For a vampire movie, Shudder's Blood Relatives goes pretty light on the bloodsucking. Although the main characters sometimes kill people and drink their blood, they aren't scary, and Blood Relatives isn't really a horror movie. It's more of a gentle family dramedy with a bit of vampirism thrown in. It's less comedic than something like What We Do in the Shadows, but it's filled with genial humor, making for a low-key, likable movie that occasionally plays like an extended TV pilot.

Actor Noah Segan makes his writing and directing debut with Blood Relatives and also stars as Francis, a loner vampire who traverses the back roads of the U.S. in his cool vintage car and generally aims to keep a low profile. He does his best to only kill people who deserve it -- or who piss him off -- and avoid causing too much trouble. That stable existence is thrown into chaos by the arrival of 15-year-old Jane (Victoria Moroles), who tracks Francis down at a cheap motel in Texas and tells him that she's his daughter. Her mother, who had a one-night stand with Francis and never told him about Jane, has recently died, and she has no other family to turn to.

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Noah Segan in Blood Relatives

Francis is initially skeptical, but it doesn't take long for Jane to prove that she's really his daughter and that she's inherited some of his vampiric abilities. She's a bit like Blade and other half-vampires in that she's able to go out during the day and seems to age normally, but she also has fangs and a taste for human blood. Like any kid who never knew a biological parent, Jane just wants to understand more about where she came from and who her father really is. At first, Francis wants nothing to do with her, insisting on driving her to Nebraska to live with a distant cousin she's never met. Of course, he eventually comes around, and the pair start to develop a genuine family bond.

They also rack up a body count, although it's fairly small for a vampire story. It's endearing to watch Francis teach Jane the basics of being a vampire, and the kills are mostly played for laughs. The only heavy moment in Blood Relatives comes when Jane learns about the Jewish Francis' experience during the Holocaust, but Segan acknowledges the seriousness and then moves on. Francis' penchant for uttering Yiddish words like "schlep" and "schmuck" is mainly depicted as a personal quirk, something that is as strange and unfamiliar to the Texans in Blood Relatives as actual vampirism.

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Victoria Moroles in Blood Relatives

Blood Relatives is best as a laid-back road movie, as Francis and Jane travel from Texas to Nebraska and then further west as they search for a new place to call home. There are no real outside threats to their existence, and as far as Francis is aware, they're the only vampires. All of Blood Relatives' conflict is between Francis and Jane, and much of it would be the same if they were just regular humans trying to establish a relationship after meeting for the first time. Francis teaches Jane how to drive with the same dedication and exasperation as when he teaches her how to drain someone's blood.

Segan, a veteran character actor who's appeared in numerous Rian Johnson movies, has a likable presence as Francis, and he and Moroles share appealing chemistry, immediately picking up a genuine father-daughter bond. Moroles, who was delightful in the underrated Hulu comedy Plan B, gives Jane a mix of bravado and vulnerability, making her savvy and mature without losing the impulsiveness of a teenager. There isn't much of a supporting cast, although Doug Benson and Josh Ruben put in amusing single-scene appearances.

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It's obvious that Segan was working with a low budget on Blood Relatives, and despite the nation-spanning storyline, it often seems like the characters are just traversing the same handful of roads over and over again. Aside from a few drops of blood, there aren't any gore effects, and the vampire transformation involves nothing other than slightly sharpened teeth. The small-scale production fits the small-scale story, though, and Blood Relatives is better off without trying to build an overarching vampire mythology.

With only 15 minutes or so left in its running time, Blood Relatives starts setting up potential new plots, and Segan doesn't give them enough time to play out. The ending feels both drawn out and abrupt, although it leaves plenty of material for a potential sequel or follow-up TV series. Francis and Jane are lovely to spend time with, even when they aren't doing anything particularly spooky, and Blood Relatives gives viewers plenty of reasons to want to see more of them.

Blood Relatives premieres Tuesday, Nov. 22, on Shudder.