The spring 2019 edition of the New Jersey Film Festival brings documentaries, features, shorts and acts of artistic experimentation to the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University starting this weekend.

And helping to kick things off is a gory punk rock vampire shocker out of Trenton, "Teenage Bloodsuckin' Bimbos."

Even the film's director, Anthony Catanese, is a little taken aback by this.

"It's actually a little surprising, but that's what makes it extra cool," said Catanese. "We had a B-movie, I guess you would say, with all of these quote-unquote real movies, so it feels good, like maybe we did something right with it even though we went crazy with it."

Catanese and producer Sara Casey will be on hand when "Teenage Bloodsuckin' Bimbos" screens for its area premiere as part of a block of films starting 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at Voorhees Hall on Hamilton Street.

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The film, produced with the support of the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market, is the story of a high schooler drawn by a trio of vampire women. Think, as the film's Facebook page puts it so succinctly, "Mean Girls" meets "The Lost Boys."

"I just wanted to make like a cool, fun movie," explained Catanese, "like a USA Up All Night kind of thing or a movie I would go and rent in the '80s that had a crazy title (that made me say), 'Oh my God, I have to see this.' "

But if you're willing to sink your teeth in, there is a deeper layer to the film, as its director explained.

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"If anything the story — if you get past the title, the craziness of it — it's really a coming of age story," he said, "like when you hit that point when you chose between your family or whatever else you're going to be doing with your life, you decide what you're going to choose.

"And there's a deeper point to it, but I don't really think anybody's going to walk out of the movie discussing it. If they do, that's great, but I think for the most part people are going to walk out going, 'Oh (expletive deleted), that was crazy."

New Jersey Film Festival runs Friday, Jan. 25 through Friday, March 1, at Voorhees Hall, 71 Hamilton St,., College Avenue campus of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, $8 to $12, 848-932-8482, www.njfilmfest.com.