Even with the interesting premise, the fact that vampires were involved made it that much harder to pull Half off. Our favorite blood suckers have been absorbed into every aspect of the entertainment world to the point that it’s hard to think of anything new.
That, in essence, is the joy of Half, which premiered at TIFF 2026. They aren’t reinventing the wheel here, just making a straight-ahead, bloody revenge tale that pulls no punches and has a great time doing it.
Half Is a Fast-Paced Vampire Revenge Story
Vampires, or daywalkers, Ethan (Ranjith Sajeev) and Ivy (Aiswarya Raj) are siblings whose parents, human and vampire, have given them superhuman powers. Strongest by night but able to exist in daylight, they are ambushed by marauders while on a road trip through the Rajasthan desert. The marauders brutalize and humiliate them before leaving them for dead. Of course, night comes, and they recover and set out on a revenge tour that leaves many dead, killed in painful ways.
Writer-director Samjad, who co-wrote the script with Praveen Viswanath, and choreographer Very Tri Yulisman (The Raid 2) have a clear mission here, and it shows. The last hour of the film is all-out war, with bodies dropping in large numbers, especially at the climax, when a fight in the open desert is as much fun as it is bloody. Burning, maiming, decapitation, gallons of blood — there is nothing held back in this thirst for revenge.
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The best way to describe the film is as a martial-arts curry Western, a genre popular in India for years. Half is sure to make that fanbase happy and attract new fans along the way. The frenetic camerawork and musical score add to the already frenzied pace of the film. It’s almost like a marathon of bloody mayhem, sprinting like mad toward the finish line.
Sajeev and Raj portray the angry siblings very well and dive into the action with gusto. Sajeev, who has worked with director Samjad before, is right at home here, as is Raj, even though this is her first big action film.
Half Doesn’t Go Light on the Carnage
There is an argument to be made about when it becomes too much, when it gets so excessive that it’s no longer fun. Granted, there are a few times when they threaten to approach that barrier, but honestly, the audience isn’t there to watch a slow-burn drama. Making the siblings daywalkers adds charm to their characters and gives the writers a chance to do something a little different. They take advantage of this and push boundaries as far as they can, but gleefully go overboard at times with no shame at all.
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They take time at the beginning of the film to show the bond that has developed between the brother and sister. While their vampirism obviously makes them different, they also share the same disagreements, the same adoration, and an unspoken bond that makes them seem like normal, human siblings. There is little need to go beyond that, as the road leads only to carnage, blood, and death.
While Half isn’t Shakespeare, it knows exactly what it wants and delivers on it, making it an enjoyable road-trip revenge story. It’s good to see a vampire film find humor in what it does, even if that includes a very large pile of dead bodies.
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