Afflicted (film)

Lore & Background

Childhood friends Clif and Derek decide to travel the world and film a web series called Ends of the Earth. Derek has an AVM (cerebral arteriovenous malformation) that could kill him at any moment, making the trip his last wish. In Barcelona, Derek picks up a woman named Audrey, and later that night the other three burst into his hotel room as a prank, finding him bleeding and semiconscious with no sign of Audrey. They assume she planned to rob him. After parting ways with friends, Derek begins to exhibit strange symptoms: he sleeps for an entire day, projectile vomits his meal, suffers extreme burns from sunlight, and punches through a stone wall with his bare hands. Over the next days, he displays superhuman strength, speed, and agility, but insists nothing is wrong. After a fight with an angry driver, Derek licks blood off his hand, and Clif deduces he has contracted vampirism. Derek tries drinking blood from a butcher and a piglet, but vomits both times. He and Clif attempt to rob an ambulance for human blood but fail. Derek enters a catatonic state, and when Clif tries to give him his own blood, Derek escapes. Clif searches for him and is killed by the now completely inhuman Derek. Derek regains his senses, shoots himself in the head with a shotgun, but his head heals with only slight scarring. Interpol agents arrive, forcing Derek to escape with Clif's camera bag. Derek hides in an abandoned warehouse in Paris, reviews footage, and realizes Audrey's phone might be at the hotel where she bit him. He retrieves the phone and texts every number in her contact list, luring someone named Maurice. Derek tails Maurice to a squalid building, finds a bloodstained saw and an old photograph of Audrey, and overpowers Maurice. Maurice knows Audrey and is bitter that she left him human but turned Derek into a vampire. Derek sets up a live-stream of Maurice tied up to lure Audrey. GIGN storms the apartment, and Derek is shot to near-death before entering a frenzied state, slaughtering the whole squad and escaping. Audrey attacks Derek and reveals there is no cure for vampirism. She chose Derek because he was dying and she thought she was being kind. Derek posts a final entry online, explaining he can never contact his family again, and later films himself feeding on a man who has child pornography on his phone. In a post-credits scene, a teenage boy and two teenage girls sneak into a swimming pool in Italy and are attacked; Clif, now also a vampire, attacks the boy.

Reader's Guide

Afflicted is notable as a found footage horror film that revitalizes the vampire genre by presenting it through a realistic, documentary-style lens. The film won a special jury citation for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, marking it as a significant debut for directors Derek Lee and Clif Prowse. Its budget of $318,000, raised through a small grant and family and friends, demonstrates how low-budget filmmaking can achieve critical success. The film holds an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus that it proves there is still life in the found-footage horror genre. Its innovative trailer, which showed scenes in reverse order, was praised by critics. The film's legacy lies in its fresh take on vampirism, avoiding romanticized portrayals and instead focusing on the physical and psychological horror of the condition. It also stands as an example of effective use of the found footage format, with the directors starring as the protagonists to allow more freedom in shooting.

Did You Know?

• The film was originally conceived as a web series similar to Lonelygirl15 or Marble Hornets, with the feature film serving as a 'skeleton key' to tie the story together.
• The directors chose vampirism because they felt vampires are usually in 'very stylized, cinematic, often melodramatic, and romanticized films' and were not traditionally filmed in a found footage style.
• The film's trailer showed scenes in reverse order, starting at the beginning, jumping to the end, and working backward.
• The film grossed $102,851 as of April 13, 2014.

Origins & Creative Vision

The film began as something quite different from what audiences ultimately saw. Derek Lee and Clif Prowse originally envisioned a web series in the style of Lonelygirl15 or Marble Hornets, where characters would upload seemingly ordinary travel videos that gradually grew stranger over time. Prowse described the feature film as a "skeleton key" that would unlock the narrative gaps left when the characters stopped posting. This concept evolved into their feature-length directorial debut, a found footage horror set across Barcelona, Paris, Italy, and Vancouver. The pair had previously collaborated only on short films, making Afflicted their first full-length project. They deliberately chose vampirism as the central horror because they felt vampires were typically presented in "very stylized, cinematic, often melodramatic, and romanticized" ways, and wanted to strip that gloss away. The story follows two friends documenting a world-travel web series called Ends of the Earth, when one contracts a mysterious condition that transforms him into something monstrous.

Production & Filming Challenges

Shooting Afflicted on a modest budget of $318,000, funded through a small grant and contributions from family and friends, presented considerable obstacles for two first-time feature directors. They filmed across Barcelona, Paris, Italy, and Vancouver, and both openly acknowledged that working in the found footage genre was far more demanding than they had anticipated. Prowse and Lee expressed deep admiration for the crews behind films like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, recognizing how much skill went into making handheld, diegetic camera work feel natural. One practical advantage was that both men starred as the protagonists, which gave them the flexibility to reshoot scenes without coordinating around other actors' schedules. Lee noted that his role as Derek was especially grueling physically, compounded by the Italian heat and the intense stunts the part required, including punching through a stone wall and engaging in multiple violent confrontations.

Narrative Arc & Thematic Core

The story centers on Derek, a young man living with a cerebral arteriovenous malformation that could kill him at any moment, and his childhood friend Clif, who accompanies him on a final world-traveling trip documented for a web series. In Barcelona, Derek encounters a woman named Audrey, and the following morning he is found bleeding and semiconscious with no memory of the night. Symptoms escalate rapidly in Italy: extreme sun sensitivity, projectile vomiting, and bursts of superhuman strength that leave him punching through masonry. Clif eventually deduces that Derek has contracted vampirism, but online research yields nothing useful. Attempts to feed on animal blood fail, and Derek descends into a catatonic state before turning fully inhuman and killing Clif. The tragedy deepens as Derek, recovering his senses, shoots himself with a shotgun only for his head to heal. He tracks down Audrey, who reveals there is no cure and that she turned him because he was dying, believing she was being kind. The film closes with Derek feeding on a stranger and a final attack on teenagers at an Italian swimming pool, where Clif, now also a vampire, appears.

Festival Debut & Critical Response

Afflicted made its world premiere on September 9, 2013, at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it earned a special jury citation for Best Canadian First Feature Film—an early validation for two directors stepping from short films into feature work. The film's theatrical and video-on-demand release followed on April 4, 2014. One element that drew particular praise was the official trailer, which presented the characters' travelogue entries in reverse chronological order—Entry 206, 185, 163, 151, and so on—each clip hinting at the escalating horror without revealing the full story. Germain Lussier of slashfilm.com called it potentially one of the best trailers Hollywood had released in a long time, noting that unlike conventional linear trailers, this one "starts at the beginning, jumps to the end and works backward, showing how two friends' trip around the world goes horribly, horribly wrong." Critical reviews for the film have been largely positive overall.