The Transfiguration

Milo (Eric Ruffin) is a quiet black teen obsessed with vampires in the New York City hood. He gets bullied by the local kids. He is haunted by the death of his mother and lives with his older brother. He is befriended by Sophie (Chloe Levine) who lives with her abusive grandfather. One day, Milo is approached by a young white couple from out-of-town looking for drugs. At about the point of the white boy, I was expecting the big turn. Certainly, I wasn't sure it would go down that road. When that happened to the white boy in the basement, I was hoping that road be forgotten and the story would go down the more logical road. The police, the gang, and the brother could combine to be a harrowing realistic tale. Nevertheless, this is very solid indie with an interesting twist. Chloe Levine could be a future star. Milo is a little too quiet to truly know.

Vampire references? Tick. Vampire movie? Not really. Slowly-paced to draw audiences in, the film is really about a boy struggling with a death in the family and growing up in a difficult neighbourhood. His obsession with vampires is his cover for something deeper and unrepentable.

Watch Martin (1977). It's a far superior movie and it's pretty obvious The Transfiguration borrowed very heavily from it. The transfiguration is very very slow and I'm someone who doesn't mind a slow burn, but it needs to burn. Worth watching, but definitely see Martin before this.

There is so much thought and reflection on the human condition in this film that I think anyone would find it hard to be disappointed by the end. If handled incorrectly this film could have been severely hurt by the combination of horror with serious drama, but somehow the two coexist and work together well. The acting is great and the story is complex and pays off in the end. It is clearly a well constructed movie and everything has a purpose, while also not being too obvious at any point where the story is going so that it gets tired or predictable. The only criticism you could give it is that the events are pretty small scale, but then that seems to be the point and focus, so it's really not a negative unless personal stories bore you. Overall this is a solid drama and an interesting horror that delivers something for fans of either genre. If you like intimate character studies or original horror, and especially if you have an obsession with blood, this one is for you!

While I get this movie is edgy and unique, it's extremely slow. It boils down to a kid with mental issues living in the ghetto trying to be a vampire and eventually hooking up with a girl who has other mental issues which are sexual in nature while his are more homicidal. Its not very exciting or supernatural as you may be lead to believe. I give it one star due to being boring and a waste of my time. I will say that it's possibly small targeted audience that is into psychological dramas may enjoy it a lot more than I.

I thought this movie was great, I wish the brutal and gory scenes had a bit more realization and acting in them but the plot and screen writing for this film is fantastic.. I felt emotionally drawn to the teenager at the end of the movie and despite him beeing a serial killer i actually felt bad for him at one point. This movie did a great job going into depth of his past and what causes him to kill.

The writer-director was obviously heavily influenced by the Swedish film Let the Right One In. The story is reversed this time around with a boy as vampire and girl as best friend. The girl seems much more mature and years older than the boy. The Swedish movie is far superior to this one. The kids are fine but the boy sleepwalks through the film. I would recommend the Swedish import and even the American remake with Chloe Grace Moretz. It is one of the few remakes that actually works. The Transfiguration is a pale imitation.

I didn't like it, there you have it. It is very slow and all about blah blah and in fact nothing going on except talking to his girlfriend and his brother watching TV all day long. In the beginning you do have a bite so you know it's about vampirism but that's it. Around 1 hour 10 you will see an attack but even that is low on everything. Just watched it through the end to see if there's something explained. Nice to see his collection of vampire flicks and him talking about it with his girlfriend but overall, not my thing. Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 1/5 Comedy 0/5

"The Transfiguration" is an American 95-minute movie from 2016 and the first full feature film by writer and director Michael O'Shea. The cast does not really include any well-known actors. Actually you could argue if the title of my review is correct as vampirism is a crucial component from start to finish and many known vampire films are referenced from start to finish including the excellent Twilight, Let the Right One In etc. in here, but there are no vampires in the supernatural sense. Actually, the vampire-addicted protagonist felt more of a zombie at times because I kinda felt that he was basically sleepwalking his film through the film, but that's not a negative deal-breaker either as the film still works for the most part. Yes it is somewhat bleak and extremely slow and you probably could have fit it in an hour too, but the atmospheric take and character study of two young people struggling makes more than up for it. That's also why I am a bit surprised about the ending O'Shea picked as honestly it did not feel too authentic to me with the desired suicide explanation and it also really went strongly against everything before that when it comes to the tone of the film. Yes it does include a bit of a real life reference that pulls the boy harshly out of his vampire reality and there the boy's intentions hurt the film at all. A bit of a pity. I am not angry because the central character was killed as I honestly cared very little about him anyway, I am instead angry, well a bit, that they did not go for simpler, more harmonic closure, maybe a moment of harmony and peace or even for the boy living his fantasy with killing and drinking a girl. Almost everything could have been better than what they actually went with. Oh well. It is what it is. Thanks to several good moments and a decent story overall, I still give the film a thumbs-up. Go see it if you like vampire-themed films. There really aren't that many anymore these days.

This intriguing little film tries to merge various genres into one. What we have is the story of a young black boy living in a one parent household (actually it's his big brother as his guardian) who fantasises to help get him through the days in an otherwise hard life on a violent gang led estate. The dark side is that the boy has an obsession about vampires, which leads him to copy his 'heroes'. The film references lots of vampire movies, and you can see the labels of the videos he watches to get him up to speed on the genre. However, as he begins to kill to ape his heroes, it is uncomfortable. His other escape turns out to be a lovely girl who moves into his building, and he is finding a life beyond his fantasies, but it begins to have an impact on that relationship. This is a low budget but intriguing movie. The odd critic has tried to say it's a copy of Let The Right One In, but it's not. It's a different take on the idea and merges other ideas in. It's thoughtful, emotional and very well acted by the young crew. It stood out, but sadly has gained little attention. Disappointed to see the reaction to it by some, but it's a nice simple gem. Give it a go. It's worth it.