Little Bites

by Mike McGranaghan

You know what’s awesome? When a bunch of great people get together and make a kick-ass movie. Little Bites assembles a terrific cast that includes several of the most notable actresses working in the horror genre. Under the direction of the uniquely named Spider One, they deliver superb performances that give lie to the persistent myth that horror acting is somehow “lesser” than acting in a conventional drama. This is easily one of the most satisfying fright flicks I’ve seen this year.

Mindy Vogel (Krsy Fox) is a young widow who has sent her 10-year-old daughter Alice (Elizabeth Phoenix Caro) to stay with her judgmental mother (The Nun’s Bonnie Aarons). There’s a very good reason for this decision. In a room down in the basement dwells a monster named Agyar (Jon Sklaroff) who slowly feeds off her flesh and blood. Mindy’s problem expands when Child Protective Services worker Sonya Whitfield (Barbara Crampton) starts poking around, looking for Alice. She needs to find a way to protect her daughter before Agyar completely drains her, then figure out how to avoid losing custody.

Little Bites is a slow-burn horror movie that’s regularly punctuated by shocking plot developments, some of which might cause you to gasp. The central dynamic between Mindy and Agyar is haunting. Always speaking in a dignified tone of voice, even when threatening to kill her and lick every last drop of her blood off the floor, the monster oozes menace. He also makes it clear that if Mindy is dinner, he intends to have Alice for dessert. Buried under makeup to give the character a hideous look, Sklaroff is absolutely chilling. His turn could give you nightmares. Fox, meanwhile, credibly conveys the sheer terror driving Mindy. To the outside world, she looks like a drug addict; in reality, she’s an abuse victim striving to prevent Alice from an unthinkable fate.

Two of the film’s best scenes find Mindy encountering outsiders. In one, she manipulates a sad, lonely looking man named Paul (Chaz Bono) into coming back to her house. In another, she has a perspective-changing conversation with a woman named Ellenor (A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Heather Langenkamp) in the local park. Both sequences, along with the ones between Mindy and Sonya, go a long way toward establishing the desperation that drives her.

Fox, Crampton, Aarons, Langenkamp, and Bono are all fine as can be, building multidimensional characters who add to the story’s impact. They ensure Little Bites has a human core to balance out Agyar’s fearsomeness. That quality becomes increasingly important as the story’s events grow more and more gruesome. During the last act, it’s impossible not to get physically tense as heroine and villain edge toward their final showdown.

Lots of horror films show ghastly sights and generate jump scares. Little Bites does that, too, but it simultaneously tells a poignant story of a mother doing what it takes to keep her child safe in a situation nobody would believe if she told them. An ambitious story, strong directorial style, and that wonderful cast combine to make the movie intelligent, nerve-rattling entertainment.

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