One of Netflix’s core audiences is young female viewers. As such this project came as no surprise to me, especially during pride month. I’ll admit when I first saw this in their June line-up, I knew it was going to be shit. Co-produced by Emma Roberts, First Kill stars Sarah Catherine Hook and Imani Lewis as Juliette and Calliope. Two star-crossed lovers, a vampire, and a hunter, both feeling the pressure to make their first kill.
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This Romeo and Juliet-inspired supernatural drama are so low-budget it’s almost painful. Why did they spend the entire budget on renting the houses? Sorry, but if the budget is lacking, then the writing NEEDS to be more inventive. It wasn’t even mediocre, to be frank… The stunts are terrible, and so is the camera work. (They need to get the crew who film Cobra Kai or something.) I could put this down to budget, but there are too many other failings as well. The acting is borderline awful, with many lines being delivered poorly.
The one exception is the scenes with Margot (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Talia (Aubin Wise), which are arguably the best of the entire show. The chemistry between the leads was a bit stiff at first, but it’s decent towards the end. As they get more comfortable with each other and their roles, the chemistry will flow better between them.
The makeup is terrible, the fake blood, the hunter’s tattoos (pretty sure Clayton’s was drawn on with a sharpie…), the monsters… like it’s bad. I did think the theme song was quite fitting though. The pacing is terrible around the middle, which is somehow now a running theme with Netflix shows I find… It’s like the writers had an idea to make a show, but they didn’t have enough material to make a full season, so they fill it with random crap instead. The last episode was entertaining. Had to save the best for last and all that.
The bingeability of streaming got me through this, honestly. If I had to wait for this to come out weekly I would’ve never made it to the finale. I don’t know if they’ll get another season. It’s possible if they attract a large enough fan base (the tweens), but honestly, the material isn’t there. The one bright spot of the show is how they mirror racism and prejudice with vampirism. There are also not-so-subtle nods in the narrative to the LGBTQ community and how family dynamics are navigated. I’m glad that the hunters hunt more than just vampires.
First Kill would have gotten pretty boring fast. Funny enough, I might just actually watch Season 2. If they get one. To see if they’ll get a better budget and better writing. I like to give things a fair shot. It’s a disappointing, hapless disaster, but there is something there. There’s just too much wrong with it to get the job done.
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