• Sean Rourke is a film editor who has worked on stuff you love, including various Marvel movies and TV shows. Still, his heart belongs to a nice set of fangs … “Omaha isn’t exactly known for its vampires,” Rourke explained. “I figured it was time to change that.” As someone who may or may not have but definitely did do vampire role playing in high school, I salute this noble quest. In his spare time, the Rourke runs a YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/TheVampiresCastle) that “celebrates the vampire genre.” Celebrate sounds glittery, but no word on whether he’s the one who applied glitter to Robert Pattinson’s torso. He recently dropped “Black Ambient: Journal of a Vampire Hunter” online (youtu.be/hqVjWVCZZQk) more than 25 years after it was shot around the Big O. “We shot all over Omaha,” said Rourke, “from the Old Market to Gene Leahy Park, to Olde Mill, to West O, and then the big final confrontation takes place in the old Astro movie theater.” It’s a faux documentary that is perhaps the only Bram Stoker-inspired flick to ever shoot in the alley behind a Spaghetti Works. It’s also a lot of fun and the kind of passion project that wasn’t available to nerds like Rourke and I when we were growing up. “There was no YouTube back in 1996. But there is now, so I’ve remastered the whole thing and released it online for its worldwide premiere!” Few things warm my heart like someone already doing cool things in movies saying, “Hold up, I need to drop my 26-year-old passion project wherein Omahans murder a Dracula.” Give it a spin and smile.
  • Gotta love a month when I can start a column with back-to-back plugs for local filmmaking! Omahow about that?! Too much? It felt like too much. Anyway, good news: Film Streams (filmstreams.org) is still running two of the films from its 13th annual Local Filmmakers Showcase at the Dundee Theater. From Sept. 23-29, you can see Peter O’Brien’s “Drawn Together,” which is the tale of a young boy’s adventures with a pup. From Oct. 14-20, you can spin “Pre-Existing” from Kevin Isaacson. It follows a husband’s quest to buy a life insurance policy for his wife. “Chapters” by Pinaki Modal was the third film in the series. It ran the last week of August and followed a retiree preparing to move back to India. They may not feature climactic, Spaghetti Works-set vampiric battles, but each sounds like its own fresh slice of local yum.
  • I’m only doing this because it’s too thematically great not to mention: Alamo Drafthouse La Vista is doing a brunch screening on Saturday, Sept. 10, and Sunday, Sept. 11 … of the final two “Twilight” movies. See? I got to bookend with vampire stuff! They call that a “Lestat Sandwich.” Absolutely no reason has been given as to why Alamo was like “Yes, 21 years after 9/11, we must celebrate our continued freedom by drinking bloody Marys while watching a fake baby so legendarily terrifying, stories are still told about it 10 years later.” I know there’s never a bad reason to get together for brunch and watch “Twilight” movies. We all do it. I am just thankful they did it this weekend so I had a second slice of bread for this Lestat Sandwich.

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