Film / Bit

Bit is a 2019 vampire horror film written and directed by Brad Michael Elmore.

Laurel, a young trans woman, leaves home at eighteen and moves to Los Angeles with her brother. There, she meets a female quartet (Duke, Roya, Frog and Izzy) in a nightclub who quickly draw her into their circle. She also gets involved with Izzy. Like her, they are queer women, but also vampires. Due to being fed on by her lover, Laurel turns into a vampire and joins the group. However, while she's happy with being one at first, their lives are not entirely idyllic. They are being hunted by vampire hunters, Duke has some rather disturbing plans, and there's a menacing force from Duke's past that threatens all of them.

Nicole Maines, better known from her role as Nia Nal on Supergirl (2015), stars as Laurel. She won the top acting prize in the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival for her star performance.

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This film features examples of:

• The Ageless: As usual, vampires don't age. Duke is in her sixties but appears no older than thirty at most. Vlad, meanwhile, is centuries old and looks like he's in his forties or so.
• Amazon Brigade: Duke and her group are all lesbian vampires more than willing to fight or kill (Laurel, the newcomer, being the most reluctant in this).
• And Show It to You: Duke rips the heart from a newly-made male vampire's chest in the film's opening scene, then lets him view it while he dies.
• Asshole Victim: Duke tells Laurel her group make a point of trying to feed on bad men, like rapists, though she admits there are lapses.
• Beat Still, My Heart: Vlad's heart is still alive and beating even when separated from his body (which has been destroyed, in fact).
• Big Bad: Vlad Manfred Castaeta, Duke's sire who eventually tries to take over the vampire group.
• Big Brother Instinct: Laurel's brother Mark is (rightly) worried about her new friends (little does he know how bad things are). It's also indicated he was very protective of her and supportive during her gender transition.
• Boy Meets Ghoul'': Laurel meets Izzy and they hit it off. Then it turns out Izzy is a vampire, biting Laurel and transforming her. Laurel doesn't mind after the initial shock wears off, joining the lesbian vampire group which Izzy's a part of.
• Brainwashed: Powerful vampires can exert mental influence over the other vampires they rule, which makes them do things they wouldn't otherwise, sometimes without them even knowing. This includes Vlad and Duke.
• Bungled Suicide:
  • Mark mentions how Laurel attempted suicide multiple times in the past.
  • Andy also makes an attempt after being ignored by Laurel.
• Butch Lesbian:
  • Roya wears very masculine clothing, has short hair, and has a terse, blunt personality. She's a lesbian like the rest of her group.
  • Duke, their leader, is a more soft butch lesbian. She's got a hairstyle similar to a mohawk, wears leather at all times, with a hard-edged personality and a punk style overall.
• Cast Full of Gay: All of the main characters in the film are lesbians (and vampires), while the lead, Laurel, is also transgender.
• Combat Pragmatist: Rather than making use of any vampiric abilities, Duke and co. simply use grenades against the vampire hunters in their bunker. She lampshades how they never expect vampires to use normal weapons.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • Duke worked as a prostitute after she came to LA while still human. After that she was Made a Slave by Vlad after she caught his eye through his mind control powers, and was forced to serve in his harem for years before finally being able to escape.
  • Laurel is indicated to have had a very difficult time in earlier years, apparently having attempted suicide multiple times. This appears to be a result of bullying over being transgender, gender dysphoria or both.
• Didn't Think This Through: Laurel is initially glad she can live forever as a vampire. This entails feeding on people's blood though, which repels her, but by then it's too late.
• Does Not Like Men: Duke hates them, believing that men cause most if not all of the world's problems. It probably stems from her background as Vlad's sex slave until she escaped.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Duke's ideology bears a strong resemblance to some of the more extreme feminist views that largely flourished in The '70s (e.g. living entirely separate from men, or making them into the oppressed group). The director has said he drew on two of these, lesbian separatism and the SCUM Manifesto, as inspiration. Laurel on the other hand seems to represent more moderate, third wave views that reject this (as she's transgender, something these movements accepted more than second wavers, that can be symbolic as well, but Duke herself is completely accepting of her). That said, the film isn't wholly unsympathetic with why some women might go that far as a result of mistreatment, and Duke is consequently revealed as being a rape survivor who had been a Sex Slave for many years.
• Females Are More Innocent: The film has two villains, Duke and Vlad. Duke, the female vampire leader of a coven of Lesbian Vampires, is a murderous maniac who Does Not Like Men, targets men to be killed, and dreams of a matriarchy where women oppress men. While she is treated as wrong and extreme, she is motivated by her and her fellow vampires having been a Sex Slave to Vlad, who is also vile and equally destructive but has no such backstory to explain his actions.
• From a Single Cell: It turns out that all that's left of Vlad is his heart, locked in a box that Duke slowly eats (it refuses to burn, which will usually kill vampires). He's later able to regenerate from this back into his full body after someone frees him.
• Gaydar: The vampires seem capable of telling instantly that Laurel is transgender, though it's not visually obvious at all, nor does she tell them. Maybe because they have enhanced senses or can read her mind.
• Good Parents: Laurel's mom and dad express their love for her as she leaves, warning her to be safe then tell her how proud they'd been about her overcoming (implied) trouble in her gender transition, which they clearly accept fully as well.
• Hate Sink: Vlad Manfred Castaneta, Duke's sire, who spent his life mind-controlling women into joining his harem, which is outright acknowledged as rape and is as traumatic as any other rape. When he returns, his every line is dripping with misogynistic contempt and he tries to claim making a lesbian his Sex Slave was "making [her] feel love."
• Healing Factor: All of the vampires have this. They can heal from being shot or burned so long as they feed, while the most powerful (like Vlad) are able to survive getting even their heart ripped out and burned (which usually will kill them).
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Duke is never seen without wearing her leather jacket in the present. She's a badass lesbian vampire, and leads a group of them.
• Honey Trap: Duke lures a couple men into a back room with the promise of sex, then feeds on both fatally.
• Horror Hunger: Laurel starts to suffer this after becoming a vampire, when she's unwilling to feed on humans (especially not kill them after, as Duke demands). While she tries to simply not feed, it's too much for her.
• Hypocrite: One of Duke's rules for her vampire coven is to never mind control other vampires. It turns out she's been doing this to her coven for a long time without them knowing.
• Kill It with Fire: A vampire's heart must be burned to kill them. In some cases, like the very powerful Vlad, even that won't work.
• Lesbian Vampire: All four of the women Laurel joins are lesbians, and later it turns out they're vampires as well. She later counts, as she's lesbian and becomes a vampire too. However, aside from Duke they all seem nice (and it was revealed she influenced them in their darker actions).
• Lipstick Lesbian: Laurel is a very feminine trans lesbian, always wearing her hair long while in skirts and blouses often. While Izzy and Frog's attire/manner isn't entirely traditional (with short hair in Frog's case, plus slightly more tomboyish attire), they don't qualify as butch either. They're probably best described as "chapstick", in between these styles.
• Living Forever Is Awesome: The vampires all seem quite happy to live forever. Laurel is fine with becoming one too as a result. However, Izzy and she do admit dismay at the idea of outliving mortal loved ones.
• Magic Pants: When he's restored into his body, Vlad has a full set of clothes on. Perhaps they came with him by his shapeshifting gift.
• Matriarchy: Duke dreams of a world in which men are oppressed by women instead of the opposite, and suffer as they did (i.e. a Patriarchy Flip of the most vicious kind).
• Meet Cute: Laurel runs into Izzy at a party, with their attraction being obvious with Laurel's awkward and nervous behavior with her. Izzy eases past her defenses and they get involved.
• Monster Lord: Vlad, a.k.a. "The Master". He was a very old, powerful vampire with mind control powers which he'd used for making young women into vampires (and also his sex slaves). It's later revealed Duke was this too since eating parts of his heart gave her the same power, though she subtly influenced her group's minds (so much that no one knew, including her) rather than openly controlling them.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Laurel is horrified when she's overcome by hunger and bites Mark, as she knows Duke will demand he be killed since he's male (she won't let men turn into vampires, which would happen otherwise).
• Not Using the "Z" Word: Subverted in that characters have no problem using the word "vampire," then played straight with Vlad, who, despite the mountain of evidence, is never actually called Dracula.
• One-Word Title: Bit.
• Our Vampires Are Different: They look just like humans, sunlight doesn't kill them (it's only weakening), garlic, stakes and crosses do nothing. While they can be harmed with ordinary gunshots and fire, this won't kill them given they can heal. Ripping out their heart then burning it is (usually) the only way to do that. Any human bitten by a vampire will turn into one if they survive, thus the group in the film dictates killing victims unless this is desired. More powerful ones can also mind control humans or other vampires into serving them. Vlad could also shapeshift to turn into animals or mist. They're even capable of flying through apparent telekinesis.
• Queer Romance: Laurel enters a relationship with Izzy. This results in her becoming a vampire when Izzy turns her.
• Questionable Consent: Laurel is happy to become a vampire. As the other option is death, however (also she would turn automatically otherwise), this wasn't much of a choice.
• Rape as Backstory: Duke relates to Laurel that while working as a prostitute she caught Vlad's eye. He then turned her and made her part of his harem for years before she could escape.
• Really 700 Years Old: Duke turns out to be somewhere in her sixties, as she was twenty-something during the early 1970s. Vlad meanwhile is centuries old, while it's possibly implied he is meant to be Dracula. If so, he'd be around 580 years old.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After Andy's suicide attempt, Mark calls Laurel out for ignoring them and her family in favor of hanging out with Duke and her gang. He then goes on to blast her as selfish while revealing he'd also moved to L.A. to get away from her, having grown resentful of Laurel being the center of attention during her Dark and Troubled Past and continuing to be long after it subsided. YMMV on whether Mark's frustrations have merit, but Laurel definitely doesn't take it well.
• The Renfield: One of the hunters is secretly working for Vlad, who promised to make him a vampire decades ago. Duke implies that "Familiars" are a regular thing among certain types of vampire.
• The Runaway: Duke left a small town in the 70s for New York City, begging or working as a prostitute for money. Unfortunately, she then was mind-controlled by a powerful vampire into becoming a part of his harem, where she remained for many years.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: The scene fades out as Laurel and Izzy start to get it on.
• Smoking Hot Sex: After they have sex offscreen, Laurel smokes a cigarette slowly while sitting with Izzy.
• The Sociopath: Vlad Manfred Castaneta, a hedonistic vampire who has spent centuries making women into sex slaves with no regard for the trauma they go through. When he escapes from his imprisonment, he goes on an entitled rant about how he was showing his victims love, and shows absolutely zero issue treating the other vampires like literal puppets, showing he sees them as nothing more than possessions.
• Soul Jar: Vlad's heart it appears is his. He can still mind control people from it, and later regenerates after he's freed into his full body.
• Speculative Fiction LGBT: The film centers on a group of lesbian vampires, without stereotyping, while the lead character Laurel is also transgender. Duke, their leader, explicitly refuses to let them turn men, whom she hates. With her misandrist vision, it's explored whether it would be much different from the patriarchy she loathes, while the lesbian group is the focus throughout the film.
• Straw Feminist: Duke espouses a view which blames men for most problems society faces and feels they oppress women collectively. Her goal however is not simply to make them equal. Rather, she wants to make all women into vampires and have men be their prey, so they'll know how it feels being on the bottom. Unsurprisingly, she hates men and forbids any male vampire in her group (on pain of death). This was given an explanation in her past as a sex slave. However, at least one member of her group defied the rules, with Duke punishing her. At first the rest appear to agree, though later it turns out they were mentally compelled to go along. Laurel rejects this view, instead advocating making everyone vampires so they're equal.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Laurel looks very much like her mom, with the same pale skin, dark hair and even similar facial structure.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Duke views women as demonized by society, to the point they should simply embrace it as vampires, becoming what she thinks they're perceived as.
• Tomboyish Name: Duke, the head lesbian vampire (almost certainly a nickname or self-chosen).
• Trans Tribulations: While not explicit, it's indicated Laurel suffered depression due to gender dysphoria, bullying over being transgender, or both, resulting in her attempting suicide more than once.
• Trash Landing: Duke tosses Laurel off a roof into a dumpster below after Izzy bites her, saying to come back assuming she survives the bite.
• Twofer Token Minority: Laurel is a transgender lesbian woman, who's accepted into a group of cisgender lesbians (who are also vampires). She starts out as the sole human too, before being turned. Two of the lesbian vampires are Latina and Black as well. The rest of the cast is White.
• Vampire Bites Suck: Having fangs sink into your neck and then get blood sucked out is, realistically, painful to the victim. It makes them usually pass out from blood loss.
• Vampire Hunter: A group of them attempt to kill the vampires. However, it turns out they were actually mind-controlled by Vlad (another vampire) to get rid of them so he'd be freed from captivity, with the leader killing the rest with him after they're no longer of use. Duke and co. later wipe out the rest in their bunker.
• Vampire's Harem: Vlad had turned many lovely women who caught his eye, then kept them as concubines for years. Duke finally rebelled and broke free, destroying Vlad as well aside from his still-living heart.
• Vampires Own Night Clubs: Duke and co. own an underground night club, where they also live somewhat. It's useful for bringing human prey right to them. Or sometimes, finding new women to turn, like Laurel. This makes sense as light (though not fatal) is blinding to them and makes vampires sick.
• Vegetarian Vampire: Laurel refuses to feed on humans, especially when Duke commands they kill everyone afterward if they're not women whom the group will make into members. However, though she tries to abstain, it eventually overwhelms Laurel and she bites her own brother.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Vlad can turn into animals like rats, and also mist.
• Your Vampires Suck: Laurel refers disparagingly to those teen vampire flicks which seem like the fantasy of an eight year old as she introduces the film via voiceover. Then at the end she hopes for sequels, though reassuring viewers she can't get pregnant for the fourth one (being a trans woman), obviously both referring to the Twilight films.

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