A Narrative Which Ignored Darkness
Many casual filmgoers are less exposed to Theresa & Allison released in 2016. To most, it was just a micro-budget erotic horror, an indie film by Jeremiah Kipp. To others, it was a masterpiece with blood, bodies, and an intricate story about seduction, power, and survival. For them, it was a vampire film that bordered on disturbing beauties at whisper-exclusive film festivals. Theresa & Allison was a story that truly deserved to shine.
The film’s main protagonist, Allison, struggles with the city life and loneliness, both of which prove to be very daunting. Allison ends up meeting Theresa. It is then that the life of Theresa is revealed. She is a vampire who enchants and entices Allison into a world filled with cruelty, insatiable hunger, and otherworldly danger. The film is an illuminating piece that consists of a romance horror and fever dream core wrapped in an exquisite afterglow. The credits are merely an illusion of the film’s time.
What the Fans Saw that May Have Been Overlooked
Theresa and Allison, like most vampire narratives, can be appreciated on multiple levels, including that of an ‘allegory.’ However, viewers of the film ‘Theresa and Allison’ almost immediately bifurcated into two groups regarding the film’s ‘underlying’ meaning. Theresea was viewed, by some, as a comment on toxic love, and as a predator in her jousts, a lover who nets her partners emotionally and spiritually, drains them wholly. Others, on the other hand, leaned into a political reading: Allison’s descent was considered a symptom of and a metaphor for the loss of self in the sprawling ‘dehumanizing’ machinery of love and exploitation as a means of urban survival.
In the world of online ‘fan’ forums, especially in the areas of horror and queer film, a bifurcation arose as to whether Allison chose her transformation as a means of liberation or whether she was ‘properly’ transgendered victimized. A recurring explanation posited, and gained traction, the notion that Theresa was an empty signifier: a construct of Allison’s repressed fantasies, an inverse shadow of herself who, dispelling the city’s interminable solitude came alive.
Some even considered alternative endings: what if Allison came into the room and fully negated Theresa and revealed her world to humans? Or, what if Allison herself became the dominant vampire and the inverse of the power relationship? The range of these questions, the ‘what if’ questions, was sufficient to sustain the film for a prolonged period that resided well beyond what its opening release might suggest.
Reactions from the cast and crew regarding the buzz of the film.
Jeremiah Kipp, the director of the film, during his interviews acknowledged that he intended for Theresa & Allison to be chaotic, fascinating, and open to every possibility. He was careful to avoid giving the fans a “key” to the narrative, and he often remarked that the absence of a clear answer was part of the enjoyment. For him, Theresa was both a an actual vampire, and a figurative vampire, and it was up to the spectators to determine which element of her was more prominent.
The actors themselves embraced that uncertainty. Arielle Hope, who portrayed Allison, in one of the Q&A sessions, made the shocking claim that she never considered Allison a victim of any sort. Rather she viewed her as a person who was able to find belonging, albeit at the cost of her humanity. In the case of Colleen Dougherty, who played Theresa, she stated that in her case, she did not approach her character as a vampire, but rather as a person in love who was inescapably doomed by her own appetites. In her view, Theresa was tragic because she sincerely craved Allison, but in her world, wanting something and wanting to destroy it at the same time were never separate things.
While on set, both actresses claimed that shooting the more intimate and violent scenes on a shoestring budget was both freeing and difficult. Budget constraints created a Hollywood feel, but the lack of polish also heightened the emotional demands of the scenes. They emphasized the importance of trust on a set, especially in the case of a film which intertwined seduction and violence.
Production Conditions That Impacted the Film
Unlike the dreamy air in the film, the shooting was anything but effortless. Spending in New York required the crew to budget and be creative. The crew filmed in borrowed spaces and raced through public areas and basements under “guerrilla-style” conditions.
Lighting was another concern. The film depended on moods and shadow, which meant that Dominc Sivilli had to figure out how to create a haunting, nighttime glow with little to no resources. The end product had a rough, documentary-style quality that intensified the intimacy of the vampiric moments that were captured.
It also employs ambitious, atmospheric sequences. The creative team leaned into the ambient sounds of the city, incorporating distant sirens and street voices to create the feeling that Allison was entering through a different layer of reality.
Why The Theories Still Linger
With no doubt Theresa & Allison, alas, never crossed over into mainstream appeal. Rather, it’s cult status embraced them due to its insistent refusal on self justification. Fans still ask themselves: Did Allison’s final metamorphosis signify empowerment or doom? Was Theresa freeing Allison from the drudgery of her human existence or sentencing her to an eternity of gnawing hunger?
Some viewers pointed out subtle details—the way Allison’s attitude morphs in the earlier scenes, the way she becomes almost obsessed with Theresa’s caress, the almost total inability to tell dreams from reality. These breadcrumbs ignited arguments on whether the entire tale could be Allison’s desperate attempt to fantasize her hopeless reality into something otherworldly.
It’s absence is unquestionable, deliberate. Kipp has claimed his intention was not to create a sleek, Hollywood vampire picture, but to try and evoke the visceral feeling of stepping into something perilous. In that light, not having a resolution is a resolution—the audience has to endure the ultimate carnal temptation without safety nets.
What the film bestowed upon its creators
In the case of Arielle Hope and Colleen Dougherty, the film Theresa and Allison became pivotal in their careers in ways that were both surprising and rewarding. Although neither attained reaches the heights of mainstream stardom, the film earned them accolades in the indie horror community. They were commended for the delicate balance of ferocity and vulnerability in their performances. Both critics and audiences remarked that the central emotional connection of the narrative stemmed from their relationships, elevating the film from a mere genre offering.
To Jeremiah Kipp, the film became a statement of what one could accomplish through creativity in place of a monetary budget. He earned a reputation as a filmmaker who was willing to tackle taboo subjects, and he gained a devoted following in underground cinema for doing so.
A small film which sparked widespread conversation and debate
In hindsight, the purpose of Theresa & Allison was not to rake in profits at the box office. Much more than that, the film was designed to provoke by conceiving of new ways to fuse elements of horror and intimacy, tenderness and brutality. Even after years of its release, fan theories, alternate endings and quiet conversations about the film surround it, which is a testament to its success.
Not every question was answered in the film and maybe that was the whole idea. There are stories that remain engraved in our memories, not because they provide conclusive endings, but rather because they allow us to debate, derive new conclusions and perhaps, craft a new ending altogether.
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