Jack Rowan does not deliver the emotional pay-off we expect, although one man's noble sacrifice for the greater good is certainly novel.
Alcohol flows almost as freely on screen as blood before these thinly sketched characters rally under a cover of darkness to meet gnarled, ancient evil head-on.
Performances are solid despite a paucity of dramatic meat for actors to sink their fangs into. The bare bones of an entertaining and irreverent romp are clearly visible, it is just the flesh and muscle that are missing.
RATING: 3/5
