Only In Moonlight is the newest short film from director Dan Shakespeare and producer Cass Senior, A queer vampire story set in our very own Auld Reekie (Edinburgh, for the non-Scots). The film is an excellent bite-sized exploration of queer identity, nightlife and it’s inextricably connected link to the insatiable appetite of a vampire. 

With monster movies becoming increasingly mainstream in theatres, there are many themes to be explored in this particular genre of horror. Cannibalism draws blood-red connections to the exploration of lust and gluttony. Hypnotism and possession become synonyms with trauma and mental health; and of course, the making of any good monster must stir some discussion around identity, consciousness and dysphoria.

Only In Moonlight is a visually stunning interpretation of the classic Vampire film with a salacious, queer twist. What I found so thoroughly engaging was the expertly fast-paced and shocking reveals that felt so natural and not at all gimmicky, perfectly timed and bloody-well executed. 

I was eager to pick the brains of both Dan and Cass to discuss their inspirations for the film, their favourite vampire tropes, as well as the deeper meaning behind what it means to be a vampire, especially for our main character, Price.

Image Credit: Only In Moonlight (Stills)

Monster’s are making a huge comeback into mainstream cinema, with the works of Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025), The Shape of Water (2017), Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, and more recently Sinners by Ryan Coogler – were there any specific monster films that drove your inspiration when creating Only In Moonlight?

Dan: Coppola’s Dracula is a movie that’s never too far from my mind in any capacity; it’s such a stylistic swing to tell what’s essentially a very sad story. There’s a scene in that where Dracula wipes away Mina’s tears and turns them into diamonds in his pale palms. That right there is such a perfect microcosm of the entire vampire mega-myth to me, beyond all the blood-letting. They’re perpetually lonely creatures, making the best of a bad lot. They don’t feed on blood, they feed on melancholy. That loneliness is something that really informed Only in Moonlight. 

A life unburdened by death sounds cool until it’s paired with the consequences of walking that life alone. Any lips you meet along the way are just bits of blood to keep you going. Another vampire film that really plays with this concept is Tony Scott’s The Hunger. That’s a gorgeous film. And look, any vampire film partially set in a nightclub owes at least some of its existence to Blade and the video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. I had the soundtrack for the latter on repeat while writing.

Cass: Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre and, more recently, Eggers’ Nosferatu were both touchstones for me throughout the process. Nosferatu is your typical vampire with all the bells and whistles, but he’s awkward, weird and isolates himself inside his home. With Only In Moonlight, I was curious about how we could bring that into the modern world, how would Nosferatu the Vampyre adjust to goth clubs and smoking areas if he didn’t lock himself away. During production, I was also catching up with the Interview With The Vampire TV series, which definitely inspired some of our choices and definitely none of the character names.

Image Credit: Only In Moonlight (Stills)

I enjoyed the way you translated Price’s blood-thirsty affliction in the film in such a tasteful and bite-sized way (excuse the pun) – I especially loved the split second shot where Paul looks to the mirror – do you have a favourite vampire trope? Vampires turning into bats, no reflection, stake through the heart? How important was it to you to be able to convey those tropes visually? 

D: I think the no reflection thing was something me and Cass both wanted to do as soon as the idea came to do a contemporary vampire film. It’s such an awesome trope! But they’re all cool. From Dusk Till Dawn has some incredible playing around with the tropes, especially the “sunlight burn” (which is probably a close second for favourite trope). Only in Moonlight has its own visual equivalent when Price looks at the moon; we thought we’d throw a bit of a wrench into 128 years of folklore. But something that was very important to me was how this film was meant to be a very subjective experience. You needed to be in the headspace of its characters, voice-over will only take you so far. It’s the reason for things like the mirror shot and the moon stuff and the sensual dance followed immediately by a violent bite sequence.

It’s not just showing off the vampire lore (although that’s definitely part of it), you need to feel the desperation, the sexuality, the desire, the loathing. And if you see it, you feel it. So it was crucial to convey whatever we could visually.

C: It’s not one we managed to bring into the short film but I adore that Coogler’s Sinners is bringing it back – my favourite trope is vampires having to be invited into someone’s home. I understand why it may not fit with a lot of the vampires we see today, but it seems like it would bring an interesting social challenge to the vampire, and with Price and Louie who love to talk metaphorically and around the matter, I feel they would enjoy the cat and mouse game of trying to fish out that invite.

Image Credit: Only In Moonlight (Stills)

Price’s inner monologues held a plethora of exploration. On one hand, we could understand that he was talking about his new-found vampirism, but I came to wonder how much of it could also be partly related to his feelings around his queer identity? The line “Did they plan this for me? Or was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time?” really stood out to me. 

D: Price is a vampire who’s still getting used to being a vampire, with all the bad that entails. He’s unable to see immortality as anything but a curse, it’s just him and his lighter against the world. It’s not that he doesn’t know who he is, he knows. But he wishes he didn’t. He wishes this life wasn’t his. He wishes he could walk into a sun-soaked day…until he meets Louie, someone in the same boat who at least pretends to know what he’s doing convincingly enough to stay afloat. Suddenly, the nights don’t seem too bad. I think for all the horror elements and edgy meaning-of-life pondering that makes up a good chunk of Only in Moonlight’s runtime, it’s really just a love story written in blood. The best kind of story.

C: The concept of identity has always been something we wanted to explore in this short. As a trans person, it can feel isolating knowing you’re essentially fighting your own individual battle, even in crowds like the nightclub in the film. Often it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to know the fighting is worth it. And I think that light to Price ends up being Louie, another vampire with experience under his belt that Price can look to and confide in.

Image Credit: Only In Moonlight (Stills)

With nods to the iconic nightclub scenes of Blade, Interview with a Vampire and the overall brooding goth-ness of The Crow, this film practically hummed with passion and desire, and a longing to be understood – much like main character Price. 

Only In Moonlight will be screened in festivals this year, specifics yet to be confirmed. I, for one, feel incredibly grateful to have been shown a screening and know it will be even better when shown on the big screen.