Bubba Nosferatu – backing sought

After some time existing simply as a holding page, the Bubba Nosferatu: the curse of the she-vampires page has recently started adding some news. It has reported that Bruce Campbell has confirmed that the Bubba Ho-Tep prequel is looking for Hollywood backing.

In the original Campbell played an aging Elvis Presley in a nursing home that is haunted by a soul sucking Egyptian Mummy. Obviously the proposed prequel, by the title, will be vampiric in nature.

Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre – review (TV Episode)

Directed by: Tim Sullivan

Release date: 1993

Contains spoilers

This Granada TV production is loosely based on “The Case of the Sussex Vampire” and, though the main elements are there, the production team really cause the audience to maintain a guessing game as to whether or not there really is a vampire involved. The long running series starred Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and, to me, Brett was the finest Holmes to grace a screen, but is this particular case any good?

The film starts a century previously and we see a cart being driven along a lane at breakneck speed. A pregnant woman is in the back of the cart. She is carried through a graveyard and left at the doors of the church; she has blood on her neck. We see men gather torches and the villagers march on a local hall and burn it down. Later in the film we hear that it was the residence of the St. Claire family and the villagers believed the Lord to be a vampire, we also discover that the woman’s child was stillborn and she died.

We cut forward and see some of our main protagonists. John Stockton (Roy Marsden) is laying a rose on the grave of the woman from the opening. Coming from the church are Rob Ferguson (Keith Barron) and Reverend Merridew (Maurice Denham). Ferguson is arranging the baptism of his baby, though his Peruvian wife, Carlotta (Yolanda Vazquez), is Catholic the baby will be baptised Church of England. He reminds Stockton of dinner that evening, Stockton is a writer who spent time in Peru and Ferguson hopes his knowledge of the country and its language will be pleasant for his wife. Back at the Ferguson house we see that there is tension between Ferguson’s first son Jack (Richard Dempsey) and both Carlotta and her maid, Dolores (Juliet Aubrey). Jack walks with a pronounced limp having fallen from a tree and damaging his spine when a child.

Watson (Edward Hardwicke) enters 22B Baker Street and Holmes has his back to him. Holmes turns and hisses, baring fangs that he then removes. He deems Watson’s reaction instructive, though Watson suggests that there is a difference between belief in vampires and fear as he displayed. It is amusing to think that Holmes had the fangs made for a disguise and one wonders at the case the producers hint at.

Holmes has received a letter from some solicitors who have referred Merridew to him after he enquired to them about vampires. The ever logical Holmes refers to the suggestion of the walking dead as a Grimm fairytale and says: “What have we to do with the walking corpses who have to have stakes driven into their hearts to keep them in their graves.”

When Merridew arrives he tells Holmes about the St Claires and about the Fergusons. Bob Ferguson is an old rugby associate of Watson. Ferguson’s baby has died and it occurred the night after the diner with Stockton – who touched the baby’s hand. Stockton is also known to have had an argument with a blacksmith (Andrew Abrahams) who died as Stockton cast him an angry glance. The village believes Stockton to be a vampire.

Holmes agrees to look into matters but mainly to stop a man from being killed, in other words Stockton. Yet in a village with an influenza epidemic the question of whether Stockton is a vampire is unclear. The plot thickens through the episode and the filmmakers do all to keep you guessing. Bats at a window might be just that, or perhaps it is something more. Stockton clearly has an influence on those around him and Holmes, at one point, mentions psychic vampirism.

Stockton is related to the St Claires, they discover, and is something of a night owl. His neighbour actually puts a cross and garlic on his cottage door and, as the story progresses, we actually get the disinterment of a corpse and a near staking. Other nice little touches come in such scenes as a character reading Varney the Vampire or the pedlar (Freddie Jones) selling holy items to ward off vampires.

Of course, this is a mystery and I do not wish to spoil too much. It does, as I mention, veer from the original, but I enjoyed its movement and the ambiguity the episode produces. Most of all I enjoyed the production. The ambiguity continues all the way to the end and we wonder at Stockton’s influence when we see blood around Carlotta’s mouth – is it innocent or nefarious? This is one of the ambiguities that is answered clearly.

Granada’s series was beautifully shot and well acted throughout but kudos must be given to Brett and Hardwicke who make a fantastic Holmes and Watson. Brett in particular is superb, at times arrogant, perhaps distracted and yet always keying in to the most pertinent facts he is totally believable as the master detective.

Purists may baulk at this episode, though not at the series as a whole I’d imagine, because it isn’t accurate to the original story but to me the changes were welcome and, despite the fact that there were unanswered aspects, the story telling was superb - never becoming boring despite being feature length.

7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Already Dead – review

Author: Charlie Huston

First published: 2005

Contains spoilers

Joe Pitt lives in Manhattan and Joe Pitt is a vampyre. However Manhattan is divided into several clan areas and Joe is non-aligned, picking up jobs for all the clans and making few friends in the process. As well as hunting down the carrier of the zombie bacteria, who has been infecting people, Joe is forced to take on the job of tracking down the daughter of two of New York’s socialites, a young lady with a vampyre obsession.

This is the basic premise of Already Dead. In the book vampirism is caused by a virus known as the vyrus, whilst a bacteria causes folk to become brain eating zombies, and all this is hidden from the general population. Joe himself was a punk who was infected at CBGB. The vyrus feeds on blood and protects its host by causing them to be stronger, have keener senses and heal with great speed; it also gives them a hunger.

The vyrus also causes them to become viciously allergic to the sun, tumours erupting rapidly with exposure that will quickly kill them. Failure to feed the hunger causes the vyrus to turn on its host and cause death in a spectacular fashion. Being victims of a virus, vampyres cast reflections and do not fear holy icons. Joe dislikes garlic, but that is a personal trait and not a vampyre trait.

The zombie bacteria literally eats the host and is particularly virulent when it comes to brain matter, thus the zombies’ cognitive functions rapidly deteriorate and they have a desire to consume other brains. The zombies literally rot where they walk. The outbreaks of zombies is low due to the fact that they tend to devour their victims, rather than bite and infect, and because the vampyres will intervene to stop outbreaks.

All in all these are not supernatural creatures, though the supernatural does come into the book. One of the clans, the Enclave, believe in starving themselves to try and attain a supernatural ascension and warn Joe of a wraith – a purely supernatural entity whch, of course, no one really believes in.

The book is very much a contemporary noir detective story, with a horror element, and Hutson pulls no punches when it comes to content. If I had one issue it was within the dialogue. An example of the dialogue is:

- Jesus. How long ago?
- Oh, several weeks now.
- And he’s still alive?
- Well, that’s a subject for some debate, is it not?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the actual content of Hutson’s dialogue, however, call me old fashioned but I don’t see what is so wrong with using parentheses with dialogue and it took me some time to get used to the style. I did get used to it and it is only a minor gripe.

All in all, a great start to what promises to be a five book series, the case wrapped up satisfactorily but enough threads and inter-clan political intrigue on the boil to draw me back. Pitt is a great, no nonsense character, trying to make his way independently in a world that hates independence.

7.5 out of 10.

Count Dracula (1970) – review

Directed by: Jess Franco

Release Date: 1970

Contains spoilers

This is Franco’s version of Stoker’s novel and he attempted, he claimed, to make a straight re-telling of the story. Now in this he failed, the film veers from the story and misplaces characters. Like all versions of Dracula the actual roles of the characters change. This is not necessarily a bad thing in theory, as very few film versions keep it anywhere near straight.

Being a Franco film one fears the worst and yet this is one of the straightest played Franco movies I’ve seen, with only one scene of real psychedelic excess. Yet it does suffer from some of Franco’s idosyncrasities. Franco, and don’t get me wrong a dark part of me loves his films; he never bothers with ensuring whether it is day or night, in this (like some of his movies) he needs to find a camera man with a steady hand and his pacing can be off. As always, with Dracula based movies, I am going to look at the plot in depth.

The film begins with Jonathon Harker (Fred Williams) travelling to meet his client Count Dracula (Christopher Lee). His journey begins by train and a traveller (José Martínez Blanco), on hearing his destination, warns him by saying God preserve him. He reaches Bistritz and takes an inn for the night, where he is warned by innkeeper’s wife Greta (Colette Giacobine) that the next night is St George’s day (rather than St George’s eve). Gaining a coach the next day, the traveller warns him of the same. Now it is here than I can illustrate Franco’s lack of concern of day and night. In the coach it is clearly night time when Harker asks how long until we reach the Borgo pass, we will be there by nightfall is the reply!

He is left at the pass and a coach picks him up. There are wolves (actually German Shepherds!) and the coachman (clearly to us Dracula as there is no mistaking Lee’s voice) stops and steps before them. He raises his arms and the wolves run away. They reach the castle, Jonathon knocks and the Count bids him enter. The look of the Count is marvellous and this is the first film version where the Count visibly becomes younger (by his hair turning from grey to dyed black, but never the less it is novel accurate) through the film.

Dracula takes Harker to his room to freshen up and we notice the first of two interesting things regarding this version. Firstly there is a mirror and Dracula has no reflection, yet he does not break it – he couldn’t care less. Secondly, as we see at the dinner scene which follows, Dracula always has fangs. The fangs are subtle, seen when he speaks, but they are always there.

Said dinner scene was one of the highlights of the film for me. After concluding business Dracula explains his past – a standard Dracula scene – but it is done almost as a soliloquy and Lee is marvellous. After this, however, the Dracula castle section becomes lost in itself. Harker is taken to his room and finds himself locked in. There is a panic moment and he opens a window to be attacked by a bat. A note on the bats: we only see silhouettes and not the bats, a neat way of avoiding CBS (crap bat syndrome).

Harker falls asleep and then we see the brides emerge from their coffins and for some reason Harker is on the floor of the crypt. They approach him and we get standard dividing the kill dialogue when Dracula enters and says that Harker is his and offers them a baby in a sack. Harker awakes in his a room with fang marks. How did he get down to the crypt in the first place? It turns the scene into a senseless set piece.

Harker climbs from his window and goes through another. He enters the crypt and finds Dracula in his coffin, legs it and leaps from a window. It felt, to me, that ten to twenty minutes of exposition was lost in the scene. Other than the shaky cameras the film had been on track up to and including the dinner and then it just crumbled.

Harker awakes in hospital near London. He was found in a stream and shipped there. He is in Van Helsing’s (Herbert Lom) private clinic under the care of Dr Seward (Paul Muller). He tells Seward that Dracula, along with his brides, pursued him after his escape as giant, man sized bats – so Seward drugs him up. Van Helsing enters the room and, as Seward goes to look after Renfield (Klaus Kinski), he notices the fang marks on his neck. Mina (Maria Rohm) has been summoned and Lucy (Soledad Miranda) travels with her.

A note about some of the characters now. There is some excellent back story regarding Renfield. He was travelling in Transylvania with his daughter. She became ill and then died (from Drac attack) and that is what broke his mind. However Kinski is woefully under-used and has little dialogue. Kinski still manages to command a presence but the under use of the actor is almost criminal.

Van Helsing is a strange one. He is a long time student of the dark arts and yet refuses to believe Harker until it is too late and Lucy has been killed. He is the hesitant version of Van Helsing and his role is somewhat curtailed by the fact that the character has a stroke part way through the film.

Lucy has no parents but is engaged, to barrister Quincy Morris (Jack Taylor)!

We get a story mostly familiar. Dracula is in an old house close to the asylum. He preys on Lucy and kills her. Lucy returns and we actually get a blooferlady moment (though never called so) although, in this, she kills the child. Van Helsing stakes her and Quincy removes her head with a shovel (although it actually just a too red ‘blood’ mark on her neck). It is after this Van Helsing suffers a stroke.

Seward, Harker and Quincy go to Carfax whilst Mina questions Renfield. Dracula’s coffin is gone but the heroes end up in the coffin room which is full of taxidermy animals. Meanwhile Dracula orders Renfield, by mental control, to attack Mina. As Renfield attacks the men are faced with moving, growling stuffed animals – I kid you not. Quincy fires his gun to no effect and so Harker holds up a cross. The cross affects Dracula, wherever he is, Renfield ceases his attack and the animals quieten.

Suddenly we are at the opera and Mina is attending. The men go to see the Home Secretary (Van Helsing is now in a wheelchair) who is watching the ports for Dracula's coffin. Harker gets a note to say that Mina got his ticket for the opera – he sent no ticket. By the time they reach the opera Mina is on the floor, fang marks in the neck.

Dracula books passage to Varna, but Renfield is able to tell the heroes where the Count is going. Quincy and Harker set off in pursuit leaving Mina with Van Helsing. Dracula hasn’t left yet though and returns to the asylum to get Mina. Van Helsing stands, despite being in a wheelchair, and grabs a poker from the fire. He scores a flaming cross in the floorboards and Dracula retreats.

Harker and Quincy reach the castle. They kill the brides and then sanctify Dracula’s coffin. A procession of gypsies approach with a crate on a cart. They drop rocks, killing several gypsies and causing the others to flee. Opening the crate they see Dracula and set him alight. In the flames he ages, turning to a corpse (which has no fangs), and they toss him over a battlement for good measure.

This film had some great ideas but lost it by being quite slow in places, with bad pacing and by not flowing well. I mentioned the problems in the castle at the beginning but the jump to the theatre was jarring as well.

When I say it had good ideas, however, I do not mean the stuffed animal bit which just did not work in any way, shape or form. Dracula master of the stuffed animals doesn’t do it for me. That said, in the hands of another director it might have been an interesting scene. This was just silly.

The film is dubbed, even Lee seems to have dubbed himself, and the acting is a little lack lustre. Kinski commands the screen but is under-used as I said. Lee is marvellous when he makes his soliloquy and yet did not seem to be as a commanding figure as he was in the Hammer films. The rest of the cast did little for me.

The score is very melodramatic but seems to fit.

All in all, a disappointing version that I’ll hold to 3 out of 10 and yet, strangely, it is a version that should be compulsory for all genre students/hardcore fans as it is a great historical curiosity with some interesting ideas lurking in the film.

The imdb page is here.

Highlight of the DVD, and an extra, is Lee’s reading of Dracula. Okay, it is not the full book but a paraphrased version that comes in at 1 hour 24 minutes, but Lee has a marvellous voice.

Vamp or not? Raving Maniacs

A strange ‘Vamp or Not?’ this one as, in the first sentence I will say that this film by Richard Griffin is not vamp, if anything it is sci-fi zombie. The reason for writing this post is that I noticed this film was on Zone Horror and, when I looked into it, I was struck by the astounding similarities with the vampire movie Side FX.

So let us list them:

Side FX released 2005

Raving Maniacs released 2005

Side FX set at Halloween and at a Halloween party

Raving Maniacs set at Halloween and at a Halloween rave

Side FX features a drug that makes you horny then bloodthirsty

Raving Maniacs features a drug that makes you horny then bloodthirsty/flesh hungry

Side FX lead female character named Tuesday (Amanda Phillips)

Raving Maniacs lead female character named Tuesday (Emily Morettini)

There is one big difference, however, Side FX is a good, independent movie whilst Raving Maniacs is, to be honest, a bit of a mess and falls into cliché too often – the gratuitous shower scene near the beginning was absolutely unnecessary and was just there for some titillation, for example.

In Side FX the drug had a history and a source. It was a middle ages recipe rediscovered, producing sexual intensity in the user that, in some users, advanced into a need to drink blood. In Raving Maniacs the drug is luminous green and does produce a sexual effect on all who take it (leading to an incest scene amongst others) but then it effects the users by turning them, essentially, into flesh eating zombies.

The drug itself is said to have “fallen from the sky” and multiplies within the users as the pills are really eggs. The user survivors then harvest said eggs.

Why they do this, what the eggs will become and other such pertinent questions are not answered. The drug is known to be the hottest thing on the streets, yet no other incidents are known of. In Side FX the drug was being used almost as a date rape drug and we saw the effect, though the incidents were isolated until everyone at a party took it. In short the plot doesn’t add up.

The characters and actors do not help. We have a plethora of clichéd characters and the acting never rises above amateur. There is an attempt to build a back story history between Tuesday and her ex-boyfriend Dorfner (Patrick Cohen), with a mention of a baby and a hint of an abortion but it is too little too late. Now, the acting in Side FX wasn’t much better but it was elevated by a powerhouse performance by Phillips. Morettini seems nice enough but her performance just doesn’t reach those levels.

There is a strange woman who appears through the film and, at the very end, Dorfner speaks to her. She’s acted so strangely that I thought, via her, we might get some answers to the plot. Alas she simply asked if the rave had ended and then danced with Dorfner as she sang “Daisy, Daisy”. It was a surreal ending – I’ll give you that much.

As I said at the beginning, not vamp, but the base similarities with Side FX were astounding. In honesty, however, you are better off with Side FX – and not only because it is a vampire film.

The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mentions: The Dresden Files (volumes 1-6)

These books by Jim Butcher, which have recently become a TV series, are a combination of Supernatural drama and detective noir. Written in first person and based around the investigations of detective Harry Dresden, the twist is that Harry is not just a PI, he is also a wizard and publicly so. This not only has him in trouble with the White Council (the wizard’s ruling body) for drawing attention to their existence but also ensures that his cases are occult based.

Harry is also in trouble with the White Council as he has killed with magic, and to do so carries an automatic death penalty. In Harry’s case this was commuted to being watched and executed if he steps out of line as he was a teenager when it happened and he was acting in self-defence as his uncle was trying to make him a thrall and push him onto the black path.

There are many recurring characters in the books such as Murphy, a cop who is in charge of SI (special investigations) the wing of the police which looks into odd cases. The books contain a boggle factor element in that most ordinary folks do not believe in the supernatural, this includes many in SI but Murphy has seen enough that she does believe. Another constant character is Bob, an air spirit who is connected to a skull, the property of Harry’s uncle and now bound to serve Harry.

The reason for the Honourable mention is that there are several vampiric moments but (in the first six books) this ranges from the book being vampire based, the vampires having a cameo, the vampires being in the background but not active through to the vampires not appearing.

Book 1, Storm Front, is an example of the vampires in cameo. The book concerns a black sorcerer but during the course of the story Harry must do business with Bianca, the head of the Red Court. There are actually three types of vampires in the books split into three courts, Red, Black and White. The Red Court vampires are not entirely the sort of vampires we are used to and yet have familiar traits.

Firstly they look human, however they are far from it. Though human before being turned they are monstrous, the human shell now a mask, a camouflage for the hunt. They are fanged and produce a venom which is highly addictive and helps in their pursuit of prey. Their true form is described thus:

“…most stood naked, now, free of the flesh masks they wore. Black, flabby creatures, twisted, horrible faces, bellies bulging, mostly tight with fresh blood. Black eyes, empty of anything but hunger, glittered in the light. Long, skinny fingers ended in black claws, as did the grasping toes of their feet. Membranes stretched between their arms and flanks, horribly slime covered…” (from Grave Peril)

Faith magic, in other words damaging and holding them off with crosses or other signs of faith, can work but is difficult with the Red Court. An effective way to fight them is to slit their belly, causing the stolen blood to spill out and leaving them too weak to fight. Fire is a good method of Red Court destruction. They cannot stand sunlight.

Book two, Fool Moon, is a werewolf book and has no vampiric interaction at all so we skip that and head straight for book 3, Grave Peril.

This is a full vampire book and we meet the other two Courts. In Grave Peril Bianca sets Harry up to die, with help from Mavra of the Black Court. Set up with Harry, by his own father, is Thomas of the White Court. The resultant fight causes a situation where the wizards and the vampires find themselves at war as a result of Harry’s actions. It also leads to an on-running plot line where Susan, Harry’s girlfriend, is half-turned by the Red Court. She is given their strength and she also has their blood lust and if she should indulge it she will utterly turn. This leads to Harry’s quest to find a cure, though most agree one does not exist.

The Black Court are the most familiar of the vampires to us. These are dead things in the mode of Stoker’s Dracula. Indeed we find out in a later book that the White Court had Stoker write Dracula to leak the truth and this has lead to the near-extinction of the Black Court. Those of the Black Court who survived, however, are the oldest and most dangerous of their number.

The big difference between the Black Court and Stoker’s version is daylight, in this sunlight is deadly, though the oldest do not have to sleep and there is a hint that the very oldest, like Dracula in Stoker’s novel, can withstand it. As the book Blood Rites says: “They had acres of funky vampire powers, right out of Stoker’s book. They had the weaknesses too…”

We also meet the White Court. These are different again. Energy vampires, they are more human than the others. They can enter sunlight and standard vampire slaying techniques are fairly useless. They rapidly heal, though too much damage will kill them. These vampires work through lust and are often described, more accurately, as incubi and succubi. They are born vampires but the hunger does not take them until puberty and they only turn at their first sexual encounter. If that encounter is one of love they will not turn and become human, however if it is lust they turn and are slaves to the hunger which will, if allowed, destroy them.

The most effective method of dealing with them is love. They loose their power to manipulate the minds of those in love, one white court vampire has a permanent burn scar on their palm through picking up a wedding ring of someone truly in love with their spouse and to try and feed on someone, whose last sexual encounter was one based in true love, is deadly to them.

The fourth book, Summer Knight, has the background of the vampire/wizard war but does not actually feature a vampire, bar a dream sequence involving Susan – who has left the Chicago area to keep her from the temptation that is Harry. The book concerns itself with the fairy realm and a potential war between the summer and winter courts.

The fifth book, Death Masks, is a sub-plot vampire episode (as well as having a main plot concerning the Denarians, slaves to Fallen Angels and the thirty pieces of silver Judas took as well as the stolen Shroud of Turin) with Harry called to a duel by a member of the Red Court in order to solve the vampire/wizard war. There is also the appearance again of Thomas who, despite being a vampire, seems Hell-bent on saving Harry and the return of Susan. Susan is now a member of a secret organisation of half-turned vampires who actively fight the Red Court, she has been tattooed with a design that, when calmed is invisible and helps her fight the hunger and becomes visible as a warning when she is loosing control.

Book six, Blood Rites, is fully vampire. This is split between Mavra and a hit squad of Black Court vampires gunning for Harry. In this plot thread we find out about Renfields, thralls who have been twisted to psychotic madness and have a shelf life of about two years before they go postal and darkhounds, dogs infected with a low level of Black Court energy and used as guard-dogs.

Harry also becomes embroiled in the machinations of the White Court and the hatred of Thomas’ father who wants Dresden dead. In this we also discover why Thomas is so keen to help Harry and see the White Court in feeding mode where, “a cold wind seemed to gather around him. His features stretched, changing, his cheekbones starker, his eyes more sunken, his face more gaunt. His skin took on a shining, almost luminescent luster, like a fine pearl under moonlight. And his eyes changed as well. His irises flickered to a shade of chrome-colored silver, then bleached to white altogether.”

These are great books; Harry is a terrific character - a good man, perhaps too chivalrous for his own good, who finds he must tread a careful path of greys. There is no black and White for Harry. There is also a streak of humour through the books. The beginning of Blood Rites sees Harry rescuing puppy temple dogs that are guarded by demons in the form of flying monkeys. The demon’s attack is to scoop a handful of monkey poo which ignites like napalm when thrown! Well worth a read for vampire fans and fans of supernatural fiction generally.

From what I can gather there are at least three more books, which I will be getting at some point in the future, and of course there is the TV series. At the time of writing this, the UK is up to episode two. No vampiric action yet but IMDB indicates that episode 7, Bad Blood, has a character called Bianca. Whether I will do a further honourable mention for the TV series as a whole or a review of the vampire episode(s) is a judgement call I’ll make later.

New Film proposed: Already Dead

According to Cinematical the vampire-detective book “Already Dead” by Charlie Hutson is to be given the big screen treatment.

Bizarrely I actually received a copy of the book from my book club just this weekend and it is now in my “to read pile” – though in honesty I’m considering renaming it the “to read mountain” and applying for an EU grant! When the book has been read I'll be posting a review, of course.

The Lost Hammer Films?

It is astounding what you discover on the web and I caveat this post with the concept that the MySpace Blog I found this on is likely indulging in a gentle hoax or simply indulging in wishful thinking – though one hopes, wishes even, it to be true. However, on the Christopher Lee Fan page is a blog entry regarding 4 lost Hammer films that where found in a vault in Bray Studios. 3 are vampire orientated. The descriptions are quoted directly from the blog.

Scourge of the Vampires:

“(1961). Right after Hammer made Brides Of Dracula, the studio realized that David Peel made an, er, "a-peeling" vampire. The studio also finally convinced Christopher Lee to return to the Dracula role. The obvious result was a film that pitted both Peel's suave nobelman vampire and Lee's Dracula against humankind. Alas, Jimmy Sangster's script tried to give both actors equal time, which pleased neither. Lee stalked out in a snit during filming, and refused to don the Dracula cape again until 1965's Dracula, Prince Of Darkness. Peel asked for more money to continue in the film solo, and he was released by the studio. What remained of the film was relegated to the vaults.”

The Revenge of Dracula

“(1959). With the international smash success of Horror Of Dracula (entitled Dracula in the United Kingdom), Hammer Studios let no moss grow under its collective feet. It immediately commissioned another Dracula film, slated to star Christopher Lee. A corporate decision was made not to bring back Peter Cushing's Van Helsing in order to put the emphasis on Dracula. Again, the busy Jimmy Sangster wrote a script, whereby Count Dracula's loyal gypsy tribesmen collect his ashes and use black magic (and the blood of several virgins) to revive him. Using his loyal gypsies as shock troops, Dracula begins to systematically wipe out the villages that he believes betrayed him. The planned scenes of horrific carnage were to be leavened by a romance between a sensitive gypsy man and a gypsy girl whose sister was one of the slain virgins. The two take after Dracula, who is finally destroyed when the spire of an ancient church topples and penetrates his black heart. This rousing production came to a screeching halt when Lee adamantly refused to play the role again. As a result, a hasty re-shuffling resulted in Brides Of Dracula in 1960, which did co-star Peter Cushing in place of Lee.”

And the ‘Monster Mash’, The Edge of Midnight

“(1969). By the end of the Sixties, Hammer's original gothic horror product was showing its age, as were its horror stars. Just as Hammer aped Universal Studio's classic monster series with its own gothic horrors, Hammer decided to give its monster series a shot in the arm with a tag-teaming of monsters, just as Universal did with its "House" movies in the late Forties. Lured back to Hammer with a promise to direct as well as script the picture, Jimmy Sangster concocted a plot in which Peter Cushing's Dr. Frankenstein and his Monster meet and battle Christopher Lee's Dracula and Hammer's Spanish werewolf (played again by Oliver Reed). In the script, Dr. Frankenstein steals Dracula's ashes to experiment on them and is driven away by the authorities. He escapes to Spain, where he hears stories of the el hombre lobo and digs up the werewolf's corpse and revives him. Of course, a battle royal results. Unfortunately, neither Cushing nor Lee nor Reed could keep a straight face during filming. After many blown takes, the project was shelved. By the way, it is not true that Hammer later planned to salvage this film by adding the talents of Rowan and Martin. The atrocity known as The Maltese Bippy cannot be laid at Hammer's doorstep.”

Unfortunately, one does question the authenticity of the post given no sources are quoted, simply that the info was found on the web – I can find no such info. Even if it were true, how much footage there could be? However, these are fantastic concepts and if anyone out there could confirm the validity of these (partial, unfinished) films to this old cynic – well I’d be grateful.

Finally, thanks to the Christopher Lee Fan Page – the post made me smile and misty eyed in equal proportions.

Supernatural: Bloodlust – review – TV episode

Directed by: Robert Singer

First broadcast: 2006

Contains spoilers

This episode of the series Supernatural is from season 2 and aired in the UK for the first time last Sunday on ITV2. The series concerns the brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as they hunt Supernatural entities.

The vampire episode in Season 1, Dead Man’s Blood, became a little bogged down in main arc story coming, as it did, towards the end of the season but it did establish the vampire lore. The vampires can be killed by decapitation and are incapacitated by exposing their systems to dead man’s blood, they live by night but can survive sunlight and rather than two fangs they have a set of second sharp fang-like teeth that descend/ascend from the gums.

Unlike the earlier episode this was not as bogged down in main story/character arc but it did open up the possibility that not everything they have hunted is necessarily evil and greyed the distinctions in the series. It did this by having vampires that fight their natures and are not feeding on humans. Not a favourite of the traditional vampire fan, I realise, but done in quite a clever way.

It begins with a girl running through the woods and being attacked by a figure with a scythe. The brothers head towards the town, as there have been two beheadings and several cattle mutilations they believe supernatural forces may be at work. They investigate and when examining the head of the corpse discover the second set of teeth – they know vampires are about and begin their hunt.

As they search they meet another hunter, Gordon Walker (Sterling K Brown), who is the figure from the beginning. He doesn’t want help with his hunt but, getting in trouble when fighting a vampire, the brothers save him – though Dean may have been overtly violent.

Dean and Gordon celebrate and Sam heads back to the motel and phones roadhouse owner Ellen (Samantha Ferris) who tells Sam to beware of Gordon. There are actually a couple of Silence of the Lambs references in the episode. In the morgue Dean quotes the film when he quips “Put the lotion in the basket.” And when Sam asks Ellen why he should beware a fellow hunter, whom she says is good at the job, she explains “Yeah, and Hannibal Lecter's a good psychiatrist.”

Sam is then kidnapped by the vampires. When he comes round he is confronted by a set of fangs attached to vampire Eli (Ty Olsson) however the leader of the vampires, Lenore (Amber Benson), is on hand. She explains that they do not feed on humans – hence the cattle mutilations – and that they are leaving the area. They have taken Sam to explain in the hope that they will cease their pursuit.

Sam is released and explains to Dean, who is sceptical. However Gordon has already headed towards the nest and the brothers are in a race against time to stop a slaughter, one that Dean doesn’t necessarily disagree with.

The episode has an extension of the dead man’s blood theme. Gordon tortures Lenore with a knife dipped in it, causing great pain and a reaction of agonizing looking infection in the skin that is both a well done and subtle effect.

One reason that this episode works for me is that the vampire’s motivation for not attacking humans is not altruistic. They fear that they will be wiped out by humanity if they continue to attack humans. Their instincts are clearly still one of the predator, as displayed when some of Sam’s blood is dripped onto Lenore’s face. They have chosen a different path out of a sense of self-preservation and yet by doing so blur the moral lines for the brothers. I can understand the backlash against 'good' vampires (Louis, to a degree, and Angel have a lot to answer for) but these are not exactly good by choice but by necessity.

Whilst the first vampire episode was a much more traditionally vampiric episode this episode was a rounder story due to the ability to concentrate on the story rather than the main arc. In truth, neither of the vampire episodes are necessarily the stronger episodes of the series, but this was an above average episode that was a pleasant enough way to spend 40 minutes and introduced a human character, in Gordon, who is potentially as dangerous as their supernatural foes and may well become a recurring character (he is in at least one further episode). 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Dracula has risen… in Blackpool

A treat for vampire fans in Blackpool as the Grand theatre Academy puts on a performance of Bram Stoker’s Dracula between 18th April and 22nd April 2007. From the theatre’s Website (search shows for Dracula as blogger's html editer dislikes the actual web address!):

"Bram Stoker's
"DRACULA

"A chillingly beautiful dramatisation by John Godber and Jane Thornton (1996)

"The classic vampire story by Bram Stoker (1845-1912) is one of the Grand Theatre Academy's three main productions in the Lawrence House Studio, for 2007. Performed by the adult members of our youth theatre (age 19 to 25), the dramatisation of the famous horror tale revolves around a struggle between good and evil, tradition and modernity, and lust versus chastity. The author didn’t invent vampires, but his novel so captured the public’s imagination that he is rightly considered their populariser.

"Tonight, you will meet not only the Count himself, but heroes Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, plus an array of madmen, psychiatrists, and fair maidens who cross paths with the fanged menace!

"See this chillingly beautiful play; see the icy, stark and vivid images conjured by Bram Stoker's tale of the unresting vampire who must feed on the blood of others to survive! Share the terryfying tale of Jonathan Harker's trip to Transylvania and his ordeal as a guest of Count Dracula! Return to Britain to to find Dr Van Helsing battling to save his wife's dearest friend, the ravishing Lucy, from the Count's overwhelming powers! Who is true object of Dracula's desire? Will evil be vanquished forever?

"The production will be chilling, but not nightmare-inducing for children!"

Tickets are available through the above link and I have tickets booked already and so will let you all know what I think.

Angel of the Night – review

Directed by: Shaky González

Release Date: 1998

Contains spoilers

This Danish film obviously had some budget thrown at it but suffers through being much to derivative – mainly of Robert Rodriguez’ films – and in the English version awful dubbing. That said it did have some interesting vampire concepts thrown into it as well as an awful bat!

Let’s look at the dubbing first because it really did annoy me. The worst excesses of bad lip synching, flat, uninspired voice actors and poorly written dialogue – that may, of course, just be a sin in the dubbed version but many of the comments were cringe worthy, whatever language they’d been recorded in . The dubbing put me on edge with the movie in the first instance and I wish that DVD companies would consider that many of us would rather see the film in its original language with subtitles.

The film itself starts with a woman walking to her car, looking up and screaming. Cue credits.

Rebecca (Maria Stockholm) is visiting the country manor that she has inherited from her grandmother. With her are Rebecca’s boyfriend Mads (Tomas Villum Jensen) and her friend Charlotte (Mette Louise Holland). Rebecca is clutching a book of the occult, which belonged to her grandmother. It seems the deceased matriarch was a dabbler in the dark arts and member of a pro-vampire society. Rebecca tells the story of what happened to a priest named Rikard (Christian Grønvall).

Back in 1850 a vampire was haunting the land. After the mayor’s daughter is killed, the citizens demand action. A bishop says the only way to kill a vampire is for a holy man to expel his evil (a concept abandoned later) using a special dagger (which is actually an ornate stake). He is too old to go so sends Rikard. Rikard, the mayor and a smith hunt the creature, though Rikard is not too happy about it – wanting to remain with his wife and daughter.

The vampire is in giant bat creature mode when we see it and manages to kill the mayor and the smith, Rikard is bitten but slays the beast, unfortunately becoming infected. He becomes Rico Moritz, vampire, and is alternately played by both Grønvall and Erik Holmey through the film. Rikard was Rebecca’s Great Grandfather.

The film follows this pattern, stories from Grandmother’s research causing flashback. There are two other main flashbacks. The first is about a group of criminals who are hunting Rico, with play of needing the ornate stake but also using common or garden stakes on the ‘lesser’ vampire servants. This tale was confused and seemed more of an excuse to homage Rodriguez then to write a cohesive story, indeed I couldn’t even figure out why the criminals were after the vampires.

Once this story is complete, Rebecca et al find a coffin, containing the skeleton of a large bat, in the cellar. Charlotte goes upstairs, followed by Mads after an argument with Rebecca. Here the story failed to be cohesive, the dynamics of the characters shifted with no rhyme or reason, leaving them nothing more than ciphers whose belief and opinion shifted as the filmmakers wanted to do something else.

The next flashback was interesting in a lore sense and was read by Charlotte and Mads. The lore aspect was the idea that Rico had to impregnate a woman, known as the chosen one, every so often and maintain his undeath with the blood of his offspring. In this case the chosen one is Marie (Karin Rørbeck), whom was hypnotized and then impregnated by Rico. Unfortunately the hypnotic amnesia starts wearing off and she starts to remember what happened to her. This is, of course, derivative of Rosemary’s Baby.

Marie receives help in the form of a priest who has a vision of her plight – over in Peru - and so flies over to help her, one wonders whether God couldn’t have found a protector nearby! Eventually she is caught by Rico and so she takes holy water (the story is interrupted by Charlotte wondering where this came from and Mads saying some pages are missing, the priest must have given it to her then!) and drinks it, causing the vampire’s baby to miscarry. It was through this misadventure that Rico ended up a bat skeleton.

Down in the cellar Rebecca is possessed by vampire mist and performs a ritual to revive Rico. This involves reciting the 7 forgotten names – which aren’t too difficult to discover if you have access to the game Vampire the Masquerade as they are the clan names! She then uses extending spikes on the ritual stake (why would they be there?) to donate some blood. Rico is back… This is going to be a brief encounter, however, as there is only eight minutes of the film left!

I will mention that when Rebecca comes to her senses she hides in a stone coffin and calls for help, unheard as her boyfriend and friend are in the living room, with loud music on the stereo, having sex. Mads takes the biscuit for not only having sex with another woman whilst his girlfriend is in the house but for also lighting and smoking a cigarette whilst said woman is grinding on his groin! Rebecca must be the only woman in the world who, despite fighting for their lives, wouldn’t notice that her boyfriend’s trousers are inappropriately round his ankles!

I’ve mentioned some of the lore, other bits we get are that holy water works against vampires (as well as being a vampire baby abortion potion), crosses work if you have faith (and vampires can sense if you don’t have faith) and they cast no reflection. They can turn into (bad) bats and rats.

The film is annoying because it could have been really good. There was budget and some interesting ideas. If the filmmakers had made an effort to tighten the script and story rather than exerting the amazing amount of effort it took to be so derivative then we would have had a (potentially cult) classic on our hands.

A disappointing 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.