Vancouver Horror Show 2025 Review: Monster Medicine
- Travis Brown
- Oct 18
- 2 min read
It’s not every day you get a supernatural ER drama packed into a short film, but Veronica Felicity Johnson’s Monster Medicine finds a clever way to merge medical intensity with full-blown creature chaos. Set in East Los Angeles, the film follows Dr. Hunter (Brittney Belt), a young UCLA grad thrown into the deep end of an emergency room where lycanthropy is just another condition to treat.
When a young woman named Luna (Andi Norris) begins transforming into a werewolf, Hunter’s moral compass and medical training clash with her cynical colleague, Dr. Clay (Eric Toms), who’s ready to give up on the patient. But as chaos breaks loose, a secret hospital unit known as “Monster Medicine” is called in — featuring a vampire doctor (Kevin Keppy) and a zombie doctor (Kamy Bruder) who administer treatment of a very different kind.
Johnson’s worldbuilding here is what makes Monster Medicine so damn fun. Once the “Monster Medicine” team arrives, the short transforms from a quirky hospital drama into a living, breathing slice of supernatural ER mythology — a space where vampires, zombies, and ghouls clock in for the night shift. The concept feels ripe for expansion, more East L.A. ER: Supernatural Edition than Chicago Med, and it’s easy to imagine this as a serialized show with each episode handling a different creature case.
While the short starts off a little tongue-in-cheek, Johnson tightens her tone by the final act, turning what begins as campy fun into something unexpectedly poignant — especially as Dr. Hunter fights to uphold her oath even when the patient’s fate seems sealed. The makeup and creature design deliver the right amount of grit and humor, and Keppy and Bruder absolutely steal the show as the undead specialists who arrive to clean up the mess.
Monster Medicine may be small in scale, but it’s packed with worldbuilding potential, stylish direction, and the kind of performances that make you want more. Johnson has created a universe worth revisiting — a “monster procedural” that could easily live on as a series or anthology.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
A spirited and inventive supernatural short that earns its place at the 2025 Vancouver Horror Show.
Directed & Written by Veronica Felicity Johnson
Cast, Andi Norris, Brittany Belt, Eric Toms, Kamy Bruder, Kevin Keppy
Special Effects Character Creator: Lisette Santana
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