My Sucky Teen Romance (2011)

Thanks for the memories!

I'll tell you why so serious

Better Late Then Never

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I had the chance to watch this flick during a hot Saturday afternoon in London, in a floating cinema (2013) and I had a good time for two reasons:-The film is directed by a young and smart teenage girl who has seen many vampire movies. -I could ask her a question through a Skype interview. She told me she was influenced by classic vampire movies such as The Lost Boys and mostly Near Dark. That is a plus because clearly she knows her references very well. The gore is minimum but very well done and you can say that she likes blood in her stories.I give it a 5 because it is a naive film oriented for a young audience.Let's keep an eye to this girl, she may do good things for our genre in the near future.

Wow, I'm shocked at the other reviews. I also saw it at SXSW and feel like I'm the one taking crazy pills after reading those negative reviews. Part of getting asses in seats is some kind of hook no matter what the budget of the thing is, it's some great story that peaks your interest. Sure I went in wondering what kind of a film could a 17 year old make and that got me in, but that thought completely fizzled out after about five minutes into it.The movie's fun regardless of whatever budget they were working with (I could care less). I absolutely found it charming, quirky, and the fact that a kid who can't even order a beer yet made it just impressed me more. There are moments where I thought "Hmm, I'd approach that differently," but I don't think it has anything to do with age/budget - I just think that's how the director wanted to go about it, which isn't to say it's bad just different. Would I give anyone in this an Oscar? No. Do I think they're going for an Oscar though? No. I think they set out to make a fun flick with goofy characters and vampires tossed into the mix and I absolutely think they succeeded.I don't know when or how this thing's coming out, but I've talked my friends ears off about the flick and can't wait for the DVD/BluRay/whatever.The movie's fun. If you can, check it out.

I am a bit torn as to how to review this movie. The reason being, I discovered when I watched it at South by South West this year that it was made by a girl still in high-school. I think it was Robert Altman who said "anyone who even completes a move should win an award." Being a filmmaker, I agree with Altman. With that said, the young filmmaker deserves an award for getting her feature made. On the other hand, the film that she completed does not deserve an award. In fact after having sat through it I wondered why it was even playing at a major festival. I am still wondering that. The movie which is about a teen girl who is bitten by a vampire at a comic convention, reminded me too much of the 1992 film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It appeared to me that there was no effort to cast any professional actors as the acting was amateurish throughout. Like most (maybe all) ultra-low budget Indies, there was no effort at set design. The movie looked like what it was, a low budget movie created by high school students. Seeing as it was made by a high school student I don't want to be too harsh, but in all fairness if this movie were made by a thirty year old I can't think of anyone who would consider it anything but rubbish.

I caught a showing of My Sucky Teen Romance at a beautiful theater called The Paramount while attending SXSW 2011. There was a big crowd gathered pre-show so my expectations were high. I had also heard a bit about the director Emily Hagins who was supposed to be this young amazing filmmaker. I had seen a documentary about her making her first movie when she was 12 or 13 on the documentary channel. In short, my interest had been stoked. First let me say this movie is not bad - if taken in context. It was clearly a low budget indie and looked the part. It was obviously shot using minimal equipment, and with a couple of exceptions it was clear that the actors were not professionals. The feel of the story seemed too familiar to me. While the plot lines of My Sucky Teen Romance and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie version) are not the same - having a bunch of teens at a comic convention dealing with vampires reminded me a lot of having a bunch of teens at a prom dealing with vampires. If you keep in mind that this movie was made by a high-school student then it was pretty good for a high-school student film. Where it failed for me was that it played a major festival, when it clearly should not have. SXSW is a hometown festival for Austin, Texas and the director, Emily Hagins, is a hometown Austin girl. But my guess is, this is likely the last time she will be able to play the I'm-a-teen-movie-maker card and get away with it. In short, if you want to see a good high-school student film that was clearly made on a shoestring then you should definitely check it out. However, if you want to see a movie that stands on its own merits, without the gimmick of a child director, then you will probably want to pass and invest your time elsewhere.