The trailer is 'misleading' in a few points, like they show one of the very last scenes in the film just to jazz it up with some action but that scene is basically an after thought.
I'll spoiler this stuff since there isn't a specific discussion thread. But I'll try to be vague as to not spoil too much. ok I spoil a fair amount actually
As a horror vampire film, it adds very little. There is a nice twist on the vampires motives but its severely under baked and under explored. The film tries TOO MUCH and ends up hamstringing itself. How the vamps operate, the speed at which they turn, their "brotherly love" appeal, the singular influence of the master vamp, has he totally dominated his vassals, made them slaves or puppets, crushed them into a Borg-like collective, totally consumed them a la The Thing? Or is he "the future", like I am Legend, and petty singular humans with their disagreements and strive are the archaic past? Does he represent "white culture" that only accepts you, and WILL accept you, if you but drop your own culture and join in? Having him be irish is a confusing choice because from 1930s America the difference between Irish and black is but a hairs gap (though growing at that point).
Musically I thought the irish songs CRUSHED the folksy blues stuff, especially that overly long 'black music through time' mash-up. Other than twerking girl I liked that scene and grokked it, but the songs sung inside the Juke were not done nearly as well as the irish stuff outside, IMHO. But I'm a sucker for that stuff, was almost hoping we'd get some modern irish bands to show up. So if they had focused more on Preacher Boy, his power of music, the connection with master vamp (MV) drawing him in, more specifics on what that power can do, why MV wants it, his sorrow and loneliness, and a better understanding of the consequences of wielding such power (versus it just being explained to us several times, the worst "show don't tell" violation in the film). Obviously his gift leads a married woman to stray, 2 in fact, something that is oddly glossed over in the film that half the women in it are street trash.
The twins aspect I think is what really leads this film astray. It was unnecessary, overly complicated, had no real pay-off, led to some confusion when neither had their characteristic hat, and quite frankly you could have has ONE 'Smokestack" who fathered a child who died, that drove him into the arms of a white hussy he knew from childhood, then he fled from both and I think they could have trimmed 20 minutes from the first act and set up a more dynamic relationship triangle for the second act. The "Seven Samurai" recruitment stuff was a lot of fun, just the dynamic of the two sides of the main street was worth the price of admission, but it ate into the MV development or focus on Preacher Boy as the actual catalyst in the film. Stephen King would have NAILED this script, and had as superfluous and silly a closer.
The Klan felt very tacked on. I bet this film was initially sans vamps, but that stuff was added in to make it more marketable. The Klan laying siege to the Juke makes a LOT more sense versus them showing up in broad daylight, wearing no hoods, and planning on slaughtering......who exactly at 7 in the morning? So the Klan gets relegated to a trivial threat for the one bit of major gun action in the film, a nice trailer bait and switch. The 'payoff' of stack dying and seeing his baby, was touching but he didn't need any of that to get there.
And this doesn't consider how chopped up and erratic the whole vamp seige stuff was. Where did those poor sharecroppers get those three banjos? They attacked 80 people in the parking lot and no one inside noticed? It jumps from "don't let them in" to "come and get it motherfuckers" and some sort of crude ambush? The garlic scene was cool but at least 2 of them looked like they were palming the clove, and medicine woman seemed SO SURE of her lore but then a silver(?) disc to the side of MV and all his vassals feel it, so why wouldn't killing him alone potentially free the others? It's so casually decided that the just hours old changed are truly dead, truly evil, truly beyond recovery and thus can be summarily killed with no remorse.
Anyway, I'm probably being harsher than I intend. It is a well done film and flows pretty well. Hailee Steinfeld is SMOKING, as is the singer lady. The allure of 20's/30's era dress is on full display. Though a wool suit complete with vest and tie....in the South, even in October.....yikes.
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