Ep. 108: Holly Dale's "Blood & Donuts" (1995)

A moody vampire wakes up in a donut shop, the mob runs out of henchmen, and David Cronenberg delivers the most quotable line in the movie. We took the listener-suggested Blood and Donuts for a spin and found a late-night oddity that’s equal parts fog machine, love story, and lo-fi punchline—and somehow never fully commits to any of them. If you’ve ever wondered how a film can be too gentle for horror and too stiff for comedy, this is your case study.

We walk through what works and what wilts: the melancholy vibe, a few lines that actually sing, and a handful of moments so bizarre they become instantly shareable (yes, the pigeon scene and that lemon-juice torture bit are real). Then we dive into what drags it down—anxious “suckling” in place of feral feeding, watery blood and wobbly VFX, a soundtrack that bounces from thrift-store oldies to budget grunge, and a tone that can’t decide between wink or bite. Cronenberg’s bowling-alley boss speech about “leaving a mark” is a standout, but it also highlights how the rest of the movie misses its rhythm.

You’ll get our spoiler-friendly breakdown of tropes, the moments we actually laughed, and the scenes that might stick with you for the sheer audacity. We also point to better routes for your vampire fix—from operatic menace to clean, well-timed parody and scrappy Canadian cult picks that land their jokes. Come for the roast, stay for the craft talk on why horror comedy is harder than it looks and how a clearer point of view could have turned a donut-shop curio into a cult staple.

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