Eye For Film >> Movies >> Lethal Ethel (2026) Film Review
At the door of the studios, Ethel (Elayna Einish) hesitates, as if suddenly shy. “Can I come in?” she asks. “Oh, of course,” replies the crew member who has been waiting for her, and on they go, and if he ever figures out what has just happened, it’s not until much later, when everything he thought he knew has given way.
Screened as part of ImagineNative 2026, this neatly crafted mockumentary short follows a Naskapi vampire as she endeavours to make her first documentary, hooking up with a team whose members seem somewhat underinformed. The narrative in shaped by her to-camera chat as she lounges in a chair, heavily gothed-up, careless of what anyone thinks. Her lipstick changes between shots, making us wonder if she’s snacking at the end of each take, but she assures us – and the crew – that she only eats one kind of person: iron miners. These are the men who come to her tribe’s traditional lands to suck out their resources. The parallel is obvious but doesn’t overburden the pleasingly confident, crisply directed film.
The rarity of violent responses from indigenous people confronted with resource exploitation is not, as a rule, because they haven’t thought about it. By utilising the tropes of a different kind of exploitation, Lethel Ethel is able to address the anger it inspires without encouraging real world violence. Along the way it has fun with the trappings of classic vampire movies. Its upbeat vibe and lightness of touch means it can take on serious subject matter without compromising its natural charm.
The miners move into an area; the caribou disappear. Now it’s their turn. With a casual attitude to her lifestyle, the charismatic Ethel takes the colonial tradition of monstering the other and eats it for breakfast.
Reviewed on: 20 Jun 2026
