"Riverwalk Vampire" Inspiration For SA Filmmaker
Artist rendering of the Riverwalk Vampire
As tales of the Riverwalk go, one of the most bizarre in recent years has been the story of the Riverwalk Vampire. After a series of gruesome murders in the 1990s, where victims were dragged off the Riverwalk and blood-sucked, the San Antonio Police Department created an special task force to catch the attacker. As officers closed in on the suspect, the trail went cold until he returned in 2003.
The Nix reported hundreds of pints of “missing blood”, which was only noticed when doctors realized they had been using cranberry juice in operations on their patients. The thefts stopped after a night janitor disappeared. Shortly after, a mobile blood bank was parked on the corner of Crockett and Navarro, and several thousand visitors donated during its 18-month operation. Again, the unit vanished when unpaid parking tickets alerted the Nix, who claimed not to be connected with the blood mobile, and thousands realized they had been volutarily donating to the Riverwalk Vampire. Confirmed sightings have been difficult to establish, and even a description from an off-duty bicycle cop (“5’4″, large hat, kinda vampirish”) hasn’t helped find the suspect.
While the case has confounded police, whose professionalism was questioned after calling for FBI assistance from “Agent Mulder”, it became a source of inspiration for local San Antonio filmmaker Victor Perez. Mr Perez, 15, whose previous credits include the YouTube hits “Microwaving an Egg” and “Riding Skateboard Down Fredericksburg Road”, took the plunge on writing the screenplay when he heard that the city offered a $500,000 grant for local talent. The 45-page screenplay took almost a week to write, and is described as a romantic serial killer feature with occasional rap montages.
Says Perez: “It’s like Twilight meets Blade: there’s this romantic sh** and then at the end Blade just shows up and like rips the guys teeth out with kung fu and throwing stars and sh**. Totally sick.” The production team, which includes Perez and two school friends, have been filming on the Riverwalk at night using their cell phones. In realizing his vision, they have committed to Riverwalk authencity by shooting in the real life locations where the vampire was seen. When the project reaches post production and editing, Perez hints they may drop the “pussy cr** romantic bullsh**” subplot and focus more fully on “f****** sick kick-a** m*f* slaying sh**”.
The end result will be available in Riverwalk movies theaters some time later this year, and is promising to make Perez a local star. His school’s principal said he was “surprised” when the district’s arts budget was canceled this year and handed to a single student with a cell phone.
