The life and loves of a vampire and her daughter are explored in three time periods in Eduardo Casanova’s campy, metaphor-heavy dramatic comedy Silencio, a feature film edit of a 3-episode TV show, presented as part of Fantastic Fest 2025.
Silencio has an interesting focus, with each of the three time periods and its characters’ actions and needs based around disease and its effects on humans and vampires. In the 1300s, a quartet of women vampires bicker about their survival as the Black Death decimates the countryside. In the 1980s, one of the women and her daughter barely hanging on during the AIDS epidemic, and finally, in 2030, the daughter reflects on her life (with a dash of elbowing about COVID). Together they form a campy, sharply written, often very funny, yet a level of loss and sadness, but an overly short whole. Eduardo Casanova’s Silence is a fascinating and lushly designed vampire show/film.
It’s a film steeped in metaphors, using said diseases to question our lives and loves. What risks will we take to continue our existence? Which is worse, being willing to be loved with the threat of death or living a lonely existence? What are the truths of our own abilities to love, to have a family? Most of all, the title is literally translated as Silence. How are people silenced for being who they are? It’s a move often about queerness, directly in character covering being gay, or in metaphor: the vampires have to hide their true selves to fit in, never feeling safe to be themselves. Is it excruciating to stay silent and hidden for centuries? Or do you risk becoming a scapegoat?
The discussion of these topics is the crux. It’s a film of conversation under the fantastical trappings. The sharp script is one of bickering arguments, but with life and pep. As the various sets of women argue and debate, they have very funny quips and jabs via a strong character understanding of character and what Casanova reinforces with the script. Whether it be the four sisters centuries ago, mother and daughter, or daughter and girlfriend, or the same in the future.
There’s a lot to love in Silencio. The makeup, costumes, and set design are all astounding. The vampires are all incredibly designed and wear practical make-up. It’s nice to see the Nosferatu style done with a beautiful cleanliness. Kudos on the strong performances showing through the make-up. Too often, thick practical layers dull and hamper expressiveness, but not the designs of Isabel Auernheimer and Oscar del Monte. Full range of large emotions! The lush 1300s in costuming (Carolina Gliana) and design (Casanova himself) is a visual treat, of gorgeous excess. The 1980s are the engagingly ugly pastels. My mom favored these, so it brings me back. The costuming too. The woman could have pulled directly from her closet. The colorless drab onfa junkie’s life and needs are purposely on the other end of the spectrum, honing a keen sense. Even the overly clean, sterile future segment leans into a particularly large cliche of the times.
An awesome music video pauses the film for a few minutes. I don’t mind. “Let Love Die” is a banger. I found myself bopping along, loving the look (reminded of Jean Rollin’s eurotrash vampire flicks of the 70s), movement, and editing of the piece. Speaking of editing and camera use, it’s wonderful across the piece. The cutting has a musical flow, but also keeps an eerie tone among the comedic bickering.
The conversations, performances, editing, and production value all form into a wonderful sort of self-aware campiness, albeit with the solid messaging underneath. The excess of the 1300s, the pastel vomit explosion of the 1980s (and the direlect junkie side too), the still 2030s, and all the details that match into the world are firmly purposeful in design and method.
The biggest detriment of Silencio is its length. It clocks in at a mere fifty-four minutes. I appreciate brevity in creation, when a film knows when to get out, keeping tight rather than an artist unable to kill their babies. However, I wanted more. The first two sections are fleshed out, with their characters, arcs, plot points, and what it has to say. But the third act, that of 2030, feels incomplete. Especially in the continuation of the plot and characters from the 1980s segment. It’s essentially a short conversation of exposition before coming to a close. Did the production run out of money after the amazing production and costume design of the first parts? Is it meant to be continued? Will there be a season 2?
Silencio is a fun, well-written, and perfectly performed wonder of great make-up and design. With a short runtime, it’s an easy way to spend an hour. Eduardo Casanova Silencio should be heard. Silencio is presented as part of Fantastic Fest, running September 16th through 23rd in Austin, TX.