"There's a vampire on my site!"
Boys From County Hell is a 2020 Irish horror comedy film, directed by Chris Baugh, and co-written by him and Brendan Mullen.
Our setting is the fictional Northern Irish hamlet of Six Mile Hill - a one-horse town whose only claim to fame is Bram Stoker supposedly visiting once and getting inspired to write Dracula from the local legend of Abhartach
. A pile of stones with a skull on top is a semi popular tourist attraction that brings some excitement...at least until the new bypass gets built over the site. Locals aren't too happy towards local layabout Eugene Moffat (Jack Rowan), because his father is heading the construction project.
As expected, there may also be some grain of truth to the local legends, and building this road may also be a worse idea than imagined. Louisa Harland and John Lynch also star.
Tropes:
- Action Survivor: Neither Eugene nor Claire are trained fighters, but they handle themselves quite well against the vampires.
- Affectionate Nickname: Francie occasionally calls Eugene "cub".
- An Arm and a Leg: Francie gets the bottom half of his leg ripped off in the final fight.
- Asshole Victim:
- While it's not fatal, you're not sad to see the rude bartender from The Stoker start bleeding.
- Pauline, who dies right after letting her vampirized son run free. On the borderline between this trope and Too Dumb to Live.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: George tries to shoot himself before William kills him. Unfortunately, the shotgun runs out of bullets...
- Big Damn Heroes: Claire arrives to help Eugene and Francie out of the basement with the digger.
- Big Fun: SP is plus-sized and functions as the Plucky Comic Relief.
- Blood from Every Orifice: The very first scene is an elderly couple bleeding from their eyes, nose and ears as a sign of something supernatural.
- Bloody Horror: Abharthach is an extremely efficient vampire. Rather than needing to bite people personally, he can magically compel their blood to come to him.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Eugene and Claire have a heart-to-heart talking about the former's deceased mother and the latter's father.
- Brick Joke: Francie's first scene is providing a cement mixer for Eugene's planned work on the house. He and Eugene later escape Abhartach via the cement tunnel upstairs.
- Chainsaw Good: Averted in the case of Claire's father, who was killed in a chainsaw accident.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Played with. The skull that Eugene finds in the basement doesn't prove useful on its own, but it does clue him in that his house is built over Abhartach's lair.
- The second act taking place in an undertaker's house means there's a ready supply of coffins to subdue a vampirized William.
- Charlie's bottle of whiskey being found in George's van clues them in that he's responsible.
- Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: Eugene and his friends seem to have a low opinion of Dracula initially, feeling like the town that provided the local legend doesn't get enough credit for inspiring one of the most famous characters in all of fiction. At the end, when Eugene finally reads the book, he admits that it's actually very good.
- Daywalking Vampire: Abhartach turns out not to be killed by sunlight. Eugene then notes in the epilogue that the original Dracula wasn't killed by sunlight either, and that it was all made up by "some German director".
- Death of the Hypotenuse: Invoked! In order to provoke the vampire William, Claire holds Eugene's hand in a way that makes it look like the two of them got together.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Eugene's late mother was apparently both beautiful and kind - in stark contrast to his crotchety still-alive father. Her lineage also allows Eugene to subdue Abhartach.
- Despair Event Horizon: Paulie, William's mother, allows herself to be killed by her vampirized son.
- Disappeared Dad: Claire's died when she was only seven, due to an accident with a chainsaw.
- Due to the Dead: Eugene, SP and Claire list the things they like about William to his father. Francie gets in trouble when all he can say is "he had really good manners".
- Establishing Character Moment: SP is established as the jokester of the group when he's introduced helping Eugene troll some tourists with a Jump Scare.
- Extremely Protective Child: Claire carries her mother and stepfather into a digger to bring them away from the town in the hopes of saving them.
- Feral Vampires: Abhartach is a far cry from the suave aristocratic vampire he allegedly inspired.
- Foreshadowing: After William's death, it's said that George wants to take the body home. The police lampshade how unusual this is.
- Folk Horror: Downplayed. The film's basis is in a real Irish legend, but the overall tone of the movie feels very much like a modern vampire movie, albeit one with a few folkloric tweaks to the mythology.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Abhartach doesn't actually appear until the third act, shows no personal characteristics and merely wants to drain the town's blood.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Francie naturally chews Eugene out when he starts to despair.
- Gilligan Cut: Eugene says he's only going out "for one". Cut to him and SP having been out for hours.
- Gory Discretion Shot: It cuts to black right as William kills George.
- Grim Up North: Six Mile Hill is located in Ulster, judging from the accents on everyone.
- Hillbilly Horrors: The action takes place in an extremely rural setting.
- Hollywood Healing: Francie limps on a broken leg with the bone sticking out, even after being dropped on it.
- Hourglass Plot: Eugene takes a job with his father to finance a potential move to Australia, while Claire was presumably going to stay in Ireland even when William planned to move. The ending shows Claire emigrating to Australia, while Eugene decides to stay.
- Improvised Weapon:
- A digger is utilised to keep the vampire Charlie buried.
- Francie's severed leg makes for quite a good one against a vampire.
- Informed Flaw:
- Eugene is said to be a screw-up because he's unemployed and drinking a lot at the start. Except, he sensibly goes into work with his father to finance a move to Australia, and assembles a team of locals to help out with construction who'd otherwise avoid the project due to Francie being a Bad Boss. He presumably had to train Claire and SP, and even gets good work out of the local drunk. And when the horror starts happening, it's Eugene who's the most proactive with his quick thinking. This could be justified by Francie being overly hard on him.
- He's also blamed for the accident that gets William killed. While they were out drinking late, Eugene still made sure he walked him home and had a light on his phone to make sure they wouldn't get lost or have an accident. William being gored to death by one of his own father's animals was completely out of Eugene's hands, the blame lying entirely on George for not controlling the pig.
- In the Blood: Around the end of the movie, Eugene realizes that he's probably a descendant of the very hero who put Abharthach down in the first place.
- Instant Expert: Claire proves quite adept at operating a digger after leaving her job at The Stoker.
- Irony: The local undertaker's son is the one who becomes a vampire.
- It's All My Fault: It's lampshaded that Eugene has a tendency to blame himself for everything that's gone wrong, even though Francie and George are more directly responsible.
- Jerkass:
- The Stoker's landlord kicks Eugene and SP out purely because the town blames them for William's death and the impending bypass.
- William's mother Pauline is nothing but hostile towards Eugene, and even foils their attempts to kill his vampire self.
- Francie is cranky and rarely goes a scene without complaining about something.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: Ultimately, the only way to stop the enemy is to remove Francie's already-injured leg and use it as an improvised stake.
- Missing Mom: Eugene's passed away shortly before the story starts.
- Mistaken for Racist: Invoked. Eugene calls the local guard and tries to warn him about a possible vampire walking around by claiming he has "dark skin", exploiting the typical casual racism often found in Irish small towns. He ends up getting a lecture about how "welcoming" Six Mile Hill is.
- Moose and Maple Syrup: The Canadian tourists at the beginning are instantly recognizable as such because they have big maple leaf patches on their jackets.
- Obscured Special Effects: Used for typical Monster Delay in Abharthach's case, where he mostly appears in shadow or out of focus until the climax of the movie. Also present in a subtler sense in the epilogue, where Francie has replaced his missing limb with a peg leg, but he's only filmed from above the waist, saving the effects team from having to digitally remove the actor's leg.
- Offing the Offspring: An accidental example. George's wild boar gores William to death while he's crossing the field.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: John Lynch's accent slips from scene to scene.
- Our Vampires Are Different: You become one by getting cut with one of the stones on Abhartach's grave, are impossible to kill and can only be trapped underground. Sunlight also doesn't work.
- Police Are Useless: The local guard is a buffoon who doesn't heed anyone's warnings or take Eugene's report of a suspicious character seriously.
- Retirony: William is killed shortly after announcing a move to Australia.
- Sacrificial Lamb: William is introduced as though he's a major protagonist, but his death in the first act sets up the ensuing horror.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Abharthach himself, being sealed under the cairn for centuries.
- Self-Made Orphan: After becoming a vampire, William kills both his parents to feed.
- Shirtless Scene: Eugene gets a Shower of Angst that's interrupted by Francie to reprimand him.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: SP getting killed results in a very sombre third act.
- Skewed Priorities: When confronted with the vampire Charlie walking around while still impaled, Francie can only wail that his "new pole" is what the impaling was done with.
- Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror: A balance. While there are numerous comedy breaks and snarking to lighten the mood, the horror of the situation is mostly played straight.
- The Smurfette Principle: Claire is the most prominent woman in the story, playing the Token Girl in a group of four males.
- Supernatural-Proof Father: Francie is in complete denial about anything supernatural happening, even when Charlie is shrugging off being stabbed. He gets over it, though.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The trailer completely spoils that the movie is about vampires, and sunlight doesn't kill Abhartach.
- "Ugly American" Stereotype: Well, they're Canadians, but the two tourists at the start. The man in particular seems very disdainful of horror and does little but complain. Downplayed in the case of his girlfriend, who seems to be really interested in all the history.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Eugene very badly wants the approval of his emotionally-distant father.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: George turned Charlie into a vampire to stop Abhartach from escaping.
- Will They or Won't They?: Eugene and Claire. They won't.
- World of Jerkass: The majority of Six Mile Hill residents seem quite rude and abrasive. Eugene in particular gets No Sympathy for merely being the son of the construction worker spearheading the new bypass, and simply being with William when he died.
- Worst Aid: Francie, if someone has been in a car accident, no matter how mild - it does not mean it's A-OK to slap them in the back of the head.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Sunlight turns out to be ineffective against Abhartach.
