Suicide by Sunlight | Short Film of the Day

festival circuit February 3, 2020

Suicide by Sunlight

By Nikyatu Jusu with 7.1

horror · Short Films · english

Throw in some vampires, dark frames, dimly-lit shots, shadows and an intense mother-child equation, and that's Suicide by Sunlight for you. Eschewing the predominantly white Western characteristics of the vampire genre, the film shows black vampires who have an edge over their racial counterparts owing to the melanin content in their skin. Consequently, they can walk out in broad daylight without the fear of bursting into flames, or worse, sparkling.

The story is of a mother who juggles between her profession as a nurse and her survival as a vampire. As she fights her former husband over their two daughters, the film provides a skilled and moving performance by Natalie Paul. Her attempts to straddle between being a blood-thirsty killer to being an affectionate mother is explored expertly by the film.

Add to it her third identity of being a medical professional who is caring and invested in her patients enough to assuage their misery when need be, and the film becomes an adept engagement with several topics despite its short length.