Honourable Mention: Nachts in den Karpaten

This was a lovely looking short animation, directed by Kai Blisch and Adrian Marhoffer and released in 2007. A German production, the title in English is A Night at the Carpathians. It was a narrated piece with narration courtesy of Meik Spallek.

feeling threatened

It sees a cold, snowy night as Sarah (Nina Göldner) happens upon a castle. Freezing, she enters the castle but the door closes behind her and she is left face to face with the Count (Karsten Harz). He ushers her into a living room and she picks up a book. As she reads we discover it is a book of erotica. The Count comes behind her and makes a grab for her and she runs, leaving him with cloak in hand.

Sarah

She is pursued through the castle. She finds the bones of a professor, stake in hand and a bag of vampire killing tools at his side. The temptation, of course, is to think that the professor might have been Van Helsing but with his top hat still in place upon the skull he brought to mind Professor Abronsius from the Fearless Vampire Killers. She takes the anti-vampire tools but in pulling the stake she makes the bones clatter and gives her position away.

frozen by the cross

As she is chased she pulls something, in a handkerchief, from the bag. She places it on a plinth, the covering flutters away, revealing a cross that freezes the Count in place. Sarah turns back and… here I will spoil the ending because it is so glorious. She approaches with her hand over her eyes, peeking between fingers, and then tips the cross off the plinth, freeing the Count from its influence. He reaches her and they return to their coffin… they are a vampire husband and wife and this was all a role play of ‘victim comes to the castle’ played to spice up their love life… Absolutely brilliant. And, all in all, a fine little short.

The imdb page is here.
;)Q

Honourable Mention: Vlad Ţepeş

Vlad Ţepeş was a film from 1979, directed by Doru Natase and was, without doubt, a communist propaganda film designed to instil a national pride through a historical biopic. That said, the history depicted was probably closer to the historical truth as any other film about Vlad Ţepeş (Stefan Sileanu) and, unlike the US effort Dracula, the Dark Prince, this didn’t so much as flirt with the legend of the vampire.

So, why look at it here? After Stoker borrowed a name for his character and, more tellingly, after the work of McNally and Florescu, who popularised the idea that Stoker based his character on Ţepeş, the identities of Dracula have become inextricably linked in the Western mind. Whilst Stoker did only borrow a name I think it worth including material about (the historical) Ţepeş here, if only to make the point that the connection between the two is casual at best.

Stefan Sileanu as Vlad Ţepeş

The film looks at Vlad’s second rule (and the only one of any length) and begins in 1456 and what strikes you as you watch the film is that, whilst Vlad uses an under-current of cruel punishment to shape his country he is actually portrayed in a positive light. Let us take the story that Vlad threw a banquet for the poor and disabled and then locked them in the hall and burned it to the ground. This occurs in this but the film also informs us that these beggars are also part of a network of thieves. It suggests that Vlad disguised himself as a beggar and sat with them, that he and his men observed and pulled out any genuine person before locking the criminal element in and burning the building – was it a moral act, not at all, but the distinction that has been added makes it possible for the character to carry more sympathy.

impalement

The film makes it clear that impalement was a common punishment – but one reserved for the lowest of the low. Vlad makes it the only punishment and distinguishes between boyar and riff-raff only by the height of the stake. We are left in no doubt that the Germanic merchants, whose monopoly grip was wrenched off Wallachia by Vlad, went out of their way to ensure that exaggerated and false stories were spread to try and turn Hungary against Vlad.

This is a very long film, but it is an excellent biopic, offering a different view of Ţepeş and giving us insight into why he is still considered a national hero in his homeland. The imdb page is here.

Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula – review

Director: Timothy Friend

Release Date: 2008

Contains spoilers

I was looking forward to this… but I knew I shouldn’t. Deep down I suspected that as fantastic as the premise sounded – and who could knock the idea of America’s most infamous crime duo mixed in with Dracula – that the end result would be poor.

I am very pleased to report that I was wrong. It isn’t perfect but it is a genuinely fun, bullet and fang rollercoaster.

skinless

We begin with a flayed corpse, or so it seems until it gasps for breath… In a car a couple drive along. She’s hungry and he wants to knock over a nearby farmhouse, they might make enough to get to the next town. They pose as brush sellers and get the foot in the door. But the housewife is no housewife and her husband no dirt farmer. They are knocking over a house already invaded by Bonnie (Tiffany Shepis) and Clyde (Trent Hagga).

Jennifer Friend as Annabel

The would be crime duo are killed and lose their car to the anti-social anti-heroes of our little flick. Meanwhile, over in Loveless manor, we meet the bag-over-the-head wearing Dr Archibald Loveless (Allen Lowman) and his simplistic and childlike sister Annabel (Jennifer Friend). She reports that *his* skin has grown back – referring to Dracula (Russell Friend). Annabel has an electric collar that her brother uses to control her and we later discover that he has a degenerative disease – of unknown type – hence the bag over his head.

dancing in blood

Bonnie and Clyde have a midnight picnic when they are attacked by two rednecks. Clyde is knocked out and Bonnie disposes of them by slitting their throats and dancing in their blood. Whilst it leads to amorous activity, the next day Bonnie is less than impressed that her only dress is bloodstained. They are on their way to meet Henry (F Martin Glynn) to try and get a job together. Henry is staying at a dive of a bar.

Dracula reforming

The bar used to also be a cathouse but Loveless has bought all the whores. These he has fed to Dracula, for he found his remains, has brought him back to life and hopes to unlock a cure for his degenerative disease via the vampire. Once he has reached a certain level of regeneration Loveless releases Dracula from his cell and tries to have Annabel help the vampire up the stairs – but the very touch of her burns.

Dracula reveals fangs

Now this was new lore and really interesting – the touch, even the presence, of the truly innocent burns the vampire. Even more interesting is the fact that Loveless argues that she is not pure – that she lies and steals and yet she does have a child’s demeanour and Dracula confirms that she is truly innocent.

Vampire Bonnie

Anyway, Loveless sets up a dinner party were Dracula will vampirise the guests to give a supply of vampires for the mad doctor to experiment with. Annabel seeks a way to escape the house and her nasty brother. Meanwhile Bonnie and Clyde are involved in a job that goes wrong. Bonnie is sent to get a doctor for one of their partners who is injured and she goes to Loveless’ house. When she takes too long to come back Clyde goes after her but, of course, Dracula has already turned her.

Will she attack Clyde or side with him; can the gangster kill Dracula and escape a house full of vampires?

'the process' keeps Loveless alive

As I said, I expected little and got a rather good film in return but I also suggested that the film wasn’t perfect. It was good but I did feel there was an elusive something missing. Perhaps it was in the fact that some aspects – for instance Loveless’ disease – were not elaborated on, perhaps it was in the fact that – despite the title – there wasn’t a huge amount of versus going on or perhaps it was in the fact that they tried to cram a little too much in the way of threads into the film?

Bonnie and Clyde

Whatever it was, it was difficult to put my finger on but it was there. It prevented a good film being a great film. One thing that I could put my finger on, however, was within the blood fx. We had the Bonnie slitting the throat scene that included post-production cgi blood, which was only seen for a split second but did look poor. Worse we had Clyde shooting the hell out of a contact at one point, but no blood loaded squibs were used and so the unfortunate fellow fell back, peppered with invisible shots that produced no blood. All that said, it was a good film despite the problems and Tiffany Shepis in particular deserves recognition for her performance.

Other than the innocence lore, the majority of the film follows atypical vampire lore – no reflections, sunlight kills and vampires regenerate. Clyde suggests that whilst bullets won’t kill vampires they will slow them down.

Fun, but could have been even more fun. 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Blood in the Night – review

Director: Lincoln Kupchak

Release date: 1993

Contains spoilers

The art of short film making is a subtle one. With little time for exposition a way has to be found to move the narrative along in a way that makes sense but also, often, makes use of shortcuts.

Blood in the Night used narrative shortcuts but they felt, unfortunately, unsatisfying and left the viewer wondering why rather than accepting the shortcut for what it was.

David Laird Scott as Vladius

It begins in some Eastern European location. A man, Vladius (David Laird Scott). listens to a baby cry. A man and woman try to calm it but Vladius snatches it away. He is going to silence it but then says he can’t harm it as the baby is cursed already. The man takes it and runs as the woman is punished by being attacked by Vladius, who then appears before the man and takes the baby.

emerging

Los Angeles; and two delivery men struggle with a large box. They deliver it to a woman named Tatsu (Bonita Walker). After they have left she announces that it is time and a hand slips out of the crate opening from the inside. The woman who emerges, later named as Veronique (Reggie Athnos), is the baby now grown and has been sent to the US by her father, the Count, to widen her education.

fangs

Also in the States is Vladius, who seems to spend his time hunting indiscriminately. Anyway, the women go for a walk and a couple of drunk rough types speak to Veronique, as she and Tatsu pass by. She responds, engaging with the men, but Tatsu drags her away. The two n’er-do-wells follow and drag Veronique off, ready to rape her. She throws one across the alley into a wall and, by the time that Tatsu shows up with the cops, she has broken the other’s neck. This is what I meant by shortcuts that don’t work. Veronique has to meet rookie detective Jack Sawyer (Mark Moyer) but why would Tatsu bring the cops when she knew that Veronique could simply kill the two assailants? Indeed, why would the first two men Veronique meets in America be blatant rapists who leave a witness (Tatsu) behind?

caught in the act

Jack goes back to the apartment to take Veronique’s statement (rather than taking her to the station as she has just killed two men) and whilst they talk we see that Vladius is attacking yet another woman. Jack forgoes taking the statement and, instead, kisses Veronique – who sends him away before she does something she’ll regret. When he gets outside he catches Vladius attacking the woman and, instead of taking the cop out, Vladius floats up into the night. Jack calls for backup but what will he do? You could put money on the fact that Vladius will float off to Veronique and that Jack, despite having no reason to do so, will go straight to her apartment…

Reggie Athnos as Veronique

And this is the difficulty; the shortcuts make no logical sense. Sure they spur the narrative on but they just don’t work. On a positive side, despite the thick Lugosi-esque nature of the accent, David Laird Scott steals the show with scene chewing acumen and Reggie Athnos is both very pretty and also very natural in her performance. She offers an air of naivety that one might suggest is unusual in a vampire but that works in this. However, I can’t get past the bad shortcuts.

3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.
;)Q

Vampire Controller – review

Directors: Kuang Hsiung & Tony Leung Hung-Wah

Release date: 2001

Contains spoilers

Back to the world of the kyonsi and a period set Hong Kong movie. Although this one had some unusual lore added in, the basic premise that featured corpse herders was fairly familiar territory.

Unfortunately, despite the unusual lore that I have alluded to, it did nothing particularly exciting or outstanding – though it has to be said it did nothing particularly bad either.

illicit love

The film begins with a black robed (rather ninja-esque) man, Wong Ching (Jude Poyer), headed to a building. A young women, Jenny, hears something and is soon face to face with him but he removes his mask and they embrace and begin kissing. However he has been followed by not one but two similarly clad persons. To cut a long story short, as they are slowly revealed, one is Kindaiichi (Yee-Man Man) and the other is Cheung. They are both agents of rival princes.

Yee-Man Man as Kindaiichi

Wong Ching and Chueng fight and, during this, Chueng manages to poison both Jenny and Wong Ching. The next day he poses as the man’s cousin for the coroner. Both agents have been looking for a secret letter but it doesn’t appear to be on either corpse. Chueng’s cousin is Professor Mao (You-Chueng Lai) a corpse herder whose master has just died. He is herding corpses, including his master, with the help of the Master’s son, John (Gallen Law).

vampire fangs

After an altercation with ‘rival’ corpse herder, Old Ma, and her apprentice Tien Gee (Kathy Chow) – during which Tien Gee is bitten by a snake and John saves her life – the two corpse herders and their charges end up staying in an abandoned building as it is the three day ghost festival and thus to dangerous to have their charges on the road. One of the unusual bits of lore was that the corpse herders can only escort the dead of one gender. If the genders mix then the spirit that remains in the corpses could cause them to have sex and produce a ghost baby – a bloodthirsty supernatural critter.

turning

Chueng, to buy time, asks his cousin to escort the two new corpses – a request made possible to fulfill by the presence of Old Ma and her female charges. Interestingly Mao had his male corpses hop but Ma’s female corpses walked with a bow-legged, rocking gait. Of course much goes wrong and this leads to Chueng being bitten by a disturbed corpse who develops fangs. He has the presence of mind to put sticky rice on the wound but it is too late and he turns.

ectoplasmic baby

We also end up with Wong Ching and Jenny placed together and them having sex. They subsequently grow fangs and wander off. They are recaptured but Jenny’s belly swells, releasing an ectoplasmic goo that takes over another corpse. This then is the baby ghost and it proves to be rather dangerous.

stretchy mouth

It manages to behead a meddling black magician (Wah Yuen) with one blow and, despite being comparatively docile for the first two nights (they are only active at night), it reveals a deadly and stretchy mouth. To be stopped a baby ghost must either be poisoned before the first two days are over or its parents must reincarnate and calm it with their love.

lost his head

The acting was ok in this, there was a little bit of martial art but the direction was average, the story didn’t particularly wow and it felt a little drawn out in places. All that said it wasn’t a bad film – just not a brilliant one either.

An average 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Die Now or Live Forever – review

Director: Dominic Fera

Release date: 2009

Contains spoilers

I had not heard of Dominic Fera but it seems he is a YouTube filmmaker with a fair youth following. I guess that’s why this (at the time of review) had such a high IMDb rating (9.5) with three gushing reviews – either that or the votes were mainly from friends. I sat ready to dislike Fera's short film foray into the vampire genre…

But you know what, whilst it doesn’t deserve that high a score, it deserves a good review. It turned out to be a professionally put together piece of work, with one or two minor grumbles to be fair, but they were minor and it had less flaws than some notable, high budget professional films.

Seth King as Michael

It begins with Michael Sphenson (Seth King) burying his pet lizard, Larry, in the garden. Michael seems somewhat philosophical about the lizard’s death but his mum (Pat Obst) suggests that, as she is taking his brother (William Gabriele Obst) to her sister’s for Halloween (better trick or treating is to be had in that neighbourhood) he might have some friends over – but no beer.

Anthony Canonica as Greg

So immediately, that night, Michael, Dave (Anthony Cardona) and Greg (Anthony Canonica) crack open beers. Greg was meant to have brought cards but hasn’t and the viewer is immediately struck by how natural the young actors seem to be and how well observed the dialogue is, flowing well and seeming perfectly realistic. Michael has cards and so they cut the pack – Greg gets the lowest card and he is it for a Halloween prank.

watching Greg head for his dare

They go to Michael’s car – noticing a mover’s van next door. Who moves in at night? The question gets the obvious response of 'a vampire'. They reach a supposedly empty house and Greg has to go in with a spray can and get a photo of his artwork. After he leaves the car Dave and Michael notice a car outside but Michael rationalises that it can’t be anything to do with the house Greg has gone in, can it?

the coffin

Greg enters the house by the basement and, once in, sees a coffin (with an odd looking cross ordaining the lid). A hand emerges and Greg runs. In the car he is screaming about the living dead – Michael and Dave take it as a wind up. A bat hits the window and Greg freaks, there is a sound like someone on the car roof and then a figure knocks on the driver's window. They drive off, so the figure enters the parked car and follows. They manage to lose the car and get home, only to see it come down the street and park next door to Michael’s house.

dead Dave

The guys get inside but Dave gets a call from his girlfriend and goes outside to take it. There is a knock on the door. Michael answers it and stands face to face with Drake (Dominic Fera), his new neighbour. He asks to be invited in. Michael refuses, Greg confirms that it is the guy from the coffin (he recognises the watch) and then the body of Dave appears on the back patio. Of course, Drake has received no invitation in… that is until a panicked Greg runs outside and is captured, forcing Michael to issue the invitation…

burned by a sun lamp

One of the neat things about this was that part of me was wondering whether the story was going to turn into a Halloween prank story (with Dave and either Greg or Michael in on it) up until quite late in. I will confirm Drake is a vampire so that I can discuss the lore. We discover that garlic is an issue and that sunlight will kill a vampire in this. We also discover that one bite will turn (with the assumption that this is only if the victim survives the attack). A vampire can turn to mist and the reformation was very neatly carried off given the budget.

Dominic Fera as Drake

I mentioned how natural the boys seemed. Fera, for his own dialogue, wrote a witty, urbane dialogue for the character that worked really well. The actual filming looks very professional but I mentioned a couple of gripes. One was in the story… there seemed no logical reason as to why the creature in the basement of a house a car drive away would happen to be the person moving in next door and perhaps that needed a bridge in the narrative. The opening scene could really have used a tripod as the camera work was a tad shaky – though that was not an issue through the rest of the film. Minor issues indeed.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised by just how enjoyable this short was. The main reason was the performances that delivered the well-constructed dialogue. 7 out of 10.

The IMDb page is here.

Evernight – review

Author: Claudia Gray

Release date: 2008

Contains spoilers

Evernight is a young adult book, and one can fairly much say with its female protagonist – Bianca – and the strong romance theme that it is aimed at a female audience. I am male and a bit of an old fart and so it is all in the book’s credit that I can say that I rather enjoyed this – up to a point.

At first, however, I did not. After a prologue that let us know we are dealing with vampires we meet Bianca. Her parents are teachers and they have taken jobs at the private Evernight Academy. Bianca, who has always lived in the same small town, is really not looking forward to being at the school. Not only will It cater for a different social strata of people but its imposing gothic architecture, towers, stained glass and gargoyles…

And this is where the book nearly lost me, for I couldn’t reconcile the academy description (almost Hogwartian, one might say) with the USA… that is until it clicked that what was being described was virtually anime. It was something akin to that which we see in the series Vampire Knight. Whether Grey meant this or not I don’t know but as soon as the realisation dawned I was able to relax and enjoy the book and it was enjoyable, I was drawn in and, for the first half of the book (past the prologue), vampires are not mentioned.

There is a creeping suspicion with regards our toothsome friends at the back of the mind, however and we then get the reveal. Most of the students are vampires… and here’s the clever bit, the main reason they are there (after all, the oldest pupil is some 1300 years old) is to learn about the modern world, to fit in. Evernight was always a place to learn and to be themselves, and human students have been let in (we are told) to help with that grounding in the today. This gives a reason for these ancient creatures to be in a school that actually works.

So what about Bianca (please turn away if this might be a spoiler too far…


…still with me, good).

Bianca is a rarity, a child born of two vampires, and she is approaching the time when her vampire nature will assert itself. To fully become vampire she must kill and then die. Of course, first love (with a human) and raging teenage hormones do not help.

The lore is well handled. So long as they maintain a diet of (at least animal) blood vampires can go out in daylight. They can cross running water but it takes a mighty effort, fire and beheading will kill and as for a stake through the heart... it paralyses them but remove it and they are up and about again.

So, I said I liked it to a point. That point was the ending. As well as it getting a little too Romeo and Juliet for my taste, the very end confrontation seemed rushed and not well explained – especially after the excellent build up through the book to every other aspect of the story. Of course I can’t explain why without spoiling the story altogether.

However, beyond this (and I can live with it, it was just a shame) this was well composed prose that did not treat the target audience like idiots and thus opened it up to a more mature audience.

6 out of 10.

Review first published on Amazon Vine.

Vampire Whores from Outer Space – review

Director: Eamon Hardiman

Release date: 2005

Contains spoilers

You know, maybe it is just me. I appreciate why people think some low budget movies are funny, after all, who hasn’t laughed at the tombstone moment in Plan 9 From Outer Space. Whilst Ed Wood was serious about his film making, we laugh but it is a genuinely generous laughter, or at least I think so.

However there are some low budget movies that are not funny at all – even when they are actually billed as a comedy. At this point may I offer Exhibit A – Vampire Whores from Outer Space. Red neck and white trash characters, spinning ‘jokes’ about anti-Semitic leanings and back alley abortion just aren’t my idea of fun.

the space ship

Let us cut to the chase as there isn’t really much story in this. A space-ship crashes out in the woods, an event witnessed by teen geek and right wing sympathiser Kevin (Lance Steele), slut (and potentially junky) cheerleader Dawn (Meghan McDowell) and Burt (Brian Gunnoe), a red neck crazy who had been complaining about visitations from alien vampire whores.

Eamon Hardiman as Tate

The crash inconveniences the chief of police, Tate (Eamon Hardiman), as he and the fire chief had buried the body of a drifter they murdered out in the woods. Tate – ostensibly investigating the plane crash (he believes to have occurred) – goes out to dig the body up and meets one of the vampires who helps him with the body and gives the one year dead corpse head before killing Tate – by sucking… well the blood doesn’t come from his neck. It was strange as this drifter storyline was throwaway and yet the most intriguing part of the film… probably because Hardiman actually gave a decent performance.

a vampire

As for the rest, the alien women are vampires and whores and later we see their alien pimp – which is some guy in an alien mask. It’s up to the hapless ‘heroes’ to save the day and you won’t honestly care one way or another, should you drag yourself through the film’s running length. The vampire lore indicates that sunlight is not an issue but garlic is. Holy water doesn’t work (or at least Burt blessed water doesn't) but a stake through the heart does. That’s about it.

An awful film but the brief performance by director Hardiman drags the score to at least a single point because the rest of the film had no real redeeming qualities. 1 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Honourable Mention: The Bloodlust Horror

The Bloodlust Horror is a horror musical written and directed by Aaron Potter and is reminiscent in parts to the Rocky Horror Show – with perhaps a little anime aesthetic thrown in for good luck, which I’ll explain later.

It is an odd duck of a thing – mostly offered as a stage show it bares all the hallmarks of am-dram, with a varied range of performances, bad wigs and false looking sets. This aesthetic is enhanced by having a (very bored looking) audience watching the show and showing some of them walking out of the performance. It isn’t quite breaking the fourth wall but it is close, perhaps going as far as fracturing it. The action then occasionally moves from a set to a location and some of the actors double (or in one case, triple) up on roles – sometimes in the same scene.

the MC welcomes you

It opens with an MC (Samantha Mion) who suggests that once viewed the audience will never view the play again – because they’ll be dead. A band play the intro credit music and the MC sings. In truth she reminded me of the Columbia character from Rocky Horror. After the credits the play proper begins.

in the parlour

It opens in a parlour and the village Mayor (Damon Myers) awaits a visitor. His aids, played by Samantha Mion and Aaron Potter, say that the visitor is known to arrive for appointments at midnight. He is Vincent Valemont (Marc Basso), vampire hunter. The vampires who are said to haunt the village are of too little a challenge and the reward too low for him to waste his time – that is before he meets the mayor’s daughter, Victoria (Erin Harrell). I mentioned an anime aesthetic and it was within the Victor character, who, for reasons unclear, reminded me of D from Vampire Hunter D. Thus it came as no shock when it was revealed that he is a dhampyr.

Samantha Mion as Zia

The mayor is only using the hunter, however, running a distraction against the vampires whilst he perfects his vampire killing implement – which seemed to be little more than a wooden stake! Vincent and Victoria pledge their attraction. She tells the story of the mayor’s sister – Zia (Samantha Mion) – being taken and turned and gives Vincent a Damsel Stone – a stone said to be able to absorb the soul of a vampire. They are unaware of the crap bat who flies off.

Damon Myers as the Master

Said crap bat becomes the vampire Lexley (Aaron Potter), and he reports to the Master (Damon Myers) that Vincent is in town. I have to say that Myers really seemed to relish the Master role and had an expressiveness of face that might not have been out of place on Frank-N-Furter. He sees vampires as above men and wants to wipe them out (questions of food notwithstanding!) and to do so he has perfected a serum that will turn the dead into zombies – he will unleash them upon the earth in a devastating apocalypse but first he will take Victoria to punish the mayor…

bitten

This was fun. Not all the songs worked (and some were a little samey) but generally it was worth a watch. Whether that would have been the case if hard earned cash had been exchanged for the watch is debatable. However there certainly was a heck of a lot of ambition. The film can be viewed for free over on the MySpace page, however there is no IMDb page at the time this article was published.

Bats in the Belly – review

Director: Thomas Gerber

Release date: 2004

Contains spoilers

Bats in the Belly is a short Swiss film. It has a nice layer of comedy but is also rather cute in its portrayal of vampiric coming-of-age.

a little taste

It begins with an ambulance speeding to hospital. The patient has a bad stomach injury and, despite the encouraging words from paramedic Viktor (Philipp Siegel), the man has lost a lot of blood. In desperation Viktor grabs a tool kit and produces a piece of plastic hose – almost a giant straw! A bump in the road causes him to plunge it into the man’s wound, blood splashes his face and he wipes it with his fingers and then tastes it…

Neck Fetish

When the ambulance arrives at the hospital we see that Viktor has constructed a means of saving the man’s life, taping the hose into the bleeding wound so that the blood goes into it and clamping the end to keep it inside, the man has stopped losing blood. When young doctor Sophia (Sandra Schlegel) touches it the clamp flies off and blood splatters Viktor’s face. As the hospital staff rush the man in she wipes away some blood from Viktor and his focus hones into her neck and the veins. He is left on his own and his fangs pop out (with a creaking sound). As he leaves he pockets a blood pack.

Philipp Siegel as Viktor

The film plays with many vampire conventions. As he enters his apartment the candles that line the walls burst into flame and a taxidermy chicken clucks. For some reason he has lots of taxidermy chickens (amongst other birds and animals) but we should remember that Jess Franco tied the vampire and taxidermy together in the psychedelic scene he placed in Count Dracula. He rips a picture of Sophia’s face from a staff book and places it on a bird’s beak. The subsequent appearance of fangs and the drinking of blood gives us an erectile and masturbatory simile.

Sandra Schlegel as Sophia

That continues when he next meets Sophia, with him running away after his fangs embarrassingly spring forth. When he gets home it is daylight and he catches his hair in an errant shaft of sunlight, causing it to set on fire – later we discover that spontaneously combusting only occurs if the vampire is in human form. He has received a phone call from a vampire elder who is checking that he is eating properly. When asked about fresh, female blood we discover that Viktor is 25 and has not yet bitten a girl – he is a bite virgin. His petulant reaction is very teen.

using shadows

When he next meets Sophia he seduces her with hand shadows, again this plays with the shadow convention introduced in vampire cinema through Nosferatu. The up-shot is that she asks him to call her. I found that the viewer, at this point, is less concerned with Sophia’s safety and more concerned with the question of whether Viktor is going to finally bite a girl, so personable had Siegel made his character. That, of course, will not be spoiled.

mobile crap bat

With a title of Bats in the Belly, you know that you will get some crap bats. Viktor has a taxidermy bat in his home, a bat appears on his phone when he is sending a text message and there is a moment of turning into bats. So, for the cbs aficionado there is plenty to see. The two leads are very good and they create a genuine chemistry. The comedy is charming. All in all this is a very satisfying little short.

7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.
;)Q