Fantastic Fest 2024 – Writer/director Marcis Lacis knows that there’s been endless depictions of vampires in media and pop culture. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, his horror comedy Touched by Eternity has a bloody good time spoofing the genre, while commenting upon the perils of immortality.

The Latavian film stars Andris Keiss as an unmotivated, lazy protagonist nicknamed Fatso. He lives in a dumpy trailer, wears a bathrobe all day, and listens to quack podcasts about immortality. One day, two vamps named Egons (Ivars Krasts) and Carlos (Edgars Samitis) show up at this trailer. They offer Fatso the chance at immortality that he’s been craving. In fact, he’s been chosen by a big bad named the chancellor to become part of a fanged family.

However, once Fatso realizes he’s terrified of joining the undead, he declines the offer and constantly escapes their offer by outwitting them. This film has so many funny moments that spoof vampire lore. For example, when Carlos and Egons show up, dressed in sleek black clothes, Fatso asks if they’re queer. They explain that they’re not queer, but rather, pansexual. It’s a hilarious sequence that riffs on the ambiguous sexual nature of vampires.

In another scene, an undead academic reads her paper about the history of vampires in literature, even referencing Karl Marx’s comparison of capitalism to vampires in Das Kapital. It’s evident Lacis had a heck of a lot of fun here playing with vampire lore and history. There’s also a kid vampire, Oskars (Mikelis Kreilis), who’s oddly terrifying, yet, at one point, reads a magazine about dinosaurs. It’s a great and absurd juxtaposition.

Yet, while Touched by Eternity is very much a comedy, it’s still a horror movie. People do indeed die, including one character who has a brief, touching moment with Fatso that clarifies for him why human life is so valuable. Like some of the best vampire media, the film meditates on the perils of immortality and why it may be better to have a life that’s finite. In fact, at one point, Egons bemoans the fact that all the vamp family does is sleep in barns and search for their next victim. Even he gripes about immortality.

The only fault I can find with the film are a few slow-motion sequences that feel too much like a student art film and don’t really fit with the overall tone. They become distracting in the context of the broader narrative. For instance, there’s a moment where the vampire clan roller skates through a park. While it may look cool, I wondered what it had to do with the rest of the film.

Overall, Touched by Eternity is a sharp film that’s oddly moving and often hilarious. It knows its vampire history and has a great time roasting all things undead.