Don’t you just love it when you watch something and you can feel that it’s a passion project? Seeing filmmakers put their heart and soul into a project is palpable. Luckily for the genre, there’s a new family of passionate filmmakers on the scene: The Little Family. Comprised of Stacy Haiduk, her husband Bradford Tatum, and their daughter Sophia Tatum, The Little Family has an incredibly entertaining, and bloody, short film to feast your eyes on. Brand New Cadillac will be here for your eyes to see very soon, and you should definitely see it if you can.
Brand New Cadillac follows Lana (Stacy Haiduk) and her daughter Strode (Sophia Tatum), who embark on a five-day killing spree. It makes perfect sense when mom is a vampire and her daughter is a would-be serial killer. What should be a straightforward, once-a-year blood frenzy for Lana turns into a far more complicated bonding experience for the estranged pair.
Written by Bradford Tatum, Brand New Cadillac is fairly straightforward, but promises to unleash a new type of terror onto the world. Part vampire, part other creature, Lana’s origin seems to be more than meets the eye. She’s a vampire who can exist in the daylight, though something more evil and ominous lurks beneath the surface. Soap Opera icon and three-time Daytime Grammy nominee, Stacy Haiduk powerfully embodies this badass powerhouse.
Alongside Lana is her daughter, Strode. Strode is the epitome of hardcore. With a platinum hatchet affixed to her hip and hatchet earrings begging to be covered in a monsoon of an innocent person’s blood, she is truly a force to be reckoned with. Like mother, like daughter. Sophia Tatum has an evergrowing list of impressive credits on IMDb, and Brand New Cadillac is a welcomed credit. Tatum absolutely chews up the scenery and leaves no crumbs. Strode gives Grace d’Argento (Christina Ochoa) from Blood Drive vibes and is an absolute thrill to watch. While Haiduk and Tatum are excellent actors on their own, their chemistry multiplies tenfold when they share the screen.
Brand New Cadillac doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, but it makes the wheel damn fun to look at. It’s not easy to make antagonists likable but Bradford Tatum’s script lays out the perfect groundwork for these characters. On top of an entertaining and engaging screenplay is Stacy Haiduk and Sophia Tatum’s direction. But why listen to me talk about all of this, when you can get the information directly from Stacy and Sophia? I highly recommend you listen to this extensive hour-long interview I did with Stacy and Sophia over at the Horror Press Podcast! You can find the interview here.
Now that you’ve read this and listened to the interview, I’m sure you’re chomping at the bits to see this short film. If you are in the LA area, you can catch the premiere of Brand New Cadillac at LA Screamfest in just a few weeks! This short, which, if you listened to the interview, is also a proof of concept, premieres October 13, 2024! You can pick up your tickets here to support some excellent family-made horror! Hopefully, we’ll have more information soon on the feature-length version of Brand New Cadillac!