Villainess Review: Audrey San Fernando (Day Shift)

Recently, I finally had the time to watch one of Netflix's original films, Day Shift, which came out last summer. I was all in when I first heard about it; another vampire horror-comedy film, this time starring Jamie Foxx and featuring Dave Franco and Snoop Dogg? Yeah, definite recommendation. The film centers on Bud Jablonski, who is introduced as a pool boy, but that's actually a cover for his actual profession: vampire hunter extraordinare. Bud knocks off a pair of vamps, one of them an elderly lady, but that's the tip of the iceberg.

To borrow a line from Daffy Duck, "Then the villain enters." In this case, it's a villainess: Audrey San Fernando--introduced as a realtor but is actually the HVIC (Head Vampiress in Charge), and her plan involves placing vampires from all over the world into the San Fernando Valley. We see her ruthlessness right off the bat, burying one of her vampire minions in cement, but she and her main henchman, Klaus, appear at the scene of one of Bud's slaying, and...well...to say that she's enraged over the events would be an understatement.

Meanwhile, Bud has his own share of problems. For one, he's informed by his ex-wife, Joss, that she and their daughter, Paige, will be moving to Florida in a week's time. Secondly, the moolah he's getting from hocking vampire fangs isn't enough, and third, his return to the Union has him forced to be paired up with a by-the-book rep named Seth. As for Audrey, she begins her vendetta towards Bud, first by going after Bud's pawnshop owner buddy, Troy, which results in poor Troy losing his head. After one mission, Bud takes Paige to a birthday party, but that's where Audrey contacts Bud and lets him know that she is coming after him and his family.

Upon seeing a pair of Audrey's vampire minions, Bud took them down after taking Paige away from the party, but upon arriving at Joss' house, he ends up face-to-face with Audrey, who holds both Joss and Audrey hostage. The confrontation includes Bud telling the truth about his actual profession, as well as Audrey revealing her plan to turn Paige into a vampire herself, and having her kill Joss, referring to her plan as payback for Bud taking something from her. It was aos revealed that Seth was turned during this whole confrontation, and after the pair left, Bud confronted Heather, who was revealed as a vampire partially in league with Audrey, though she voiced her absolute hatred over being under Audrey's thumb.

That's not all Heather reveals. The elderly female vampire Bud killed in the film's opening? She was Audrey's daughter, hence her reason for her vendetta and for her plan to turn Paige. So Heather joins Bud, Seth, and veteran slayer Big John Elliot (Snoop's character) in heading to Audrey's lair, though Bud and John's fight against a plethora of vampires sees the latter apparently sacrifice himself to get Bud out to safety. Heather and Seth deal with Klaus, leaving Bud to deal with big bad Audrey, who plans to have Paige replace her deceased daughter. Bud's shot towards the evil vampiress only infuriates her, and after we see her true demonic vampire form, the high heels come off and Audrey dominates Bud in a fight.

Joss' attempt to drive a stake through Audrey falls short, as does Bud's last attempt to shoot Audrey, who later cackles and taunts Bud (in Spanish) that he had fired his last bullet. Audrey charges at Bud, who simply closes his eyes before Audrey is suddenly stopped...and beheaded. As it turned out, Bud had covertly placed a thin wire between both of them, and it worked like a charm--Audrey was no more. So things ended well for all of the heroes, and that included John, who survived and gave this epic last line:

"That's what I love about LA: all the damn vampires!"

If you get that reference, much, much love to you.

I absolutely beamed when Audrey made her first appearance, and it was because I recognized the actress who played her: Karla Souza! Laurel Castillo from a show that was my Thursday night jam from beginning to end, How to Get Away With Murder, was on Netflix playing a big bad evil vampiress, and I drank it all in! I absolutely loved Audrey San Fernando; she had the ruthless nature of Vivian Tyrell (the vampire villainess from another Netflix film, Vampires vs The Bronx), the exotic charm of Regine Dandrige (from Fright Night Part 2), and the unhinged insanity of nearly every Lifetime movie villainess I've seen in the last decade. Audrey was beautiful in way more ways than one, and we have Karla Souza to thank for this amazingly chilling performance. I had wanted Souza to play a villainess because I knew she'd absolutely kill it. This film is the proof.

After playing Laurel Castillo for six years on How to Get Away with Murder, Karla Souza quickly returned to ABC in 2021 as a regular cast member on the sitcom, Home Economics, which also stars Topher Grace. Day Shift isn't Souza's first Netflix original film; she also appeared in the 2020 film, The Sleepover, which also stars Joe Manganiello and Malin Akerman.

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Check out Audrey San Fernando's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!