Interesting shorts: the Vampire; or, Pedro Pacheco and the Bruxa

This short story by William H G Kingston was published in his 1863 volume Tales for all Ages. Reportedly based on Portuguese lore, it is astounding for two primary reasons. Firstly because the vampire of the tale, of the supernatural genus Bruxa, seems to be a clear amalgam of witch and vampire, and it also displays a dual existence trait more common to Far Eastern vampiric types. The second reason is because of a particular transformation trait.

The first part of the story explains Bruxa lore. Bruxa are female, possessed by an evil spirit and the daughter of a Bruxa will become one in her turn. However, a woman who is sinful may become Bruxa but this involves signing a contract and so is rather mediaeval witchcraft orientated suggesting a pact with the devil. Like many Far Eastern vampire types, she is a vampire by night and appears as a normal woman by day.

The Bruxa tricks her victims, luring them off their path and into danger (which is the main thrust of the primary Pedro Pacheco story). The vampiric element of the general lore involves the Bruxa returning to her home and sucking the life blood from her own children. The victims are described as being "marked with punctures".

I mentioned transformation and, describing the attack on their own children, Kingston suggests they have "black wings". I don't think it out to suggest that they are bat wings as Kingston also tells us that they can transform into owls and bats.

This definitively shows the transformation of a vampire into a bat some thirty-four years before the publication of Dracula.

The vampiric elements are described in the preamble to the main story. The main story itself is concerned with the leading of travellers astray and is less fulfilling from a lore point of view than its own preamble.

To read about how this affects the lore in regard to Stoker, you can read my essay Stoker and the Bat at Vamped.

GeGeGe no Kitarō: The Vampire Elite – review

Director: unknown

First aired: 1996-98

Contains spoilers

Apologies that the details are all a bit vague for the director and the date of this episode of the GeGeGe no Kitarō series. This was definitely from the 4th iteration of the Kitarō anime – something you can tell as the main Kitarō (Yôko Matsuoka) character has brown rather than silver hair.

Kitarō is a Yōkai and the last living member of the Ghost Tribe – aside from his father, Medama-oyaji (Isamu Tanonaka), who has decayed so much that there is little more than an eyeball left. This episode features recurring character Nezumi Otoko (Shigeru Chiba), the rat man. Whilst Nexumi is primarily an ally to Kitarō he is more a force of chaos and may be involved in an enemy's scheme. He is known for his noisome farts.

illusion

The first thing to note about the episode is just how cool the opening music is, which is as well – given the musical aspect of the episode. A female professor leaves her college and is walking down the street when she hears a fabulous melody. Following it she sees a man playing guitar, a rose seems to float towards her but it is all hypnotic illusion and he is quickly upon her, sucking her blood. He is the vampire Elite.

Nezumi

There has been a rash of attacks on intelligent, beautiful women and Kitarō is contacted to protect a beautiful researcher. Unknown to him, however, Elite has contacted Nezumi and has offered the rat a million yen for his help. The house in which the researcher is working has shuttered windows. Elite won’t break them open (brute force is not his style) but she will not hear his guitar if they are shut. Nezumi farts into the air ducts, causing the researchers to open the windows in desperation. Elite plays his guitar and mesmerises the researcher.

bat platforms

Nezumi’s other job is to get something belonging to Kitarō, and in a struggle he grabs a handful of hair before Elite, Nezumi and the researcher are carried away on living platforms made out of bats. Oyaji suggests they do not go rushing in to Elite’s mansion without a plan and this involves getting garlic and a religious icon (a cross). Meanwhile Elite takes Kitarō’s hair and uses his tadpoles (no, I didn’t get that either) to weave them into a melody that will hypnotise Kitarō. As Nazumi has outlived his usefulness Elite betrays him.

Elite with Tina the bat

So, lore… Elite only drinks from young, beautiful and intelligent women. They must be intelligent so he is and they must be young so he remains so. Though I am sure unconnected, I was reminded of a rule from Varney the Vampire, “those who know about vampires say there are two sorts, one sort always attacks its own relations as were, and nobody else, and the other always selects the most charming young girls.”. The use of garlic and the cross proves useless, and Elite was seen in sunlight, he claims to be an elite type of vampire un-phased by such things (this is a departure from earlier versions of Elite, I understand). He only has to drain one more woman to become an ultimate vampire, this must be done under the red quarter moon on the Chiisuttar Festival (I have found no reference to this festival and thus assume it was misspelled in subtitles or made up).

Kitarō under hypnosis

Elite has bats to do his bidding but, primarily, he has a bat called Tina. He refers to her as his sister and the ritual should give her speech. Later Kitarō suggests that she would have become a vampire and, as we see her with another bat at the end of the episode, I have made the supposition that Elite was originally a bat and that he has reverted to that form. Elite – as I intimated earlier – does appear in other versions of Kitarō and the 2008 anime had a character called vampire Johnny. When it comes to a score it is difficult in isolation from the resst of the series but I did enjoy this, 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Sinister Visions

Sinister Visions is an anthology film from 2013 and the segment that is the subject of this ‘Vamp or Not?’ was directed by Kim Sønderholm and was entitled Succubus.

Now the succubus and vampire myths go hand in hand, along with the sexual aspect the succubus tends to drain life (making her a type of energy vampire). In this case an Amazon review also suggested that she had “a taste for blood of men”. I will mention that the film has five primary stories (Succubus being the first) as well as a couple of spoof moments that introduce the best of the five stories – the zombie orientated My Undead Girlfriend.

the egg

As Succubus starts we see Emma (Kat Herlo), her makeup smeared by tears as she drinks from a bottle. We flash back in time and we see her at an archaeological dig where she finds an egg like object. She takes it back to a tent when gunfire starts and she drops it, breaking it open and releasing a black smoke. Her eyes roll up and she collapses, then a colleague enters and warns her that she has to move – the rebels are getting close to their camp.

Kay Herlo as Emma

Back home and she goes to a library where she researches the myth of Lilith and Samael. Now, of course, Lilith does crop up over and over again, tied into vampire lore. She hears a voice whispering her name and, when she leaves the library, she sees a couple. “Take him,” the voice says. She manages to walk on.

in club

Eventually the voices are too strong and she is compelled to go out, wearing a little black dress. However she is still fighting and finds herself wracked in pain, the pain seems to give way to something more orgasmic. She enters a club and spots her victim, a man with a woman. She gets between them, distracts him with her mouth when his attention wanders and then drags him out of the club. Her innocent, human self watches her exit from the dance floor and then vanishes.

succubus

They end up in (what looks like) a basement and she is sexually aggressive, riding him (as she should with the Lilith connection) and then she transforms becoming a winged demon – the makeup and prosthetics are rather good – though the wings wobble a little. She has her hand at his throat until he dies… however, whilst strangulation would actually fit in with the folklore vampire is it enough to call this vamp?

veins on victim

Well, I am not too sure that it is strangulation that is actually going on. We see no flash sfx that suggests she is draining his lifeforce but, when we see him dead it is notable that he has a vein effect over his face. Can we assume that is because she is an energy vampire? It is difficult to say; at the end the film cuts back to the opening scene and we see a different victim behind her, but he is bloodied – scratched and bleeding, so that doesn’t tell us much. All in all, whilst she might be an energy vampire, we do not have conclusive proof and I think I’ll have to go Not Vamp, but the presence of a succubus and the mention of Lilith certainly offers a slight genre interest.

The imdb page is here.

Interesting Shorts: The Blood Drinking Corpse

Whilst the first known English translation of this short story dates to 1913 (confirmed), therefore suggesting that it didn’t influence the developing vampire genre in the 19th Century, the interesting thing about this short tale is that it has been dated back to 1679.

Written by P’u Sung-ling (1640-1715) it never mentions the word vampire and is very short indeed (as are many of Sung-ling’s collected tales). It follows three merchants who are forced to sleep in a barn due to lack of available beds in a village. One of them cannot sleep and so he becomes witness to the other two attacked in their sleep by a girl.

At first described as her giving a sleeping merchant a long kiss, the description becomes one of “eyes, from which a red flame was shining, and sharp teeth, half-exposed in a ferocious smile, which opened and shut by turns on the throat of the sleeper.” She is recognised as drinking their blood.

The conscious merchant flees but is chased. The next morning he is found drained but the corpse of the woman is also found, blood from her mouth spilt down her clothing and her fingernails embedded in a tree. She is recognised as the chief of elders daughter, who had not been buried as they were awaiting an auspicious astrological alignment for the burial.

So a Chinese tale that shows us tropes that are familiar, dated back to the seventeenth century.

Honourable Mention: Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

Having exercised our ‘Vamp or Not?’ muscles over the kaiju film Gamera Vs Gyaos and deciding that Gyaos was a vampiric bat, you’d have thought that looking at anything with Gyaos in would become easy. Not so.

In the 1995 Gamera daikaijû kuchu kessen, director Shûsuke Kaneko reinvented the blooming wheel. Gyaos become a species, rather than a single creature, and the background is changed. The elements that perhaps drew us to announce Gyaos as vampiric are lost or watered down.

Gyaos waste

The film starts with a ship carrying plutonium colliding with a floating atoll. Round the same time we see people on an island attacked by something from the sky. The police contact ornithologist Mayumi Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama) and ask her to travel to the island as she was a friend of a scientist there and the last message they received mentioned a bird. There is destruction across the village, which Mayumi doesn’t tie into a bird until she finds a giant bird pellet that contains a pen and pair of glasses owned by her friend.

the obelisk

The two stories run in parallel for a while. The atoll has a mysterious obelisk with Etrurian runes on it. The obelisk crumbles and energy exudes from the atoll as Gamera is awoken. Meanwhile they discover that the “bird” is a 15 meter carnivorous flying creature with scales and teeth that isn’t actually of the bird genus. Plus there are three of them. They attempt to capture them (in a stadium with a closing roof) using cattle carcasses as a lure. They get two as Gamera reaches land and fights the third, merging the two threads of story. The other two use their sonic rays to escape. At first the military target Gamera rather than the Gyaos due to his size.

Gyaos attacks

Now, originally Gyaos was killed by the sun. These are nocturnal but capable of being active in the sun. They are carnivorous but a love of blood is never mentioned. They are still sort of a bat/pterosaur cross but they show no ability to release a smoke/fog screen and any fear of fire is normal and not notable. The source of the creatures go back, in this, to Atlantis. The Gyaos were created to tackle pollution (hence these ones awakening) but they started to multiply and attack humans. The Atlanteans created Gamera to destroy them but it was too late and, whilst the few remaining Gyaos went into hibernation, the Atlantean civilisation was doomed and so they bequeathed Gamera to a future civilisation.

Super Gyaos

We discover that they appear to be all female but actually they are asexual, with only one chromosome and able to self-reproduce. The main Gyaos in this evolves into a Super Gyaos with a 100 meter wingspan. But, despite the added background, we lose much of the vampiric elements and this, because of the history of the creature only gets an honourable mention due to its lost genre overlaps. The imdb page is here.

Bonus Honourable Mention: Gamera Vs Viras

The 1968 Noriaki Yuasa directed film Gamera Vs Viras deserves to get a bit of a bonus mention here.

Gamera

In it Gamera is pitted against the aliens Viras who intend to invade earth and colonise it (as it is the closest to their planet in size and atmosphere in the universe). At the head of the film Gamera destroys the first of their spaceships and so a second is despatched. It catches Gamera in a stasis field and scans the creature’s memories to find a weakness.

stock footage

This leads to a lot of stock footage (19 minutes in the US release, and to be honest other films in the series showed some this footage too but no other to this extent) some of which shows Gamera’s battle with Gyaos from the film the year before. So, unlike the Gyaos above, this Gyaos is still a vampiric bat but, of course, it is all memory and old footage and thus gets an honourable mention only.

The imdb page is here.

Bonus Honourable Mention: Gamera Vs Guiron

space Gyaos

The year after Gamera took on Viras he was out in space again, this time to rescue two young whippersnappers who had climbed on board a UFO and been whisked off to another plant (Earth’s twin that followed the same orbit on the far side of the sun and so was never seen from Earth).

Gamera’s enemy in this was Guiron but the planet had its own version of Gyaos, who appeared in what we might call a monster cameo. This Gyaos seemed un-phased by the sun but otherwise was identical to the original Gyaos – mainly because it was the same Gyaos model but spray painted silver and known as the Space Gyaos.

The imdb page is here.

The Devil’s Bed – review

Author: Doug Lamoreux

Release date: 2011

Contains spoilers

The blurb: What awaits Brandy in... The Devil's Bed?

Brandy Petracus, touring a ruined castle in the south of France, is led to the unhallowed graveyard of Templar knights executed for practicing Black Magic. Long forgotten by the world, this ancient cemetery is known to the locals as – the Devil's Bed and its occupants do not rest in peace.

In this fast-paced clash of Good vs Evil, Brandy soon finds herself the leader of an eclectic group besieged by resurrected Templar knights - craving their blood. Vampirism, madness, dark humor, and flashbacks to 14th century Paris tell Brandy's very human story of commitment, trust and sacrifice.

Before the appearance of these resurrected horrors, Brandy is feeling trapped by life. Her best friend, Vicki, is horribly murdered (with three others) near the Templars' graveyard. Angry and overwhelmed by guilt, she finds little comfort in her emotionally detached fiance (Vicki's brother). She fights to come to grips with her loss, her failing relationship, and the local authorities suspicions she is involved in the murders. Then Brandy's nightmare really begins. The Templars, keeping a seven centuries old covenant, rise from their graves to avenge their executions. Brandy and company are forced to hole up in an ancient chapel and fight for survival.

Even then, the Devil's Bed has yet to surrender all of its secrets.

The Review: I had previously read Doug Lamoreux’ novel Dracula’s Demeter and enjoyed it. I noted in my review of the volume that the author was a self-confessed romantic and so was intrigued as I stumbled across another volume by him – the Devil’s Bed.

Intrigued because the blurb makes it sound like it could be akin to the Blind Dead Series. I don’t know if the author has seen any of these films or not but the book did resonate with big chunks of Amando de Ossorio’s series. Unlike those Templar Knights, these ones aren’t blind and the lore isn’t as all over the place as Ossorio’s but they are certainly familiar if you know the series.

Not that there is anything wrong with that – and the story itself is the author’s own certainly. Indeed it was the similarity (deliberate or accidental) that really made the volume enjoyable to me. In this an attempted rape leads to blood reanimating the leader of a group of executed Templars and soon all of them are up and about. Their animation is diabolic in origin and so they are pretty darn impervious to most attacks and apotropaics, except for symbols of divine goodness. Prayer, the crucifix (not the cross) and holy water – though faith by the wielder is needed – are all good weapons, as is sunlight. The Templars are often described as mummies – due to their desiccated state – and they have the power, through ritual, to bring back those they have drained (rather than outright killed with weapons).

Demonic, cadaverous horses, wall crawling, mesmeric eyes, black magic, blood sacrifice and an epic battle between good and evil… Doug Lamoreux gives us it all and it all sits right within the world he created. The characterisation in this volume was weaker than in Dracula’s Demeter but, in truth, it didn’t need characters as rounded as they were in the later story, this was more action based, more cinematic.

Highly recommended if you are a fan of the Blind Dead Series, it may not be part of that series but it shares of its withered, blackened heart. 7.5 out of 10.

Just the Vampire Hunter – review

Director: Dustin Leighton

Release date: 2011

Contains spoilers

I stumbled across this film as it had been uploaded to YouTube (it has now been removed due to a copyright claim, though I actually thought the upload was by the filmmakers). It was a good quality upload of the film – within the bounds and limitations of the actual film itself. Edit: a little while ago creator Dustin Leighton contacted me and told me that the film had been put on YouTube without permission and asked, as he was trying to sell the film, would I remove the review. I complied. Now that the film is available commercially we are in a position to put the review back up and ask you to note the full budget for the movie was $25k. The review has not been altered bar this edit and a link to the VoD.

Set in 1973 the film is in the “found footage” style (though we never know how the footage was lost) and it suggests at the head of the film that it was filmed on the first 8 MM camera able to record sound. This means, of course, we are in a world of grindhouse pops and whistles and this has its own limitations as we will explore later.

Dustin Leighton as Just

The film starts with Just (Dustin Leighton) bring filmed by Sam (Hunter Gomez) a woman is tied against the wall behind him. Sam questions him about vampires. Just explains some basic facts about vampires. They’re real but they cannot be killed by crosses or garlic. They are a genetic mutation, when the genetics kick in they lose the ability to eat food bar blood, they become sensitive to sunlight and grow fangs. A stake will kill them temporarily (I suspect this means the stake paralyses but it was never explored) and the only way to actually kill them is beheading. Just approaches the woman with an axe in hand.

nothing lives without a head

Now, exploring this genetic mutation aspect. To me a genetic mutation within a human leaves them still human – after all, blue eyes are a genetic mutation. Later it is said that these mutations make them not human. If this is the case then they have become a separate species (though there is an indication that they can breed with non-vampiric humans). We also discover that vampires are immortal – bar that pesky beheading clause – and the more often they drink blood the stronger they are. One bad vampire, Larson (Cale Epps), drinks daily – another vampire, Carla (Megan Harvey), feeds once a month. Interestingly it appears she is not allergic to sunlight though little is done about that.

Sarah in peril

It seems, at first, that Just was in love with a woman named Sarah (Haley White), who was friends with Sam. She was raped and killed by a pair of vampires (whilst a terrified Sam filmed the event from the closet he hid in) and this set Just on his path. As things go on the story becomes much more convoluted and things are revealed to be very different. We discover that there are two primary gatherings (vampire groups) and one is good, the other evil. Hunters were a tool to keep the balance and, it appears, are also genetically different to humans. There does also seem to be a supernatural element with an über-hunter being born once a generation.

vampire girls feeding

When it came to the story, things were okay but then we’d get aspects that made little sense such as Just and Sam going to a vampire haven and Sam playing a drinking game with a couple of vampire girls, Brittany (Kat Garcia) and Hilary (Kayla Cooper) and nearly ending up as chow. Why did Just put him in that situation? Why did Sam let himself become drunk like that? Why didn’t Sam sober and bolt when he saw another pair of vampire girls feeding? If they had been infiltrating groups through the film it might have made more sense.

Sam and Larson

The general story came together by the end but the narrative could have done with being more fluid and Sam’s reactions more realistic when it came to his doubts about Just. The fight scenes seemed a little choreographed and not as realistic as one would have liked. After it is suggested that both hunter and vampires have a higher than human normal strength the fights seemed a little tame. However the stoic presence of Just, through the movie, does work in the film’s favour.

bite marks

The film was budget limited, obviously, and this is shown in the fact that we don’t actually see anything. Kills either cut to a blood spattered inter-cut or happen off camera in the dark. The dark scenes are accurate to the technology but really quite frustrating as you can see nothing during them. They avoided false lighting to be fair but viewers become frustrated staring at a black screen. It would have been interesting to see what these guys could have done, sfx wise, had they more budget.

But you know what? Criticisms aside I have seen a lot worse. 4 out of 10. The imdb page is here and the homepage is here.

Classic Literature: The Vampires of London

The Blurb: "Who are you?" the panic-stricken man articulated, with feverish emphasis.


"A vampire--who wants to live as you do, love as you do. I'm your dead brother. I emerge from my tomb every night."


"You want my life!"

"What would I do with it? No, it's not to draw life from the living that I emerge! The dead don't want to live."


"Mercy! Have pity on your brother!"


"A vampire never has pity."

The Vampires of London (1852) is a nested series of contes cruels aggregated into a quintessentially Romantic roman frénétique, and one of the most excessive and convoluted works of that kind. Some of the scenes featuring the necrophilic vampire Lord Lodore or the one in which a young man tries to pimp his sick sister to a resurrectionist are masterpieces of the grotesque.

Angelo de Sorr (1822-1881), the son of a family of vine-growers in Bordeaux, made his debut as a novelist in 1848 and eventually went on to build a substantial career, working as a writer for various periodicals and eventually publishing more than a dozen novels, as well as becoming a successful publisher himself.

The book: When a novel was originally called Le Vampire, when its new title contains the “V” word and when the blurb has mention of a “necrophilic vampire Lord” you’d be surprised, perhaps, to discover that this article about the book nearly became an honourable mention. This was quite simply because the vampiric elements appear so fleetingly within the prose and are simply supportive of, or secondary to, the main thrust of the novel.

The novel itself – as described in the blurb – is a series of contes cruels, which are stitched together into a noir tale of dynastic one-upmanship and greed. Vampirism, as I say, is used as a backdrop to this. The first real mention is when the Lord Mackinguss introduces the concept, to primary heroic character Robert de Rolleboise, of the Castle of the Falls owned by Sir James Cawdor. The castle is known by locals as the Castle of Vampires and is said to be haunted by them.

Mackinguss is the primary villain and manoeuvres Robert into helping him with his machinations, playing on Robert’s imagined slight by a woman (and relying on his physical similarity to another character) he suggests that by becoming a vampire (an idea the young man is not enamoured by) he could have revenge. Mackinguss buys the castle from Sir James.

Amongst Lord Mackinguss’ allies is the vampiric Lord Lodore and it is interesting that De Sorr, in connection with Lodore, footnotes a reference to Sergeant François Bertrand. Bertrand was the historical person, called the vampire in the Paris press, who desecrated and mutilated corpses (with a probable erotic purpose) until caught in 1849. The film Psychopathia Sexualis contains a shadow-puppet show about him. This connection would seem to make Lodore mortal and mentally ill, rather than supernatural and – indeed – his own dialogue indicates that the vampire is a second personality that emerges during the night (and one that his first personality seeks to thwart).

However, when we see Lodore in a cemetery we see him sink into the earth of a grave. In fact the vampire is known to the resurrectionists (body snatchers) as he not only sinks into the earth, he then exhumes bodies without disturbing the ground. This is, of course, distinctly supernatural. During the midnight scene we also see a coachman’s corpse awaken and run out of the cemetery. A coda to the book suggests that Lodore is hung for vampirism.

We do actually get a bite described in book but that is not through vampirism but rabies.

The book was a fascinating read, the vampirism a backdrop almost, certainly an element to add a dark twist to the proceedings rather than the main thrust of any plot. Angelo de Sorr has an affected writing style that causes him to address the reader directly, often, and this works very well within the style and allows the author to excuse himself as he jumps details that are perhaps (in his mind) less necessary.

The book can be purchased from Blackcoat Press and Amazon:

Vampire Stories: Brothers – review

Director: Hikaru Goto

Release date: 2011

Contains spoilers

Vampire Stories: Brothers was the first of two related films (with different casts, I understand) the second being Vampire Stories: Chasers.

A careful search of YouTube will find this part with English subtitles. Unfortunately there is not a subbed version of Chasers yet. Because of this, when I settled down to watch the film I feared that the film would be left hanging, half a story as it were, with no current prospect of seeing the second half (un-subbed DVDs are available from Japan).

Ai fights in the woods

This fear proved to be unfounded as Brothers is a self-contained story. The story begins with the members of the Toshima University Ski Club at a gathering by a river, they are looking to have a barbeque. Meanwhile, somewhere else, we see a vampire dressed in black, Ai (Kato Kazuki), running through a woods. He is pursued by a group of other vampires dressed in frayed grey clothing. Suddenly he turns and kills one, who immediately dusts.

Sei collapses

There seems to be a connection between Ai and one of the ski club, Sei (Yanagishita Tomo), and Sei collapses. We see Ai fight the other vampires and escape. One of the girls at the barbeque was not a member of the Ski Club but Sei’s sister Midori (Suzuki Airi). She returns home with Sei on the bus and, as he sleeps through the journey and dreams, we discover that he and Ai are brothers and were adopted by Midori’s family. He also dreams of Ai’s twentieth birthday and seeing him with fangs and blood at the mouth but then he vanished from the room. We see Ai stand beneath the house rented by the ski club, his eyes glow silver.

recapturing family

The next day Sei is watching TV when the news reports that four bodies have been found – it is the ski club. He and Midori are questioned by the police; four of his friends are dead and two are missing. The four dead friends were exsanguinated but there was no blood spilled at the scene. When they get home Ai is there. It has been five years since he went missing, on his twentieth birthday. Midori’s parents are abroad and so she tries to build a peace between the brothers and enable them to recapture the five lost years. However, as Sei’s twentieth birthday is approaching we know exactly why Ai is there.

silver eyes

So, as the story is revealed it turns out that Sei and Ai are pureblood vampires. The vampires hunting Ai (and Sei, apparently) are hybrids – humans who have turned. Ai ran away when the vampirism – which emerges at twenty – took over and he didn’t know what was happening. He then discovered that to a hybrid a pureblood’s blood is a drug and so he stayed away to protect Sei. He has returned as Sei’s awakening will attract hybrids. Sei, of course, doesn’t want to be a vampire.

fangs

There is an underplayed love story between Sei and Midori, which the screenwriters feed into the tragedy because that is what Vampire Stories: Brothers is. There might be a teen angst aspect but ultimately it is a full on tragedy with the weight of fate pressing down on both brothers. Despite this the story is pretty slim (there are no real nuances beyond the story I have relayed) and so doesn’t really do too much.

facing the hybrids

Lore wise we have of course, purebloods and hybrids. Only pureblood eyes flash silver and they are more powerful than hybrids. Ai suggests there are only a handful of purebloods in existence and so the other black-clad vampires we see are presumably hybrids he controls. They cast reflections, can walk in the sun, they can move quicker than the eye can see and there is an indication that they can “throw” energy. There is no evidence of shape-shifting but we do have a scene where we see the appearance of two hybrids shadow first and their rag-like clothes and posture make the shadows look bat-like (I assume purposefully).

Vampire Stories: Brothers doesn’t particularly do anything wrong, but it doesn’t stand out or do anything mind blowing either. 4.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Interesting Shorts: Pepopukin in Corsica

Also found in the Anthology, The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology is the story Pepopukin in Corsica. The story itself was published in 1826 in an Anthology series The Stanley Tales (the existence of which I have confirmed). In his introduction to the story, Editor Andrew Barger makes the argument that the story, which is only credited to AY, was written by Arthur Young. If that is the case the story was published posthumously as Young died in 1820 and *potentially* makes it older than The Vampyre: A Tale.

Sadly, we will never know the answer to that and at best we can state that the story was published in 1826, making it one of the pre-Victorian English language vampire tales. Interestingly the story does not contain a vampire but it does have a belief in vampires and someone acting as a vampire.

The story centres around Sir Giles de Montfort, a Frenchman whose fortune and reputation was made on the backs and failures of others. He travels to Corsica with the express desire of marrying Jane de Launay, a very beautiful maiden who had never met the man and who was in love with another. Sir Giles, however, was rich and this did much to turn the head of Jane’s father.

However Jane and her siblings come up with a plan to discredit Sir Giles. They discover he is superstitious and decide to suggest that their home is haunted by a vampire. Luckily for them, Sir Giles believes that he had been attacked by a vampire whilst in Poland. The assault is described thus: “at a convent near the town of Mersburg, in Poland, he had been attacked by a vampire, which had knocked out his teeth, beat his servants black and blue, stolen his books, his silver lantern, and drank all his wine.” The idea that a vampire’s attack might be more akin to a poltergeist than a blood drinker is consistent with some folklore. Sir Giles comes to believe that the vampire has followed him from Poland to Corsica.

The vampire is created by using ventriloquism and thrown voices to make the Knight believe it is haunting him (along with physical assault). This haunting voice calls “Pepopukin, Pepopukin!” to announce its presence and much of the lore we get in the story actually comes from some (rather clumsy in places) rhyming couplets the “vampire” recites. Within these couplets the vampire refers to himself as old Vampy.

Some of this lore is astounding, given when the story was published (and potentially written). One couplet goes:

“The Alps beneath my wings I thrust,
“And stain with blood the very dust.”

This is a very early reference to both vampiric flight and the idea that the vampire would have wings and one cannot underestimate the importance of this.

I mentioned the poltergeist type activity of the vampire but they are still, in this story, bloodsuckers. Sir Giles is told, “these vampires are most terrific animals; they suck every drop of blood, after innumerable and excruciating torments”. The attack might cause immediate death or the vampire may draw out the death. The vampire threatens to attack after he is married and then “suck his blood until he’s dead.” And suggests that “with his teeth, draw his black blood.” A confirmation that the vampire bites his victims. Interestingly the author ties in another folkloric creature, and an energy vampire, the nightmare, suggesting that, “Sometimes on nightmare’s backs I ride”.

The final thing to mention is a ritual to try and “help” the knight, which involves drawing magical sigils that cause a blue-flame to rise. How the tricksters achieved this effect is never answered.

This story is interesting as it may well be the third English Language vampire story but also, to me, because it suggests the vampire has the power of flight and wings.

Interesting Shorts: The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo

Recently I was contacted by blog reader Cappy who asked me who the first American vampire was (in a literary sense). I wasn’t 100% sure, but the earliest story I could think of was Ken’s Mystery by Julian Hawthorne (1883) – for details of this story please see my reference volume The Media Vampire.

Cappy replied recently, having done some research and discovering the volume The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology, edited by Andrew Barger. In it is the story The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo. Credited to Uriah Derick D’Arcy it was published in 1819 and Barger makes the case – in an introductory piece – that the author was actually Robert C Sands. The story was republished, via a friend of the Sands’ estate, in 1844 within the Knickerboker magazine.

It is clear that the author was aware of Polidori’s The Vampyre: A Tale as according to Barger, the introduction mentions “The White Vampyre,” in reference to Polidori’s story. Unfortunately the original introduction, coda poem and mention of the vampire as a symbol of capitalism, which are all mentioned in Barger’s introduction, are stripped out of Barger’s volume. He does keep the stanzas from Byron’s the Giaour in place, and there is a line at the end of the substantive story that deliberately apes the last line of Polidori’s story.

Taking it at face value the story itself is a bit of a mess, indeed it seems to be more an introduction to a longer tale that never was than its own standalone story. It introduces us to a character, Mr Anthony Gibbons, through his ancestors. This ancestor, who is the primary character of this story, is never referred to by name but is one of a group of slaves taken from Guinea to St Domingo. All the slaves died, shortly after arrival, of yaws, bar one who was not deemed fit for work; and so the plantation owner, Mr Personne, “charitably knocked out his brains; and the body was thrown into the ocean.” The African resurrected – now in this scene the moon is described as “shining bright” but a direct causation between moon and vampiric resurrection is not specifically mentioned and later vampyres are dying and resurrecting under their own steam in a subterranean cavern.

Eventually, having killed him several times (and rising, at one point, “without bending a joint” in a moment of imagery that pre-dates Nosferatu), Mr Personne decides to cremate the African but ends on the pyre himself. Badly burnt, no more notice is taken of the slave, but when he gets back home he discovers that his infant son has been killed or is missing (with only skin, nails and hair in the boy’s cot). This kills Mr Personne.

Mrs Personne then remarried twice, seeing both these husbands to their graves. After the third husband passed away she meets an African Prince (yes, the very same African who was brought over as a slave) and his page, a European boy named Zembo (who we discover is actually her lost son). She is wooed by the Prince and then marries him, despite the remonstrations of the family chaplain. Now remember, this is a story from 1819 and so, to many reading the story, the idea of an interracial marriage would be shocking.

After their wedding he takes his wife, in a daze, to her family graveyard. He digs up the corpse of one of her sons. The body is somehow still fresh and “bending over the corse; he scooped out the heart, with his long and polished nails”. He squeezes blood into a chalice, mixes it with grave dirt and forces her to drink it whilst swearing not to reveal the rite she has been forced into. Having witnessed the dead being summoned from their graves, she passed out and woke again at midnight the next night and, “by a certain carnivorous craving in her maw, and by putting this and that together, she found she was a—vampyre!!!”

She causes her first husband to rise as a vampire. We see husband two and three (raised by the Prince) fight a duel and then be subsequently staked by the Prince and Zembo. Personne and his wife are then told to head for Europe but first they go to a cavern filled with vampyres and human slaves. There follows a long passage of a speech that speaks of vampirism and has the following lovely section, “immortal bloodsuckers! –To ourselves—whether Gouls,—or Afrits,—or Vampyres;—Vroucolochas,—Vardoulachos,—or Broucolokas; —To ourselves—the terror of the living and of the dead, and the participants of the nature of both,” This shows a lovely range of various names for the restless dead had transported over to the US.

The meeting moved on to a call for emancipation, which Barger suggests makes it the earliest known anti-slavery story. We discover (as well as claiming Prometheus as the first vampyre) that the only way to kill a vampire is by stake or through a vial of liquid that will cure the vampyre and comes directly from the Obeah mysteries. Attacked by soldiers (who are instructed in how to kill vampyres by Zembo) we see the slaves sneak from the cavern and all the vampyres killed bar the Personnes and Zembo, who use the liquid to become human again. Mr Personne ends up some sixteen years younger than his wife (who doesn’t mind the attentions of a younger man).

However, Mrs Personne is pregnant by the Prince and the child is both a “mulatto” (an archaic term, which is now offensive, for a person of mixed race) and of “Vampyrish propensities”. Having used all the liquid they cannot cure him of that and it is from his line Anthony Gibbons will be born – though his story remains hidden.

This story then is one of many a first and some we have already mentioned. It is the first American vampire story I am aware of, it is the first instance of a black vampire, it is apparently the first story to argue universal emancipation, it is the first story to suggest a definitive cure for the vampire (rather than destruction) and it is the second published English language vampire story. As such I was rather cynical about the authenticity of the story but whilst an online search didn’t reveal a facsimile of the original pamphlet reproduced online (though I did find one of the 1844 printing) it did reveal the title and author (D’arcy) referred to in journals from 1819.

Nosferatu: Plague of Terror – review

Created by: Mark Ellis

Designed by: Melissa Martin-Ellis

Artwork: Rik Levins, Richard Pace and Frank Turner

First published: 1991, 2009 trade pb

Contains spoilers

The blurb: Nosferatu

A chilly draft from doomsday…

The vile plague of Baron Orlock, The Nosferatu, stretches across history from Dark Ages Europe to modern day Manhattan in this compelling prelude and sequel to the legendary F. W. Murnau film Nosferatu, A symphony of Horrors.

No vampiric figure is more iconic or terrifyingly memorable than Nosferatu… a cadaverous monster with a calculating glint of utter evil in his hellish eyes who feasts not just upon human blood but upon human souls.

The review: In the introduction to this volume, author Mark Ellis made it his stated aim to extricate the Orlock character from the Dracula character that birthed him and I would say he pretty much does that. He also wanted a vampire that epitomised evil and was no Goth fanboy and I think he was successful in this too – though as I’ll explain I think the comic could have withstood a longer run and a deeper inquiry into the Orlock character.

In Modern day Brooklyn corpses are found, killed by bubonic plague. One has a book, the journal of a Knight called William Longsword. Returning from the crusades his squire manages to unleash the evil that is Orlock. Orlock bites the knight but, for reasons never fully explained, Longsword does not turn. He becomes immortal and the vampire’s nemesis – though it is not until the Raj that they face each other again and once again in Vietnam. Longsword is not your atypical good guy either, he is willing to kill the innocent for the greater good.

The story works well but I would have liked more, more exploration of Orlock, more moments between the 11th century and the Raj – though, of course, the Longsword character wasn’t privy to those moments in time. However we are where we are, story wise, this is a fairly old comic given new life as a trade paperback.

The artwork is functional throughout, occasionally lovely. Sometimes the character of Orlock seems a little too comic book, which is the best way I can describe it and I think I expected a more timeless element to the character’s design. Unfortunately I found that some of the printed pages were perhaps a little less crisp than others. However it didn’t detract from the overall experience. 7.5 out of 10.

Honourable Mention: Van Von Hunter

Van Von Hunter is a parody manga that was released in three volumes by Tokyo Pop. The series concentrated on Van, a vanquisher of evil and there is a vampire element in the series with one of Van’s nemesis being the Count Disdain.

So why is this film an honourable mention?

Well it starts with a trailer, one could call it (though later we discover that it is meant to represent a full film). In the green screen produced film we see Van (Yuri Lowenthal, Dear Dracula) fighting evil in his native land of Dickay and that evil is a vampire menace – thus we get plenty of fangs flashing. When the film comes to an end we see a riot in an anime convention and the cast and crew that have created the film leg it.

a vampire

The idea is that Van von Hunter vanquished all evil in Dickay and, looking for a new challenge, travelled through a portal to Earth (and ended up in Hollywood). In a bar he gets drunk and regales two guys with his stories – they happen to be the creators of the manga Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch. Later he is found by a film student Patrick (Travis Stevens), who makes the strangely dressed and sword carrying Van the subject of a documentary (which is what we watch).

Yuri Lowenthal as Van

He discovers that Tokyo Pop are casting for a Van Von Hunter film and persuades Van to go for it… something that he would have failed to be cast for but Tokyo Pop realise that the writers have plagiarised his life. What we get then is the filming of Van Von Hunter, the failure of the film, Van’s quest to go to Japan and subsequent enlightenment.

So vampires only at the head and it is a spoof film within a spoof documentary. The actual film is definitely too long but was an interesting idea. The imdb page is here.

Merlin – Lamia – review

Director: Justin Molotnikov

First aired: 2011

Contains spoilers

It is a bad sign when I record an episode for review and it takes me over two years to get around to that review. You see I never watched the series Merlin – Merlin (Colin Morgan) as a young man seemed a strange concept to me, having grown with a more classical view of how Merlin should look and I always thought it to be more a “bright and shiny” BBC production than the gritty realism I would have liked to have seen.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked such sword and sorcery extravaganzas as Xena but this one never attracted me. Having watched the episode, I was right… It just isn’t my cup of tea. When they take the character Percival (Tom Hopper) and put him in sleeveless chainmail I inwardly groan at the all too modern nod at “yoof” which would have left the knight as armless as a character in a Monty Python film.

the village

My reasoning for watching this one episode for review was down to the fact that it was called lamia and the folklore of the lamia and vampires do cross and, indeed, the lamia is (at the very least) often portrayed as vampiric. So, best foot forward. I will try and review this for its vampiric content, and we begin in a village. Head man John (Wayne Foskett) and his wife Mary (Melanie Hill) share banter until a male scream is heard. John investigates and finds a man looking as though he is insensible.

drain with a kiss

Mary goes to Camelot to see old friend, ex-servant (apparently) and apparently not quite the girlfriend of the regent/King, Gwen (Angel Coulby), who in turn petitions Arthur (Bradley James). Four men have fallen to this strange malady but court physician Gaius (Richard Wilson, Demons) is busy dealing with an outbreak and so Merlin is sent (with knights and Gwen) in his stead. One night, no cure, and they are off back to get advice from Gaius. However on the way back they come across bandits harassing a woman and save her. She is called Lamia (Charlene McKenna, Being Human – season 2) and soon the knights are acting odd around her, though Gwen and Merlin seem immune and she won’t allow Merlin to touch her. Gwen’s brother Sir Elyan (Adetomiwa Edun) is the first to succumb to her life draining kiss (yes she’s an energy vampire) and soon they are in a castle of death being hunted by her – though the knights don’t know it.

monster form

Meanwhile Arthur, Gaius and entourage have gone to the village and Gaius recognises the effects of a lamia (for they are a magically created species, though why she has the same name as her species is beyond me) He says they were created (as a biological weapon) by mixing the blood of a human girl and a snake and can drain life with an embrace. Their eyes can turn yellow with elliptical pupil and they have a monstrous form as Merlin is about to discover…

eyes a-glowing

And, you know what, it really wasn’t for me. I couldn’t see me sitting down and watching the other episodes – though I know it was popular enough to get five seasons (this was in the fourth). There were some bits and bobs going on that needed a regular watch to explain but generally this was a standalone episode and it was okay. Lamia’s are a lesser used monster type and it was nice to have a full monster form. 5 out of 10.

The episode's imdb page is here.