Remember movies like Once Bitten and My Best Friend is a Vampire back in the 80s? If you grew up on those and still have somewhat of an adolescent palate, the 2011 flick My Sucky Teen Romance will satiate your longing for good old teen horror comedies.
The unique thing about this film is that writer and director Emily Hagins was only 19 when she made it. You’d never know, because it comes across as a polished teen flick Hollywood would churn out. The difference is, this features a young cast of fresh faces and has a genuine youthful perspective, including in-jokes about being the generation of cheesy vampires, not knowing if the 80s were actually as cool as history has painted them (FYI – they were), and showing pride in being part of the Comic Con culture.
The movie takes places at “Space Con,” where the boys and girls are too geeky and awkward to actually have a conversation—even though they obviously have a lot in common! Unfortunately, a greaser vampire from the 1950s is still around, turning kids into bloodsuckers. Maybe he’s jealous that bad boys are out and geeks are in?
By the time our leading lady has the nerve to talk to the boy she likes, he’s already a vampire! And before long, so is she. Yep. He sucks her off on the first date. Now they and their geeky friends have to find out if there is a way to turn mortal again. What better place to get the answer than a convention where virgins believe mythological monsters are real?
The light romantic teen comedy feel might cause you to put your guard down, so you’ll be surprised by a couple of “horror” scenes, including a particularly gory dream sequence, as well as your standard messy neck sucking and heart staking.
There’s also a funny scene involving an adorable guy on a vampire discussion panel talking about getting gay vampire action. However, the entire scene was cut out of the movie and only appears in the deleted scenes! Considering this trendy teen movie is only an hour and fifteen minutes long, they should have just kept in the only hint of a gay character in the entire movie. Gay geeks are all the rage these days!
Seriously, My Sucky Teen Romance is silly adolescent fun that I would have watched on cable dozens of times back in the day. It’s also sweet enough to make a new generation of tween girls suffer from Cinderella Complex.
