“Vampires of the Mid-Range” changed the lead actor during filming, and perhaps won popular love thanks to this decision.
The finale of the unexpected hit of the START platform, “Vampires of the Mid-Range”, has just wrapped up. Due to its success with audiences and critics, it has been renewed for a second season. Let's try to figure out the secret of the project's popularity, how successfully Yuri Stoyanov replaced Mikhail Efremov, and why the series is absolutely unlike “What We Do in the Shadows,” with which it is mistakenly compared online.
Provincial Detective
Near the cottage community of Veshki, several corpses are found with bite marks on their necks and not a single drop of blood in their bodies. An incredibly similar story had happened shortly before in Mytishchi, so a Moscow detective, Ivan (Mikhail Gavrilov-Tretyakov), is sent to Smolensk to assist the local police. The Muscovite has no idea that, parallel to his investigation, a local vampire clan, led by the colorful Grandpa Slava (Yuri Stoyanov), is also trying to get to the truth. In addition to the bloodsuckers, the city also has Keepers, who monitor the balance between humans and supernatural beings and punish immortals in case of unlawful actions. It is a vampire they believe is responsible for the deaths.
The detective storyline, set in the provinces with all that entails, is the main driver of the plot in the series “Vampires of the Mid-Range.” It is well-constructed, even if it doesn't harbor grand intrigues or “wow-twists.” Thanks to it, the overall tension is maintained, but most importantly, it allows the characters to be revealed thoughtfully, without haste, and in a wide variety of circumstances. And the characters in the series are something else.
Tragicomedy of Russian Vampirism
Ever since the time of “Night Watch,” it was clear that vampires have a place in Russian reality. Except, ideally, they shouldn't have model looks and uphold aristocratic norms. After all, in our reality, characters of a tragicomic nature look much more appealing. And the showrunners of “Vampires of the Mid-Range,” understanding this perfectly, gave viewers exactly such heroes. Here we have the “Russified” Jean (Artyom Tkachenko), who traded French romance for traditional Russian melancholy, diluted with a chaotic sex life; the former Chekist Anna (Ekaterina Kuznetsova), who adheres to reasonableness but will definitely give in to her feelings at a crucial moment; and the zoomer Zhenyok (Gleb Kalyuzhny), who used his transformation to become an online star. In each of them and their stories, you can find both tragic and frankly comedic notes.
This is where the series favorably differs from another “domestic” show on the theme of vampires — “What We Do in the Shadows,” in which the characters are made up of clichés for building gags and deconstructing the genre as a whole. The Russian vampires turned out to be much more colorful and original.
But they all pale in comparison to the main star and soul of the entire story, Svyatoslav Vernidubovich (or simply Grandpa Slava), a pensioner of indeterminate age who has survived several wars, the plague, changes in the social system, but has not lost a drop of humanity. He dispenses wisdom and moralizing left and right, adheres to the principles of a traditional patriarchal family, and urges everyone to live in harmony with themselves and the world around them. His eternal, old-man-like, and in its own way endearing grumbling, with unusual and memorable phrases, is synonymous with some kind of constancy against the backdrop of the general carelessness of the “youth.”
“Vampires of the Mid-Range” might not have happened. In the original pilot of the project, the role of Grandpa Slava was played by Yuri Stoyanov, but for the full version of the show, the more “star” Mikhail Efremov was invited to take his place. However, due to well-known events, the latter dropped out of the series. The creators of “Vampires” did not look for new performers and simply invited Stoyanov back. Perhaps this twist of fate allowed the series to become what viewers have come to love. After all, the entire structure of the show rests on Stoyanov's charm and acting skill. After all, the Soviet acting school is a real level.
Smolensk Flavor
Russian filmmakers are increasingly turning their attention to a variety of places across the vast country. “Chiki,” and many other hits of recent years are not shy about moving events outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. And so “Vampires of the Mid-Range” continued this trend, giving one of the main roles to Smolensk with its rich history and the beautiful Holy Assumption Cathedral, which the filmmakers are not shy about showing from all sorts of angles.
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Open material
Technical imperfection — Grandpa Slava's transformation into a ghoul doesn't look at all convincing, and some slow-motion scenes feel like a foreign body — is very well compensated precisely by the urban flavor with echoes of the Soviet past, the familiar peripheral architecture, and the overall grayness that is close to the hearts of many viewers.
Is It Worth Watching “Vampires of the Mid-Range”?
The series turned out to be quite uneven. Some actors don't measure up to their colleagues in the frame. There are problems with special effects. There is some not-so-successful humor here and there. The main storyline, taken in isolation from the side plot branches, may seem too simple. Nevertheless, “Vampires of the Mid-Range” is a very charming series with Yuri Stoyanov, who hasn't shone like this in a long time, interesting characters, and an overall appealing flavor (notice how often this word is mentioned in the review?!). Perhaps in the second season, the authors will do some work on the mistakes and the show will become even better, but even in its current form, it is currently one of the most interesting projects of the year.
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