It’s a good time to be a vampire fan with films such as Luc Besson’s Dracula, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. The latter won 4 Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score. Up next is Vampires of the Velvet Lounge starring Mena Suvari (American Pie), India Eisley (Underworld: Awakening), Dichen Lachman (Severance), Tyrese (Transformers), and Stephen Dorff (Blade).

Suvari plays Elizabeth, the matriarch in Vampires of the Velvet Lounge. The film follows her and her vampire group as they hunt for new victims in the modern age.

“Are there similarities between Elizabeth and me? Sure!” Suvari replied to Nerd Reactor. “On the darker side of my personality, I like to be opinionated, a leader, inventive. But Elizabeth has this caring side too, which I love. She does that with Joan. Without Joan, Elizabeth’s nothing. That dynamic is really interesting to me because it shows how she balances her darkness with care and connection.”

Joan, portrayed by Eisley, is a vampire who longs for a partner. However, being in a bloodthirsty vampire group can put a wrench into her dreams.

“It’s just really fun to be able to play someone who is kind of at odds with something, who’s conflicted and doesn’t always know what they want,” Eisley said. “And she is the polar opposite of Elizabeth in that way, like she doesn’t have a plan. She’s just a wild card and wild child. In one moment, she’s very human in the emotions she experiences, whether it’s sex or just excitement to see the sun. But then, in the other, she also enjoys aspects of being a vampire, and she does love Elizabeth and loves the security that she feels with Elizabeth.

On the vampires’ trail is the vampire hunter, portrayed by Lachman.

“Well, I think vampires, there’s something sensual about them,” Lachman said. “I’ve said this before, but that Jungian idea of the shadow self. And I think as a human being, we’re always fighting with that duality of the good and the bad, right? Everyone has a bad wolf, right? And I’m always trying to shut it down as much as I can, but sometimes it creeps in there. And ultimately, we want to be good, but the darkness can sometimes be very alluring and very attractive, and we can fall off our path. It’s a fantasy, and I think that’s why people are drawn to it, because they relate to it.”

About Vampires of the Velvet Lounge

Synopsis: Deep in the American South, a back-alley absinthe bar harbors a centuries-old secret. Its seductive proprietor is none other than Elizabeth Báthory (Mena Suvari), the infamous countess whose legend many believe inspired Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula.” She and her glamorous coven of vampires (India Eisley, Sarah Dumont) keep their killer instincts sharp by preying on lonely singles through dating apps, seducing and slaughtering to preserve their youth. But when Báthory swipes right on the wrong profiles—a cunning undercover vampire hunter (Dichen Lachman) and a band of emotionally stunted bros on a misguided boys’ trip (Stephen Dorff, Lochlyn Munro, Tyrese Gibson) – the hunt spirals into hilariously horrifying chaos. Blood flies, fangs pierce flesh, and the bar erupts into a glitter-soaked, green fairy-winged, fang-filled fever dream of grindhouse gore, terrible decisions, and fashionably fatal carnage.

The film is written and directed by Adam Sherman and also stars Mark Boone, Jr., Sherman Augustus, Timothy Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Rosa Salazar.