Podcasts

Podcast: Harmony Colangelo on ‘Bit’

July 11th, 2022 | By Matthew Monagle

Film distribution is a difficult game during the best of times. Unfortunately, 2020 was anything but the best of times. Brad Michael Elmore‘s Bit has been described as 2020’s “best intersectional feminist vampire movie” by Vulture, but the film faced an uphill climb thanks to its April release date. Thankfully, Bit also has what a lot of struggling horror movies don’t: a tireless champion in the form of Harmony Colangelo.

In this week’s episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast, Harmony joins the Matts to discuss her favorite – and least-favorite – trends in vampire movies. And when the conversation turns to talk of Los Angeles vampires, Harmony explains why she has been obsessed with the film since its initial release. From understated trans representation to the most badass onscreen vampire since Bill Paxton in Near Dark, Bit is a film with a very bright future. Just wait until the horror community catches up with what Harmony already knows.

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Here’s the full plot synopsis, courtesy of the Bit website:

On the eve of her small-town-Oregon high school graduation, Laurel finds herself celebrating with her one and only friend, Andy. Laurel’s adolescence has not been easy growing up transgender in a small community, so she decides to move to LA for the summer to seek a bigger, more accepting world. As fate would have it, on Laurel’s first night out, she ends up at a warehouse party with a mysterious punk group of girls. Her luck turns when she is attacked and left for dead by the group’s leader, Duke. Laurel awakens to discover she has been bitten, and may be turning into a vampire. She finds the girls from the night before, and Duke invites her to join the vampire squad. Their main rules: Kill what you eat. And, no turning men into vampires–they can’t handle power. Laurel, faced with a choice to join the girls, must decide for herself whether she is ready to embrace the life of a vampire.

Bit is now available to stream on Amazon Prime and Tubi. And to learn more about Bit, be sure to read “Bit Marks a New Era for Vampire and Trans Cinema,” Harmony’s 2020 essay at Certified Forgotten exploring where Bit fits into the intersection of queer culture and horror.