A Travel Vlog from Hell
If you’ve ever watched a travel influencer’s video and thought, “This would be way better if one of them started vomiting blood and punching through walls,” then Afflicted (2013) is your dream come true.
Written, directed, and performed by Derek Lee and Clif Prowse — two guys who looked at their friendship and thought, you know what this needs? A terminal illness and vampirism! — this Canadian found-footage horror film is what would happen if The Blair Witch Project and Dracula had a YouTube channel together.
With a modest budget, a handheld camera, and enough ambition to make you forgive the occasional shaky shot, Afflicteddelivers a surprisingly creative, darkly funny spin on the “friends filming their doom” subgenre.
The Setup: Bucket List, but With Blood
Derek and Clif are lifelong buddies who set out to document their global adventure in a web series called Ends of the Earth. Their goal is noble, if a bit cliché — travel the world, make memories, and produce content. Unfortunately, Derek is living on borrowed time thanks to a brain condition that could kill him any minute.
So, naturally, they decide to ignore doctors and go to Europe.
Everything’s going fine — shots of Barcelona streets, clinking wine glasses, hostel parties — until Derek meets Audrey, a mysterious woman who’s equal parts seductive and “definitely going to ruin your life.” One blackout and blood-splattered hotel room later, Audrey’s gone, Derek’s in rough shape, and Clif’s vacation vlog has taken a detour from “wanderlust” to “what the hell was that noise?”
Symptoms May Include Projectile Vomiting and Super Strength
Things escalate fast. Derek starts sleeping for days at a time, puking up food like he’s auditioning for The Exorcist: EuroTrip Edition, and burning in the sunlight like a discount rotisserie chicken. Then, just when Clif starts calling for an ambulance, Derek punches through a stone wall with his bare hands.
This is one of those moments when you realize Afflicted isn’t just playing around. The found-footage gimmick works perfectly — the rough, handheld camerawork gives every supernatural burst of violence a gut-level intensity. When Derek jumps over a building or smashes a guy’s face in, you don’t just see it — you feel it.
It’s like Chronicle, if instead of teenage angst you had anemia.
When Your Best Friend Becomes a Predator
Clif, being the devoted best friend, sticks by Derek even as things get weird. And by “weird,” I mean Derek tries to drink cow blood, fails, and then dry-heaves like a frat boy after St. Patrick’s Day.
Eventually, the two geniuses figure out what’s happening: Derek’s been turned into a vampire. Naturally, they research online, because nothing solves ancient supernatural curses like Wikipedia. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t help.
One of Afflicted’s most darkly funny scenes comes when Derek and Clif try to rob an ambulance for human blood. They fail miserably, proving that even with superhuman strength, they still have the street smarts of two guys who think “vlogging” is a business plan.
But beneath the absurdity, the film nails a weird emotional truth: watching your best friend become something monstrous — and desperately trying to save him — is both heartbreaking and horrifying.
Death, Friendship, and a Shotgun to the Head
Eventually, Derek loses control and kills Clif, which is honestly one of the film’s best sequences — tragic, messy, and surprisingly tender, right before Derek blasts himself in the face with a shotgun.
Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t work. The wound heals instantly, leaving him looking like a guy who lost a fight with a ceiling fan. Now immortal and alone, Derek flees from the authorities while documenting his gradual descent into vampiric acceptance.
It’s here that Afflicted really leans into its twisted humor. Watching Derek try to manage his new “diet” is like seeing a man attempt keto, but with human blood. Every failure is grossly funny — one moment he’s wrestling a piglet, the next he’s crying in a basement while covered in its blood. This is the world’s worst cooking show.
Enter Audrey: The World’s Most Unhelpful Mentor
Eventually, Derek tracks down Audrey, the undead femme fatale who bit him. And what does she have to say for herself? “Yeah, sorry about that. No cure. Maybe eat a guy every few days.”
It’s not exactly comforting advice. But their confrontation — equal parts brutal fight and tragic reunion — is one of the film’s highlights. Audrey doesn’t just represent Derek’s curse; she’s the film’s cruel sense of irony made flesh. She “saved” him from dying of a brain condition by giving him immortality — a cure worse than the disease.
The two tear through walls, ceilings, and moral boundaries, until she finally tells him the rules of the vampiric life: feed sparingly, stay hidden, and don’t lose control. Basically, she’s giving him the vampire equivalent of an Airbnb guide.
Found Footage That Actually Finds Something
What makes Afflicted stand out from the mountain of shaky-cam horror films is its craftsmanship. This isn’t another Paranormal Activity cash grab — it’s a film that uses the found-footage format to enhance its story, not excuse its budget.
Every cut, every angle, every moment of handheld chaos feels intentional. Directors Lee and Prowse understand the key to this genre: make the audience feel like they’re trapped in the footage too. When Derek sprints across rooftops or slaughters a SWAT team in a blur of violence, the camera work doesn’t just show it — it immerses you in it.
And for a film made on a shoestring budget, the effects are startlingly good. Derek’s transformations — veins crawling, eyes blackening, skin blistering in sunlight — look gruesome and disturbingly real. It’s the kind of horror where you wince not because it’s gross, but because you almost believe it.
A Vampire With a Conscience (Sort Of)
In the film’s final act, Derek becomes a morally conflicted vigilante — a sort of undead Batman with better night vision. His first post-transformation meal? A child predator he finds through his phone. Hey, if you’re going to become a monster, you might as well eat the scum of the Earth.
There’s something oddly uplifting about Derek’s final video diary. He accepts what he’s become, apologizes to his family, and vows to keep his hunger under control. It’s touching in a deeply messed-up way — the kind of redemption arc that could only come from a movie where your best friend’s funeral doubles as your dinner.
Blood, Brohood, and Existential Dread
At its core, Afflicted isn’t just a vampire story — it’s a story about friendship and mortality. It asks: what do you do when your best friend is dying? Or worse — what if he stops dying altogether?
The emotional bond between Derek and Clif grounds the movie even when the blood starts flying. Their banter feels real, their panic feels genuine, and their tragic end lands harder than expected. You come for the gore, but you stay for the heartbreak.
Verdict: The Best Found Footage Since Someone Found a Camera
For a film made on less than the cost of a Marvel catering budget, Afflicted punches far above its weight. It’s smart, self-aware, and gross in all the right ways. It takes the well-worn vampire myth and gives it a modern, tragic spin — part travel vlog, part horror movie, part bromantic disaster.
Sure, it’s not perfect. The pacing wobbles, some dialogue sounds like improv gone wrong, and you might occasionally yell, “PUT THE CAMERA DOWN AND CALL A DOCTOR.” But when it hits, it really hits.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
A bloody, brilliant travelogue of terror. Afflicted proves that true friendship means filming your buddy’s transformation into a vampire — and uploading it for the world to see.
