Late night, come home. Works sucks, I know. And so do these Bloodsucking Bastards.

When down-on-his-luck cubicle drone Evan starts to suspect his new boss is a vampire, even his best friend Tim doesn’t believe him. But as their colleagues get paler and keener to work the night shift, it’s clear the company is no longer demanding blood, sweat and tears. The first one will do just fine in Bloodsucking Bastards.

This breezy horror-comedy transparently wants to be “The Office” with vampires and arguably it would have been much better had it mimicked the faux-documentary shooting style of the celebrated sitcom. Instead, its early scenes are shot with all the élan and visual panache of a nineties Australian soap opera. The film opens with a workday humdrum that’s painfully relatable, especially for those who’ve ever stared blankly at a screen, wondering if their boss is even human—an idea the movie plays with more literally than most.

There’s a distinct low-budget feel to the early scenes, with self-conscious performances and dialogue the cast – including Pedro Pascal, who clearly deserves better – can’t quite humanise. It often feels underrehearsed and overly stiff, relying on tired corporate humour and workplace clichés that rarely land with the desired impact. While there are a few game performances and some sharp gags, it never really leans into the vampirism as a metaphor for corporate life. The idea of sucking the life out of employees is ripe for satire, yet the film only grazes the surface, leaving plenty of potential gags unbitten.

However, once it stops trying to play with the “are they or aren’t they actual vampires” schtick and the blood starts to splatter the walls, the film shows it’s got more than enough energy and wit to pull off a pretty fangtastic premise. The transformation from dry, awkward comedy to a full-blown bloodbath is where Bloodsucking Bastards finally hits its stride. The absurdity is dialled up, and so too is the fun, with the workplace dynamics taking on a whole new level of ridiculousness once the vampires come out to play.

Admittedly easy to switch off before the half-hour mark, it ends up rewarding you if you don’t with a goofy and gory office-based romp that might not have much to say but at least has a bloody good time saying it. It’s a fun, forgettable film that delivers more laughs than scares, perfect for a lazy afternoon when you’re happy to let a movie do the heavy lifting – and the neck biting.