As always tends to be the case around this time of year, gorehounds everywhere are dipping into the content libraries of every major streaming service to satiate their bloodlust in the buildup to Halloween. However, let’s not forget about the incoming generation of horror fanatics, who’ve found a new favorite of their own in I Woke Up a Vampire.
Per FlixPatrol, Netflix’s family-friendly supernatural original has debuted as the most-watched new movie available to subscribers everywhere, plunging a stake through the Top 10 in 73 countries worldwide to arrive as the fifth top-viewed feature-length title on the platform. Just because it isn’t dripping in the standard trappings of the bloodsucking genre doesn’t mean it can’t become an instant smash hit, and it might just prove to be a gateway title for those won over by its endearing charms.
As you might have guessed from its moniker, I Woke Up a Vampire does in fact follow a teenage protagonist who wakes up to discover they are indeed a vampire, with 13 year-old Carmie’s milestone birthday coinciding with the revelation that she’s a “vampling,” which inevitably complicates the already-hazardous trials and tribulations of high school life.
A coming-of-age comedy with mythological undertones that Netflix itself described as “in the vein of Sabrina the Teenage Witch or a preteen take on The Vampire Diaries,” it won’t exactly be appointment viewing for the more hardened horror fans out there, but it’s always important to ease the youngsters into the realm of scary stories, and I Woke Up a Vampire has gotten off to a stellar start in winning over viewers everywhere.