BIMIFF #4 - ENG

B I M I F F
R E V I E W
RAVEENA'S REVENGE A FILM BY JOE BOI
R E V I E W B Y R I C H A R D C A E I R O
22
"Raveena's Revenge" behind the scenes
VAMPIRES ARE NOW ON OUR SIDE
On a first date, Danny becomes closer and closer to Raveena, a
mysterious and seductive woman - when suddenly they are
attacked by the Red Reapers: a group of vampire hunters
committed to eradicating the world of all bloodsuckers. Now they
must escape together or lose their true love.
The film is written and directed by Joe Boi, a filmmaker who is, as
he calls himself, nostalgic. And this is evident as soon as we read
the synopsis of "Raveena's Revenge", which, right away, reminds us
of the film "Lost Boys", from 1988, directed by Joel Schumacher.
Different from the old vampire films, which bet on a more serious
and dark line, such as the most famous of all, Nosferatu of 1922,
directed by F.W. Murnau. Raveena's Revenge opts for a lighter,
humorous line, where its greatest mission is to rescue something
lost over the years. In a recent interview with BIMIFF Magazine, Joi
Boi confirms this desire, saying that it is an homage to the vampire
movies of the 90s and 80s. Citing "Buffy", "The Lost Boys", "Fright
Night" and "Queen of the Damned".
The film begins with Ravena, played by Ashleigh Ann Wood (Buffy:
The Vampire Slayer, Lost), arriving at a pizza place and being
greeted by the enthusiastic and shy Danny, played by Joi Boi
himself. A man and a woman in an attempt to share pleasant,
flirtatious moments, just like anyone else. However, Raveena is a
vampire, and what they don't know is that in the kitchen of the
pizzeria are the Red Reapers, a group of vampire hunters. And it
was precisely thanks to these vampire hunters that I noticed the
first difference that Raveena's Revenge has from other vampire
movies, a very important difference. If in the other films the
hunters have the image of good people, in this one they turn out to
be rude, unkind, and violent guys. This makes the viewer see
himself as being on Ravena's side. The Red Reapers represent the
true evil. Men who think they hold the absolute truth and want to
destroy everything different. A true metaphor for life. The fact that
a human and a vampire do not have the right to have a
relationship without being disturbed by an authoritarian order,
can mean quite common marks of our society. Especially when it
comes to Brazil or the United States.
We are not talking about vampires, but about nationality, ethnicity, or
sexual orientation. With vampires, perhaps the biggest motivation is
because they are always reminding us that we are subject to the
passage of time.
Raveena's Revenge has a well-tied script, and very articulate
cinematography, by JC Conklin, sometimes with a still camera,
sometimes with a handheld camera, showing a diversity of languages
that dialogs well with the script proposal.
Watching Raveena's Revenge is the certainty of rescue, of a nostalgic
cinema, but one that does not take us out of the present. The director
knew how to mix the present and the past, without the film falling into
the clutches of sentimentality. In Brazil, we have a name for this kind
of film: a very afternoon session film*.
(*In Brazil, there is a TV Globo, a Brazilian TV Broadcasting Company,
schedule, which in the '90s and early 2000s specialized in films from
the '80s from the United States. Today this show still exists, but the
profile of the films is different, and it no longer has the appeal it once
had).
The director Joe Boi