🩸 Boys from County Hell (2020) – Vampires Done Right

🎬 Let’s Start with the Trailer, Shall We?

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📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Set in a small Irish town, Boys from County Hell reimagines vampire mythology with a story drenched in local folklore, superstition, and plenty of black comedy. A group of road workers accidentally awakens Abhartach, a terrifying figure from Irish legend — predating even Dracula. What follows is a bloody, atmospheric unraveling of myth meeting modern day, and it’s far more than your typical fangs-and-gothics affair.


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👥 Character Rundown

Eugene (Jack Rowan) – A young man stuck between boredom and responsibility, who gets pulled into the nightmare when his job leads to disaster.

Francie (Nigel O’Neill) – Eugene’s father, gruff and practical, and whose stubbornness plays a big role in the unfolding chaos.

Claire (Louisa Harland) – Eugene’s friend, sharp and skeptical, grounding the madness.

William (Fra Fee) – Another local caught up in the bloodshed, representing the old ties to the land.

Abhartach – The vampire at the heart of the story, drawn directly from Irish legend — a far cry from your suave Dracula archetype.



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⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

The film balances atmosphere and violence perfectly: slow-burn world-building in the opening half, and then an unrelenting escalation once Abhartach awakens. By the second half, the tension and gore hit full throttle.


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✅ Pros

Unique Vampire Lore – Finally, a vampire story that doesn’t just recycle Dracula tropes.

Cultural Accuracy – Rooted in Irish myth, it feels authentic, adding weight to the horror.

Atmosphere – Darkly funny, bleak, and bloody — the tone fits perfectly.

Practical Gore – The effects are visceral and refreshing.

Performances – Rowan and O’Neill make the father-son dynamic the emotional core.



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❌ Cons (or more like Mehs)

If you’re expecting flashy vampires with capes and seduction, you’ll be disappointed. This is gritty folklore horror.

Some of the humor might feel too dry for audiences not tuned to Irish wit.



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💭 Final Thoughts

This is one of the freshest vampire films of the last decade. It deserves a spot alongside Nosferatu (1922) and The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) as proof that the genre still has sharp teeth when handled with respect for its cultural roots. Instead of polishing Dracula’s coffin for the millionth time, it digs deeper into older folklore, making it a must-watch for vampire buffs.


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⭐ Rating

10/10 🩸 – A blood-soaked love letter to Irish myth.


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🚨 Spoiler Warning 🚨

Below be fangs and folklore.


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🩸 Spoilers

The central twist is the creature itself: Abhartach. Unlike your typical vampire, he’s based on a real figure from Irish legend — a blood-drinker buried upright who would rise from his grave to torment the living. Some historians even suggest Abhartach predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula as a cultural ancestor of the vampire myth.

The plot kicks into gear when roadwork disturbs Abhartach’s grave. Eugene, Francie, and their crew inadvertently unleash him, setting off a wave of death and carnage across the town. Abhartach is not suave or charming; he’s grotesque, skeletal, and terrifying. The rules of his myth — tied to the land and impossible to destroy with traditional “vampire rules” — give the film its originality.

The kills are grisly: villagers drained dry, blood pooling in sickeningly creative ways, and desperate improvisation as the survivors realize they can’t simply stake him and move on. The father-son relationship comes full circle during the climax, grounding the story in family as much as folklore.

The final stretch doesn’t provide easy answers — there’s no neat resolution, only survival through wit and luck. That ambiguity makes the legend feel alive, as if Abhartach’s shadow will never fully fade.