Family road trips are getting a lot bloodier with Blood Relatives. The film centers on a young woman who endeavors to find her long-lost father, a 115-year-old vampire, only to find her efforts dampened by being used to an isolated lifestyle. As he attempts to drop her off with family on her mom’s side, the two begin to learn about one another and help break each other’s walls down.
Noah Segan and Victoria Moroles lead the cast of Blood Relatives alongside Akasha Villalobos, C.L. Simpson, Doug Benson, and Josh Ruben. Hailing from Segan in his feature directorial debut, the horror-comedy is a subversive take on the father-child relationship drama full of heart, dad jokes, and blood.
Ahead of the film’s arrival, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with star Victoria Moroles to discuss Blood Relatives, going from the world of werewolves to vampires, her love of working with Josh Ruben, and more.
Victoria Moroles on Blood Relatives
Screen Rant: Blood Relatives is such a great film, it’s funny, it’s sweet, and it blends the horror in very nicely. You are no stranger to this genre nor to playing a monster, so to speak, after Teen Wolf. But what about Noah’s material really sparked your interest to want to be a part of it?
Victoria Moroles: I definitely thought it was a different twist on the father-daughter, parent-child relationship which, for some reason, I’ve always wanted to do. I loved those movies growing up, so I was excited to try something different. Also, I have done a lot of horror, but I’m a newbie to the horror-comedy genre, so trying to have that comedic layer on top of this world was really interesting and fun.
Did you find that to also be a challenge coming into it? Because you’ve also done comedies, like with Plan B, which was also phenomenal. Did you find it difficult to try and find that right balance, or did you find that it was all right there in the script?
Victoria Moroles: It was really right there, and I think a lot of it was circumstantial. A lot of the situations that Francis and Jane get themselves into are very comical, in kind of a vampires-trying-to-be-practical way. So situational comedies, like one of my favorite things, so I think trying to bring some of that in was a little bit of a challenge, just because we’re in a genre where we’re asking a lot of people to be laughing at something you don’t normally laugh at. But no, it was pretty easy, honestly, it flowed out really nicely.
That’s always great to hear that, opens it up to a more fun experience for you. Since you’ve been really interested in this father-child kind of storytelling, what was it like developing that rapport with Noah both prior to filming, and throughout the shoot?
Victoria Moroles: Noah and I had our first chat about six months before we started shooting when I read the script, and I could just tell from then that Noah’s super open, and very supportive, and our conversation was really easy. So, by the time we got shooting, we sat down and had a good amount of time to just sit and talk, talk and walk, just do really simple stuff. [Chuckles] But I feel like you don’t get that a lot, sometimes you don’t get a lot of time to just spend time and communicate and make a plan before you start shooting. So, I feel like that was something that really was beneficial to us.
Since you mention coming up with a plan, what would you say was one of the biggest goals that you and Noah set for yourselves and these characters coming into the film?
Victoria Moroles: In the beginning of the film, you find Francis and Jane both super isolated and they both have their own walls up. The power shifts a lot in their dynamic. I actually think something we discovered was we tried to make a plan out of it, but also what we discovered while we were shooting was it was really fun to see when Jane takes the power back and when Francis takes the power back.
Initially, you come in and Jane has her walls down, she’s vulnerable, and Francis put his up, he says, “No, I don’t want anything to do with this.” Then, she is forced to go back home, puts her walls up, and leaves, and then he has to go on his own journey. So, it shifts a lot, and I think that was something that we were trying to make a plan out of, and then actually ended up discovering a lot of stuff on the day. I think that’s what the best plans are, right? It’s just being present, and connecting as much as possible.
I love that you did find it on the day, because that fluctuation really plays out well. What is it like going from playing a Chimera and werewolf in Teen Wolf to now playing a half-breed vampire for this film?
Victoria Moroles: It’s different, but also somewhat the same, you know? Hayden discovering that she’s a Chimera there were some similarities in Jane figuring out these newfound abilities as a teenager vampire. So, it’s not like it was something that they were kind of indoctrinated into, or they woke up and were born into, or anything like that. Hayden got these powers, or abilities, a lot later in life, and Jane is just discovering them as well, so it was actually kind of cool to make that connection.
I loved that the bloodletting is kept off-screen, except for maybe the punch near the beginning of the film. Was that always a deliberate decision between you and Noah to try and keep Jane’s killings off-screen, or was that something that came up organically through shooting?
Victoria Moroles: That was definitely intentional. Like I said, it’s kind of asking a lot of people for this genre, they’re expecting this blood and guts situation, which is not at all what Blood Relatives is, especially on Jane’s part, it was definitely intentional. There was the one [scene], what I call “killing of the boys,” where you do see the aftermath of what happened to her, which is probably the grittiest scene, just because it’s her murder spree she went on, and that’s kind of being put out there. But, yeah, I’m not actually sure if there was a real reason for that, but I think that it played well, and it definitely humanized her, for sure.
I couldn’t agree more. Another scene that I really love in this film is your scene with Josh Ruben, who I know you’ve also worked with before in Plan B, and who I’m a big fan of in general. What was it like when you saw that scene in the script, and then when you learned that you would be doing that opposite Josh?
Victoria Moroles: I was jumping up and down, I was so excited. Josh and I met on Plan B, the film we did in 2020. We worked together for one day, and that one day was the most awesome experience, though, because I am also a huge fan of Josh’s, and he’s so incredibly talented, and so funny. We joke that he just keeps playing characters that are creeping on me. But it was such a blast. I think we rehearsed that scene maybe like a couple of days before we shot that, and I knew from that moment, I was not gonna be able to keep it together, because he’s just so funny, and we had so much fun. It was really hard to take it seriously, it was just odd, Roger is definitely my favorite character.
How many takes did it end up requiring since you were already having a hard time taking it too seriously in rehearsals?
Victoria Moroles: Oh man, a lot of it was me trying to just keep my cool on my coverage, and poor Josh probably had to deal with me just breaking on his. [Chuckles] But, man, I think we spent a good chunk, if not all day, on the Roger scene, just because I think there was a lot of stuff that they wanted to get, and we were in a new set that we hadn’t been in yet. But, lots of takes, lots of breaks. [Laughs] Especially when I’m reaching out, and giving Roger a little taste, it was just too much, it was too much.
About Blood Relatives
Francis, a 115-year-old Yiddish vampire, still looks 35. He’s been roaming American backroads in his beat-up muscle car for decades, keeping to himself, and liking it that way. One day, Jane, a teenager, shows up. She says she’s his daughter, and she’s got the fangs to prove it. They go on the road, deciding whether to sink their teeth into family life. Written and directed by Noah Segan, who stars with Victoria Moroles.
Blood Relatives begins streaming on Shudder on November 22.
