Foreign Friday: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

“Humanist Vampire” masterfully blends romance, comedy, and gothic horror to explore the beauty and angst of the human condition.

If Tim Burton and John Hughes joined forces to write a teen vampiric romance, this French-language film from Canada feels like exactly the kind of quirky and endearing magic you’d get.

I cannot express how much I enjoyed Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person.

Thanks to its ridiculously long title and unique concept, I was instantly drawn to it. As an avid teen flick watcher, I knew this would be up my alley. Thankfully, the film delivered everything I wanted and more. It’s a bit like Let the Right One In meets Pretty in Pink. It combines the charm of a coming-of-age romcom with enough atmospheric and gothic sensibilities to satiate horror lovers.

Written and directed by Arian Louis-Seize (co-written by Christine Doyon), the story begins with a young Sasha (Lilas-Rose Cantin).

Surrounded by her eclectic family of vampires, a birthday party surprise does not go according to plan, clueing her family in that little Sasha may be a very different kind of vampire. Fast forward to a teenage Sasha (now played by Sara Montpetit), and we learn she’s developed a major problem for fledgling vamps: empathy for humans.

Like all vampires, Sasha hungers for human blood. Yet, she can’t bring herself to actually kill one. As a result, the sensitive and artistic teen relies on her parents to supply her with food, refusing to do the actual hunting.

One day, she encounters a fellow tortured teen, Paul (Felix-Antoine Bernard), planning to jump from a roof and take his own life. When his plans are thwarted, she decides to stalk him on his walk home from work. From there, we get our titular “consenting human” as Sasha befriends Paul and offers to mercifully help him end his life — but not before granting him a dying wish.

When you hear a plot like that, it sounds pretty dark and depressive, but it’s surprisingly lighthearted and fun. 

The unexpected blossoming relationship between the teens is heartwarming and a joy to watch unfold. We feel for Paul, who is stuck in a miserable life where he is bullied daily by everyone around him. Sasha enters his life like a sky full of fireworks to show him the spark he’s been missing. Suddenly, he’s not alone. Suddenly, there is someone else who knows exactly how he feels and doesn’t judge him for who he is. It’s a sweet star-crossed love that seems destined for tragedy, but Louis-Seize is gifted at subverting expectations.

It was refreshing to find a vampire film that doesn’t rely heavily on stereotypical tropes, delivering characters that feel real and fully imagined.

The chemistry between Sasha and Paul is palpable, and it’s hard not to be seduced by the film’s quirky charms. There’s a real sincerity to the embrace of youthful innocence, but the film balances that by dealing with some very real and raw issues that give it gravitas.

Montpetit delivers a standout performance as Sasha.

For such a young actress, she is extraordinary at embodying the awkward outcast with the captivating panache reminiscent of Lydia Deetz or Wednesday Addams. She brings a passion and compelling range of emotion to her role, exuding the kind of confidence that commands the screen with enough teen angst to make her relatable and sympathetic.

The underlying theme is a serious one, and the film manages to deliver as a comedy without diminishing the importance of the subject matter.

Working with a limited budget, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person achieves so much, thanks to its effective world-building, compelling characters, and boundless creativity.

With dry humor, family values, and a soundtrack to die for, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is well worth adding to your watchlist.