Noah Segan has largely starred in supporting roles in films like Knives Out and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. In the very endearing, character-driven Blood Relatives, Segan directs and stars as a nomadic vampire, Francis, with a messy and painful history. When he meets his teenage daughter, Jane (Victoria Moroles), he’s forced to confront his past and learn to well, live. This is largely a two-person show, an impressive directorial debut from Segan with strong performances from its leads. Though this is a movie about the undead, it’s more focused on storytelling and the relationship between father and daughter.

Segan’s Francis dresses in all black much like Bill Paxton’s Severen in Near Dark. Yet, he’s not quite the outlaw cowboy like the vamps in Kathryn Bigelow‘s film. When the film opens, we find Francis in Texas, sleeping in his muscle car, drifting from grimy motel to grimy motel with no sense of purpose. Sure, he looks cool in his black leather jacket and wavy dark hair. But he’s essentially rudderless, running away from his painful past. Francis’ Jewish heritage made him a nomad. When questioned about his identity, he says all of his family is gone.

The vampire’s life changes when his daughter suddenly shows up one day, after tracking him for months. Wearing a faded t-shirt of the pop-punk band Screeching Weasel, whose music features prominently in the film, Jane has a lot of heart and a lot of spunk. Yet, despite the fact she has fangs and kills more than a few times, she has very human needs and many questions. She simply wants to understand who she is, and, like Francis, she has no other sense of family. He eventually takes her to some relatives in Nebraska, but they don’t really want anything to do with her. They’re also Jesus freaks. Moroles gives a near-stellar performance here, too. She never comes across as the sulky teenager type, but rather, a formidable character simply trying to understand who she is.

The strength of this film really lies in Moroles and Segan’s chemistry, how they trade barbs back and forth. She teaches him what a hashtag is, for instance, and tells him that he needs a job, birth certificate, and social security number. She quips that he looks like the Fonz on Halloween. There’s plenty of references here to vampire lore, too. Josh Ruben even plays a creepy Renfield character who calls Francis his “king in leather.” But this father and daughter duo don’t come across like cold bloodsucking killers. Each is a complex character, trying to sus out what exactly family means when they feel like they have no one and nowhere to turn to. In that regard, the vampire has long been the perfect metaphor for a nomadic existence. Segan especially gives a heartfelt performance, slowly peeling back the layers of his character to reveal something far from a killer.

While Blood Relatives has some slight nods to vampire mythos and films that came before, it’s very much its own thing. This is an entertaining and strong debut by Segan, a father and daughter road trip unlike others that we’ve seen. While two vampires are at the center of this tale, this is a very flesh and blood story about finding connection. Blood Relatives is one of Shudder’s strongest releases this year, a great mix of the mundane and the fantastic.

8 Out of 10