Sunday, August 07, 2011

Honourable Mention: Vial of Youth

The five minute short from 2005, Vial of Youth, was director Adele K Thomas’ retelling of the Báthory myth – obviously just covering the bare bones given its length. It started with the premise that Báthory was guilty of the crimes for which she is remembered. Introducing an unnamed henchman who kidnaps her victims for her.

punishing her maid
The animation is glorious, with some absolutely beautiful artwork. The film is narrated by Robert Jozinovic whose staccato delivery, along with the liberal use of some rhyming couplets, suits the piece very much. Where things do get interesting is within the ending.

bath of blood
Having had Erzsébet walled in her room, as was the woman’s historically accurate fate, there is a suggestion that after she died people were attacked and left exsanguinated and that the last thing they saw was Báthory – now a vampire haunting the night.

The film can be viewed at Adele K Thomas’ webpage (note that the page is firefox enhanced but doesn’t work too well in internet explorer). At the time of this article there was no IMDb entry.

;)Q

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