From writer and director Aleksandra Svetlichnaya, DINNER is a three course meal for any righteous horror fan. Unfortunately, while the starter is a delicious tease for something horrific, is soon followed by the films main course, a comedy-horror featuring a bickering werewolf and vampire whose presence strikes more akin to a small skit than anything substantial for the horror fanatics amongst us. Luckily, DINNER delivers a dessert that is fun as well as satisfying even if the only thing about this film that's scary is the fact that the potential is wasted.

 

What opens up as a tense paranoia stalking the lonely lead (played by Svetlichnaya) shows how an amateur production can be enticing and genuinely creepy, but just as the stalker is revealed the true nature of DINNER comes to light and harks at the infamous chemistry between the two mythical creatures much akin to, yet by enlarge in the shadow of, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

 

Unfortunately for DINNER, the jokes seem somewhat tired in a genre that plays a lot to the rivalry between Vampire and Lycan and while it raises a titter, there is little more to the films humour.

 

Fortunately, a twist in the films tale makes up for this with a rather cool action sequence with the director taking centre stage. The film masks its budget well by blending great costume design with a pulsing soundtrack and kudos to the films cast and crew that this no budget sketch has been traveling the film festival circuit with praise.

 

For me, the humour missed its mark but what does come out of DINNER is an appetite to see something more from Svetlichnaya that strays closer to the horror genre as the opening sequence shows that she has a skill to mask low budget with high tension, something many film makers could learn from.