Welcome to the first installment of Letterboxd Map for 2026! I start the year having watched at least one film from 100 different countries. Come with me as we journey to Montenegro for number 101 with… Local Vampire (2011).
Title: Lokalni Vampir (Local Vampire)
Director: Branko Baletić
Released: August 1, 2011 (Montenegro)
Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
Available to stream on: Tubi
A young and naive businessman finds himself in trouble. He’s recently been the victim of a gambling con that has left him owing a large sum of money to the mob.
In order to try and get out of his current situation, the young man returns to his mother’s hotel. After two failed suicide attempts, he and his mother decide they’ll fake his death. They even follow through and hold a fake funeral.
During the funeral, the son sneakily escapes from the casket up into the attic and out of view. From the attic, the man tries to live a life of non-existence. He occasionally will peek in on how his wife is doing, though this eventually leads to villagers spotting him.
Obviously, the only reasonable explanation for his sightings is that he’s come back as a vampire. But how long can he and his mother keep up their ruse?
For what it’s worth, my biggest issue with Local Vampire (2011) isn’t even with the movie itself.
No, that honor goes to whoever was responsible for the subtitles. While there are portions where you’re lucky to get three words translated, there are others where what is translated into English is presented as a word salad, leaving you to try and use context clues to piece together what was going on.
However, the film doesn’t do itself any favors. For example, there is no reason this needs to be pushing the two-hour mark. We could’ve trimmed up the second act and gotten this closer to a tight 90-minutes.
Translation issues and runtime aside, things weren’t all bad. There are some funny moments when the town sees an influx of tourists due to the supposed vampire.
I just wish there was a more accurately translated version out there.
Have you seen Local Vampire (2011)?
If so, leave a comment below or reach out on Bluesky and tell me your thoughts on it!
As always, you can follow me over on Letterboxd to see what else I’ve been watching lately.