From Living For The Dead to I Woke Up A Vampire, Should You Add These To Your Watchlist?
From family friendly haunts to queer ghost hunters, should you add these movies and shows to your watchlist?
Dear David
A viral Twitter thread got turned into a horror movie… and it’s not good.
After responding to Internet trolls, a man (Augustus Prew) becomes haunted by the ghost of a dead child named David. I remember where I was following along as BuzzFeed cartoonist Adam Ellis updated people on Twitter about a possible haunting he was dealing with in his apartment. It went on for months and was really engaging. Now it’s turned been turned into a horror movie called Dear David. Unfortunately the film is anticlimactic. The plot doesn’t make much sense and it feels very outdated when it comes to the way social media and technology are used. Dear David… more like Dear Dud.
Dear David is available on VOD.
I Woke Up A Vampire
What if you woke up one morning and your whole life had changed?
That’s what happens to Carmie Henley (Kaileen Angelic Chang) in I Woke Up A Vampire when she wakes up on her 13th birthday to discover she suddenly has supernatural powers. With the help of her BFF Kev, and some new friends they meet along the way, she discovers she is a Vampling: a half human and half vampire. This opens up a whole new world for them full of adventure, powers, and danger…. oh yeah, and some new skills that will help Carmie in the school musical.
There’s a great balance between the supernatural and regular human life and how Carmie can use her newfound abilities to her advantage. While the acting can be over the top at times, Kaileen Angelic Chang is delightfully enthusiastic and easy to root for as Carmie. The show introduces comic books that explore Blended lore, an adoption mystery, and some surprising twists and turns that are fun for the whole family to watch. Lucky for fans, the show was given a two season pick up, so the mystery will continue!
I Woke Up A Vampire is streaming on Netflix.
Living For the Dead
Ghost Hunters meets Queer Eye in Hulu’s new series Living For The Dead. It’s fittingly from the producers behind Queer Eye, as well as celebrity hairstylist C.J. Romero and actress Kristen Stewart, who also narrates the show.
We’re introduced to psychic Logan, witch and spiritual healer Juju, ghost hunter Alex, tarot card reader Ken, and paranormal researcher Roz. These queer supernatural experts don’t want to exorcise the ghosts they come across, but more find out what they want and if they can exit peacefully with the living. While the show feels scripted and too easily pieced together, it is very entertaining, campy, and heartwarming. Not only do they help people in these haunted locations, but they rely on each other and share their raw experiences as queer people and ghost hunters in each episode.
Living For The Dead is streaming on Hulu.
Spellbound
A standalone sequel to Hulu’s Find Me In Paris, about a time-traveling ballerina, comes Spellbound. It’s set at the same location of the Paris Opera Ballet School, but with a new cast of characters and a focus on magic instead of time travel. Cece Parker Jones (Hailey Romain) relocates from a small town in the United States to France to study at the iconic ballet school. Her dreams are coming true, but things take a turn when she discovers a book of family spells at her aunt’s store. She’s thrust into the exciting, albeit dangerous, world of magic and uses her skills to stay at the school.
The first few episodes are a little slow, with uneven acting, but things pick up as they focus more on the students of the school. The weakest link is Raven Dauda who portrays Aunt Ginger in a way that is too exaggerated and over the top. Due to that, at times it can feel like two different shows: one focused on ballet, while the other centers around witchcraft. Despite that, Spellbound does find its feet and delivers an addicting magical world that tweens and families can enjoy. If you’re a fan of Find Me In Paris or even Dance Academy, this show is for you.
Spellbound is streaming on Hulu.
