Starring Ruaridh Aldington, Madalina Bellariu Ion, Craig Conway, Angela Dixon, Andrew Lyle-Pinnock, Natasha Patel, Andrew Lee Potts, Timothy Blore, Kenton Lloyd Morgan, Ayvianna Snow, Sean Earl McPherson and Matteo Pasquini.
Written by Peter Stylianou.
Directed by Peter Stylianou and Sean Cronin.
Produced by Sean Cronin, Peter Stylianou and Daniel Patrick Vaughan.
House54/Magnificent Films/RG Films/Red Guerilla Films

A young, jobless artist becomes obsessively attracted to a seductive woman he encounters at a London club, and he finds himself unable to stop seeing the woman, even after he discovers that she’s a vampire intent on feeding from him daily, draining him slowly…

The filmmakers do wonders with the budget available to them here, crafting a satisfying modern vampire tale. The protagonist’s relationship with his vampire lover effectively shows how romantic entanglements can be very needy and one-sided, ultimately becoming toxic for the obsessed partner. And in the case of this romance, it is literally a draining experience for the boyfriend, as he offers up his blood to keep his girlfriend satiated.

Ruaridh Aldington is a revelation here as the initially rather pathetic Thomas, an aimless young guy living at home with his mum, who falls head over heels for the sultry vampire Rhea, played nicely in a coldly no-nonsense manner by Romanian actress Madalina Bellariu Ion. The film’s success really depends upon Aldington making his character work, because Thomas is a pretty unprepossessing, ambition-free dude when we first meet him at the start of the film, as he masturbates in his bedroom, takes his mother’s hospitality for granted, and refuses to make any effort to get to know his mother’s new boyfriend. But, thanks to Aldington’s subtly persuasive acting here, we do start to care for Thomas as he navigates as best he can through his problematic relationship with Rhea.

DRAINED has its own specific vampire rules. These include Rhea’s ability to fly and move super-quick when she wants to, she can walk about in the daytime (but she does like the sky to be cloudy, hence why she moved to London), she prefers to not fully drain and kill her victims if she can help it, but she must battle increased predatory urges during the full moon. Rhea needs to be invited into a person’s home, she likes to feed from arms rather than necks, and she is attracted to the blood of certain people – and it turns out that Thomas has just that type of blood, drawing Rhea to him.

This last point helps prevent the central relationship from being totally unequal: Rhea keeps coming back to Thomas because his blood is a little different, so they do share a mutual addiction (Thomas gets some kind of supernatural buzz from being fed upon), but it is definitely Rhea who has the upper hand in the relationship. As Thomas’ health begins to deteriorate, and he tries to break free, matters become more serious, and people die. 

There are some bloody scenes, but the film isn’t particularly gory. Rather than depending on show-stopping bouts of carnage, DRAINED keeps you watching because Aldington manages to make you care about his character’s plight. The script dodges the pitfall of becoming a typical vampire romance by being more honest about Rhea’s part in the ‘romance’: she never bullshits about being truly in love, and she openly admits to Thomas that it’s his blood that she needs on a very regular basis.

With Thomas becoming a prime murder suspect, then finding himself on meds in a mental institution for a while, you’d be forgiven for assuming DRAINED must be quite dour and depressing, but it isn’t, thanks to the way it is filmed and acted, and because there’s a vein of humour threaded through the movie that lightens the atmosphere, a lot of it stemming from Thomas’ interactions with his mother’s new partner John, a local pest control expert, played by Craig Conway.  The film also finds time to show that Rhea does have feelings after all, as she stays connected with her previous lover Andreas (Pasquini), who is severely ill. The inclusion of Andreas, whom Rhea refers to as her Old Man, also helps to drive home to Thomas (and the viewers) that this is what happens to anyone who stays too long with Rhea: they’ll be emotionally and physically sucked dry by her.

The cinematography by Daniel Patrick Vaughan is top-notch, the music score really enhances the film, and good story choices are made throughout by writer Peter Stylianou. Stylianou also co-directs the movie with Sean Cronin, who gets to play a SWAT captain during the finale!

Go and give this a watch, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.