Reviews: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person From TIFF 2023

Final Rating: 3/5

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is nothing if not ambitious. The feature directing
debut of Ariane Louis-Seize, Humanist Vampire juggles multiple genres while exploring themes of
trauma, parenting, and depression. Unfortunately, Humanist Vampire stumbles as often as it works,
resulting in a fun, but shallow experience.

The titular Humanist Vampire is Sasha (Sara Montpetit), a 68-year-old vampire – in the body of a
teenage girl – who refuses to kill, instead sustaining herself off of refrigerated blood bags. After decades
of trying and failing to encourage her bloodlust, Sasha’s parents send her to live with her cold-hearted
aunt Denise (Noémie O’Farrell). Cut off from her “baggies” and forced to either kill or starve, Sasha
befriends suicidal teenager Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), hoping that murder might be easier if the victim
is a willing participant.

Initially detached and alienated from the world around them, the two protagonists find new meaning
through their relationship with each other. Sasha’s hesitancy to kill Paul leads her to suggest they fulfill
his dying wish, but as the two do so, Paul is reminded of the people who are important in his life, and
forced to consider whether he really wants to die.

Interestingly, Humanist Vampire allows its characters to question their will to live, but doesn’t require
an emphatic lust for life as an answer. Paul being killed by Sasha is always considered a valid, morally
neutral possibility. At the same time, Sasha’s relationship with Paul – which always carries the
implication that it will end in murder – is portrayed positively by comparison to her family’s horrific
killings.

Louis-Seize and co-writer Christine Doyon explore the themes of assisted suicide and consensual death – even making the metaphor explicit in a scene at the end involving a patient receiving medical assistance in dying. Where the comparison falls flat, however, is that while Paul and Sasha’s actions and choices are always their own, they aren’t given many other options by the narrative. Paul was initially driven to depression by relentless bullying, and his dying wish is to lash out at everyone who bullied him. Though he’s technically free to go back to his “normal” life afterwards, his night out with Sasha succeeds only in making his existing situation significantly worse. Sasha meanwhile can either kill others or die of starvation, a dichotomy she overcomes by finding a way to kill ethically instead of in cold blood.

The supporting cast – with two notable exceptions – is sparingly characterized. Paul’s classmates are
broadly interchangeable bullies. His teachers fit the same mold. Paul’s mom, though loving, works a lot,
so she’s rarely around in either Paul’s life or the film.

Sasha is presented as being much closer to the people around her than Paul, but after she’s sent to live
her aunt, her family also mostly disappears from the film. Steve Laplante and Sophie Cadieux turn in memorable performances as her father and mother, but these are largely relegated to the beginning
and end of the film.

Thankfully, O’Farrell shines as the most important supporting character in the film: Aunt Denise. Denise,
for all her ruthlessness, is also a nearly 100-year-old woman whose sustains herself by pretending to be
wildly into frat guys so she can lure them back to her murder-garage. O’Farrell brings an exasperation to
her performance that’s hilarious when paired with the consistent absurdity of her co-stars. Her standout
scenes pair her with Gabriel-Antoine Roy’s JP, a quippy himbo she picks up at a party and accidentally
turns into a vampire instead of killing. Denise and JP’s relationship originates from an attempted murder
and results in the promise of decades of misery. It’s a great foil to the relationship of Sasha and Paul,
reinforcing the importance of consent as a theme.

Humanist Vampire is capable as a horror-comedy and a coming-of-age film. Visually, it takes inspiration
from staples of both genres like What We Do In The Shadows or The Breakfast Club. But while the
technical execution is good and the film is entertaining, Louis-Seize and Doyon bite off more than they
can chew when it comes to the writing. Humanist Vampire is ultimately so concerned with its leads’
humanism that it neglects the humanity of those around them.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person was seen during the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Thank you to Route 504 for the screener.