Use of Tropes: Without Warning

Directed by Greydon Clark and released in 1980, I have often seen Without Warning touted as a vampire film – or at least one aspect within it called vampiric. I think there is enough around that aspect for us to look at the film here as a “Use of Tropes” piece, for honestly it is the viewer projecting onto that aspect as much as anything, but isn’t that the very essence of a trope? As well as being suggested as a vampire film, the film has also been credited as being an inspiration for Predator.

It also features some classic actors chewing the scenery so beautifully that they make the film worth watching all on their own. Just to note that the film is on VoD on Amazon but the UK version has at least one scene butchered, cut down in its prime, and it makes no sense as it was a character introduction scene.

on hunter

So it starts, after some POV camera work, and some oh-so-eighties credit's font, with a hunter (Cameron Mitchell) wandering up to his motor home. He wakes Randy (Darby Hinton), his adult son, as they are meant to be hunting together – though it is clear that Randy is not interested at all. They also bicker quite bitterly and eventually the hunter goes off on his own. Time passes and Randy sits by a stream when he sees his father come towards him. We see a flying spinning disc that zips through the air and latches onto the hunter’s neck.

attached

It is here that we get our trope use. The little flying discs are organic and, when we see it hit the neck and tentacles burrow into the flesh our expectations drive us towards a conclusion of blood drinking. Maybe because it is at the neck, maybe because the burrowing tentacles are red to begin with, but it is the discs that have been described as vampiric. In truth they can land anywhere (we see, in the film, them attaching to backs, legs, arms, chests and fully on a cheek) and they seem to exude a yellow corrosive gunk.

underside

What they are doing – other than being used as an organic weapon – we don’t ever find out. It is possible that they are sucking blood. It is also possible that they are injecting a sedative, a poison or even a meat tenderising enzyme – the film doesn’t say. The underside looks to have suckers and, in the centre, a mouth of teeth that looks a little lamprey like (further projecting the idea that these things will drink blood).

the kids

So, just before a throw away, semi-comedy scene featuring a scout leader (Larry Storch, Groovy Goolies & the Ghost Busters) who is hit by a disc – and his troop of cub scouts running when they see something we do not, presumably the main alien (Kevin Peter Hall – who actually did go on to play the Predator) – we meet the kids from who the protagonists are drawn. Tom (David Caruso) and his gal Aggy (Lynn Theel), are going to the lake and brought friends they hope will ‘get along’, Sandy (Tarah Nutter) and Greg (Christopher S. Nelson).

Jack Palance as Joe Taylor

On their way they stop for gas and there is the mentioned massive hole in the Amazon cut of the film at this point. The Amazon version has them get to a gas station, it looks closed but then they go in to pay for the gas. In the proper cut the girls go to the bathroom, can’t get in the ladies and Sandy ends up in the gents meeting, briefly, Vietnam vet Sarge (Martin Landau, Frankenweenie & Ed Wood), and we get a tad of character dialogue between the boys. When they do go to pay (in the full version, Tom is reluctant and wants to leave without paying) they are accosted by Joe Taylor (Jack Palance, Dracula) who warns them from the lake (he says because it is hunting season, but we later discover that he survived an encounter with the alien and that’s the hunter he means).

Martin Landau as Sarge

So, if there is a reason to watch this it is for Landau and Palance. Palance is just all kinds of creepy, I mean he exudes creepiness by the bucketload and he’s clearly loving it. When we meet Landau (in the full version) he is a little odd but when we meet him in a bar later on, he switches the weirdness up a lot. He’s playing a character who clearly has PTSD but has gone full blown delusional and he achieves Nick Cage level insanity – it’s a joy to watch. He gets it into his head that the kids are actually aliens who have taken human form and so they are being hunted by the alien and by Sarge.

Kevin Peter Hall as the alien

What does the alien want with us? Whilst he takes trophies it isn’t apparent whether it is doing anything more than hunting for the thrill of it. The bodies of its victims mostly seem quite rottenly eaten away (by the yellow gunk from the discs?) and so it doesn’t feel like it eats its prey for sustinence – though Taylor suggests it might at one point. What it does do, quite deliberately, is prank its prey (sneaking around and turning on lights and taps in a house they’re hiding in) presumably getting a kick out of freaking its victims out. I don’t think we can make a claim of vampirism on its behalf, so the only vampiric thing is the discs – but they are organic so if they are drinking blood then they would be, I guess, an alien vampire.

The imdb page is here.

Multi-format @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Bit – review

Director: Brad Michael Elmore

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers

Full disclosure – when I watched this, I was unaware that lead actress Nicole Maines is transgendered and took (her and) her character to be the gender she presents as. It was only doing some research prior to writing this that I came to understand that the character is read by some as transgendered also, as the film doesn’t explicitly state this. This is probably an accurate reading as there are non-specific references to the difficulties the character had faced pre-film, which made more sense if read that way. The film works well if you take her Laurel character as a cis-female but perhaps more so if you read the text as her being trans, which also adds a further layer to the socio-political messaging underneath.

he's bit

The film actually struck me, to some degree, as looking to be a female successor to the Lost Boys but more so it owes a feminist and queer allegiance to Mother may I Sleep with Danger. I read some commentary that this is a film that hates men – I’m sure you can read it that way but actually to me it read more that it pushed against (maybe that can be read as hated) male privilege - very much not the same thing.

burning heart

It starts with a voice-over from Laurel about teen vampire movies and that this is where her teen vampire movie starts. We see a man, just turned, with his vampire lover. She starts to disavow him of some of the myths around vampires (such as sunlight, garlic, crosses etc). However their moment is broken as four female vampires walk in – Duke (Diana Hopper), Izzy (Zolee Griggs), Roya (Friday Chamberlain) and Frog (Char Diaz). They grab the lady vampire and attack the man – breaking his leg and, eventually, Duke ripping his heart out. It is set on fire and he goes up in flames as it burns (in this, the one danger to a vampire is fire and the heart must be burnt). Duke suggests they won’t kill the captive vampire, she did what she did for love, but she broke the rule of no male vampires and is sentenced to be placed in the hole for (at least) a year.

Oregon, and it is graduation time for Laurel. She goes to a party with her friend Andy (Matt Pierce) but it isn’t really their scene. They go and talk sat on a flatbed of a truck. Laurel is going to LA the next day, staying with her brother Mark (James Paxton). Andy is afraid that she’ll stay out there and they’ll lose touch (but does half-jokingly ask her to get him a picture of Mark in his underwear). After a farewell with the parents the credits roll as she drives to LA. She gets to Mark’s, finds the spare key, and grabs 3-hours sleep before he wakes her – they’re going out (and does she have fake ID).

Diana Hopper as Duke

They get to the club and the doorman is checking all ID cards, he refuses her because hers is from out of State. However, the four vampire girls have just cut the queue and Duke looks at it and tells the doorman it looks good – given he repeats her words as he lets Laurel in, I read it as she glamoured him (as they term vampiric mind control in this). Laurel and Mark watch the band (Duke watches her from afar) but a guy barges her and knocks her drink out of her hand, to which she reacts violently. The doorman pulls the guy out and she buys herself another drink and is approached at the bar by Izzy, who invites her to an afterhours party – she agrees.

Laurel and Izzy

As they leave an old guy (M.C. Gainey), who she’d noticed staring at her and Izzy, grabs Laurel's arm and tells her not to go – but she pulls away. The place they go to is owned by the four women, Izzy suggests, and a party is full on (Laurel stops at a grate as she goes in, as though she can hear something – it is the entrance to the hole). Izzy takes her to the empty roof terrace; they chat and then kiss. Fade to them after making out and they talk some more and Laurel asks if she can see Izzy again – it is a one-night thing, the vampire confesses, but doesn’t mean what Laurel thinks she means. Izzy bites her. However, Duke intervenes before she can be killed and, suggesting that she likes this one, throws her off the roof – sink or swim…

indiscriminate

So, Laurel comes round in the morning and gets herself back to Mark’s and, of course, is then drawn into her new world – a vampire doesn’t fully turn, she is told, until they feed and she is given the offer of a cure. Duke admits that they kill indiscriminately. They do try and target bad men but it doesn’t always happen (we see Duke kill someone who previously raped a girl, but also his friend because he happened to be friends with him, although he is innocent). Likewise, Izzy targeted Laurel almost randomly as the blood of someone you are attracted to is tastier. We discover vampires can fly – there is also evidence of shapeshifting but that seems to be older vampires.

bloody with the Master

Duke had spent years (from the 70s) as a bride of the Master (Greg Hill). When he chose her, she was confused as to her feelings of attraction to him, given that she was a lesbian. However, she grew to realise that he had glamoured her (and the other brides) and forced them to be attracted and in love with him (this theme was, due to the structure, woefully under-explored next to something like Jessica Jones and could have stood a little more depth). When she managed to break free (retaining his charred heart that wouldn’t burn) she made her rules – the important ones being no men and no glamouring other vampires.

lost girls?

So the ladies stick together to protect themselves, it is a defensive move following mistreatment by the patriarchy. As well as primarily preying on bad men we also see vampire hunters who are all men, and representative of the patriarchy and privilege they have rebelled against and still struggle against. Duke very much represents a strident feminism born from a place of escaping absolute subjugation but the film moves towards a more balanced view where male allies might be found and accepted/turned. Laurel, incidentally, comes across as not perfect – there is a self-absorbed, even selfish, aspect to her character that leads to tragic outcomes, which in turn pulls her back from that selfishness. There is a very end of film (closing voiceover) joke about Twilight that was amusing in its self-knowingness but not as funny as the faux-Buffy moment where newly turned Laurel is told she now knows kung fu, when she looks impressed she is told not really.

Laurel bites

If the film struggled it was, compared with Mother May I Sleep with Danger, in not exploring its themes as openly as it might. The impact on Duke of her years with the Master deserved a deeper exploration. There is a moment in a montage with an artist, whose words on feminism they toast (perhaps sarcastically), who is then eaten – this needed exploring more to explain its place in the political discourse – rather than being a throwaway in a montage. However, if we read the film as Laurel being trans, rather than cis, the narrative certainly allowed for the embracing of a trans-woman within the feminist movement and this was a massively positive message.

fanged and self assured

The performances worked well for the main characters. I was especially impressed with Diana Hopper as Duke, who had a glint in her eye and a self-assuredness that worked really well. We get a little bit of character building around Izzy, however the other vampires could have stood a lot more characterisation – a little like the Lost Boys (other than David), they were there but not explored in a meaningful way. There are some nice action bits, but they could have been longer and more explored – though the raid on a hunter HQ was so deftly handled it warranted the sparsity of the action for that scene. Laurel's apparent connection to the imprisoned female vampire, inferred as she walked into the party, needed expanding on.

I liked this. It wasn’t perfect but it certainly wore its politics on its sleeve and had a nice pop-punk vibe. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Short Film: You are so Undead

This was a very short film, coming in at just under the 8-minute mark, that was released in 2010 and directed by Alex Epstein.

We are used, of course, to vampire films being allegorical. In this case the allegory is pre-marital sex and that isn’t subtle, in fact it is smeared thickly and proud and we get regret, betrayal, queering and abstention pledges all in the short running time and one set (the ladies’ toilets).

no reflection

We start with Mary Margaret (Meaghan Rath, Being Human (US)) running into the toilet saying that she is “so undead”, she is followed by friend Jo (Erin Agostino, Hemlock grove). Jo doesn’t have to guess what’s wrong when she realises that Mary Margaret has no reflection. For confirmation she exclaims about going all the way with Drew.

Kaniehtiio Horn as Nellie

Mary Margaret says that he promised he’d pull out. She’s now concerned about what her mother will say and being grounded. Things become more awkward when mutual friend Nellie (Kaniehtiio Horn, Embrace of the Vampire (2013) & also Hemlock Grove) comes down also lacking a reflection. It soon becomes apparent that the vampire in her case (who promised eternal love until she was no longer ‘new blood’) was also Drew.

blood at mouth

However, neither Mary Margaret or Jo could know just how the night will go… This is good fun and doesn’t outstay its welcome. Though the allegory is laid on thick it works for that and becomes comic because of it.

The imdb page is here.

She Never Died – review

Director: Audrey Cummings

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers

You may recall the Henry Rollins vehicle He Never Died, of which I mooted “that whilst unorthodox it was most definitely a vampire movie.” This is not the sequel, as such, whilst in the same universe it has a wholly different cast. Rather, I have seen it described as a sister movie – which seems a good description.

Unlike its sibling this is narrower in focus (barring some coda information around the wider universe that I will spoil as it may be important lore-wise but will not spoil the primary story). It pretty much eschews the comedy aspects that were in the original and it also actually mentions the V word in a quite knowing moment of dialogue.

walking at night

So it starts with a woman walking down a street at night, she seems nervous and the posters regarding missing women suggests to us why. She walks past a guy who is soon following her. She nips down an alley (the question, why, of course springs to mind – you are being followed, so go down the dark alleyway!) He calls after her, suggesting that she has dropped money – she denies this and he grabs at her. Suddenly he is pummelled away by another woman, Lacey (Olunike Adeliyi, Lost Girl & Being Human (US)). She tells the first woman she can go and turns her attention to the man.

Peter MacNeill as Godfrey

Its 2:15 and Detective Godfrey (Peter MacNeill) awakens. He finds himself at his desk with case files and the maddening feeling that he is getting nowhere with his case. At work, later that morning, his captain wants him at the daily briefing (clearly, he’s been missing them). He sneaks off and goes to a car park where he is waiting to watch a person of interest – Terrance (Noah Dalton Danby, also Lost Girl & Hemlock Grove). He monitors Terrance as he crosses the car park and goes to his place of “business”.

Olunike Adeliyi as Lacey

Lacey is sleeping rough – she is awakened by another homeless person who tells her the man with the rings (Terrance) has passed. She goes after him and rips the latch from the door – Godfrey sees her from afar and she looks straight at him before going in. Inside one of Terrance’s lackeys, Jerry ( Edsson Morales), is recording and live streaming a guy playing Russian roulette where he takes a shot at a dog (with money on its collar) and the next at his own head. Suddenly Lacey is in and kills the player but not before he shoots her in the head – she ignores the wound. Jerry runs deeper into the building as she takes the money from the dog and releases it… By the time Jerry gets back with Terrance she has gone – as have the dead man’s fingers. Godfrey sees her outside, a hole in her forehead and a big hole at the back of the skull – he ignores her to check out the insides.

eating fingers

So, Godfrey is pretty grey as a cop. He doesn’t call in the incident and uses his skills to track Lacey down and asks her to kill an associate of Terrance – he feels that the justice system isn’t working – in return he gives her a place to stay with a fridge (she takes the fingers because they are easy to carry and she needs the marrow but can't take too much as it rots). This is a move from what we saw in the previous film, where Cain did drink blood and marrow wasn’t mentioned. Whilst she is doing the job she, eventually, rescues a girl that was due for trafficking, Suzzie (Kiana Madeira). It is Suzzie who mentions vampires (after asking if Lacey is a robot or zombie, with no reaction), Lacey is adamant she is not a vampire but Suzzie says it sounds like she is one – the dialogue perhaps a reflection of the brother film being deemed vampire, paired with the initial aim of the filmmakers plus a recognition that both fall within the genre tropes, whether purposefully or otherwise.

Lacey bound

The film simply concentrates on the interactions between the good guys and bad guys – I won’t spoil that but will say that Lacey has the same unhealed wounds at the back, as Cain had, is generally a vegetarian as Cain was and sees the same mysterious man appearing occasionally. She is heavier than she appears and has some control issues (attacking Suzzie when she awakens at one point). At the coda of the film she admits that her name is Lilith – now there is no reasoning for the wounds (like wings hacked away) on Lilith – the first woman, or Cain – the child of Adam and Eve. She says she had a child once but cannot remember him. We also, at the coda, see another immortal looking for someone (Lilith?) as the apocalypse is coming and also a row of four motorbikes with Revelations related license plates – the 4 bikers/horsemen, clearly. This fits with Suzzie suggesting that they are heading to the end of the world (though Lilith denied it in their dialogue, saying that every generation thinks so and it never is).

Kiana Madeira as Suzzie

This was nicely put together, though a touch of the humour from the brother film would have been welcome. The photography is dark and the colours muted, offering a bleaker atmosphere that the first film. The narrow view was fair but there were moments that realistically needed expanding on for narrative building purposes. All the actors do their jobs well but Olunike Adeliyi is superbly stoic as Lacey/Lilith, offering us a very barely held back rage and also a level of dissociation that might indicate the character being neurodivergent (something I noticed with Cain in the previous film). Obviously looking to build a wider vista generally – I enjoyed this for what it was. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Sacrifice of the Hybrid Princess – review

Author: Nancy Kilpatrick

First published: 2018

The Blurb: Part human, part vampir, the beautiful, stubborn, angry young Princess Serene is a tormented hybrid, her days and nights controlled by her overprotective parents. When they suddenly insist on an arranged marriage, visions of a grim future in a loveless pairing with the cold and dominating Wolfsbane drive Princess Serene into a desperate escape.

But instead of freedom, the young naive Princess rushes headlong into the clutches of a human demon whose cruelty and violence threaten to destroy her and her world. The entire vampirii nation is helpless to rescue her, and that threatens war. Her rebellion will lead to many deaths, including those she loves. But to endure brutality until she can escape might be beyond her abilities.

Ultimately, Wolfsbane, her detested bridegroom, is the one holding the key to save her. But can she be saved?

The review: Is hosted at Vamped.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Inside No. 9: The Stakeout – review

Director: Guillem Morales

First aired: 2020

Contains spoilers

From the minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, of the League of Gentlemen, Inside No. 9 is an anthology series where the story takes place inside a building (normally) numbered 9 (in this case, it is police squad car 9). My friend Ian messaged me to see if I had seen this season 5 episode (I hadn’t at that point) and, given the recent reimagining of Dracula involving their League of Gentlemen partner Mark Gatiss, it does seem apropos that they also feature a vampire story now.

bloodied

The story begins with Special Constable Varney (Reece Shearsmith) in the back of the squad car, bloodied, and a narration by him about the new partner ending up dead. We move back in time – to night one – and there is a knock on a squad car window, with Varney looking to get Constable Thompson (Steve Pemberton) to open the door as his hands are full with two brews. Much of the episode is taken with conversation and banter between these two.

coffee and banter

Varney is a flexitarian (he eats meat very occasionally) and has got sweetener rather than sugar in Thompson’s coffee to preserve his new partner from type 2 diabetes. Thompson is old school but is clearly not facing the fact that his previous partner, Dobson (Malik Ibheis), was murdered – his throat cut – whilst Thompson was in a take away. Varney can’t work out why they would stakeout a cemetery. Drug dealing is mentioned, but they are in a marked car, then Thompson suggests that there has been vandalism and they are a deterrent.

call it in

As the episode proceeds we discover that, unknown to Varney, they are meant to be staking out a dockland flat and that Thompson has ignored orders as the vandalism was of Dobson’s grave and he feels the killer is mocking him. Of course, given me looking at it, it’s obvious that the vandalism occurred when Dobson exited his grave – a creature of the night. What I won’t spoil is how the two coppers discover this.

murder weapon

There isn’t a massive amount of lore revealed but we do get the facts that vampires do not reflect and are overwhelmed by the smell of garlic. All in all, this was a fun little piece, with a focus on dialogue rather than activity. The two primaries know each other of old, of course, and therefore bounce of each other with great aplomb. The episode is only short and so doesn’t outstay its welcome and does throw in some blood and peril. That said it was not as chunky as it might have been, despite the short time. I think 6.5 out of 10 is fair.

The imdb page is here. UK viewers can catch this on BBC iPlayer. Alternatively, it is available:

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Red Days – review

Director: Brett William Mauser

Release date: 2019*

Contains spoiler

*release date taken from Amazon and copyright marking on film.


Red Days is Brett William Mauser’s remake of his own 2008 film After the Day. After the Day is very low budget, this has a bit more (though it is still a low budget film) and whilst a couple of actors are in both versions, they play different characters. The basic premise sounds much the same however.

Sergio Cantu as Van

So, the film starts with Van (Sergio Cantu) watching TV, the broadcast coming from the People’s Monarchy of California, and eating olives from the jar. There is a knock at the door and, by voice command, the TV changes to a door cam. A zombie is stood there. Van has mobility issues and so uses sticks to get to the door, opens it and throws olive juice on the zombie. Having had no effect, he picks up a shotgun and blows its head off. He marks olive juice on a list of substances (he’s seeing what the various effects might be) and, again through the TV, contacts the Government to arrange a pick up of the body.

mushroom cloud in the distance

Back in time, and there are tensions in the US but there is a barbeque at Van’s place. His friend Chuck (Charles A Riley) is cooking and is there with his wife Laura (Denise Villarreal), who is heavily pregnant. Also there is obnoxious neighbour Brad (Bradley Bates) who is with Van’s daughter Cecilia (Xiomara Bermudez). Cecilia speaks to her mother, Sharon (Kristen Barchus), in the kitchen before being sent to get Van from his den where he is working on a special project. After Van has a sojourn with his drug dealer (the drugs in question being a carton of cigarettes), Cecilia nips out to the store to get joints. Whilst she is gone there is an explosion, a mushroom cloud rises and the electricity is fried by an emp.

Xiomara Bermudez as cecilia

Van keeps Chuck and Laura at his, as they live a distance away, despite tensions between Chuck and the uncouth Brad. Sharon wants Van to go out and look for Cecilia – he refuses, suggesting that she’ll get back but worried both about fallout and, of course, he won’t get that far with his Zimmer frame. A helicopter eventually flies overhead, Homeland Security telling them to stay in their houses. Meanwhile we see Cecilia walking back at night, a guy stands up ahead of her, his face covered, and then suddenly she is jumped – though we don’t see by whom, it is just a flash.

Chuck and Brad

There is a knock at the door the next morning and they see a woman, radiation burns on her exposed skins, begging for food and water, saying she is so hungry. Van refuses and shuts the door, much to Sharon’s chagrin. He has told her not to touch the woman – due to her radiation exposure, and rationalises that they need whatever supplies themselves. However Laura goes out with a bottle of water – the woman jumps her and bites her. She survives, but over time she becomes sicker and sicker despite being taken to the bathroom and having contaminants washed off.

zombie newborn

She dies but then revives and attacks Chuck. Brad kills her with a sword to the head, and a fight results between the two men (Brad suggesting he saved Chuck and Chuck insisting he murdered Laura). Unseen her baby births itself, but soon they see it. The film uses stop motion to animate the baby that seems decayed (and is immediately ambulatory). There is a thought to kill it, which Chuck resists… until he realises it isn’t black (and therefore not his kid). Meanwhile Sharon had snuck out to look for Cecilia and has her arm bitten by what are clearly zombies (though currently articulate enough to say they are hungry).

zombie

So, zombies… As the film progresses, we discover there were seven nuclear explosions across the US but only in California did this result in zombies as z-spores were also released (their origin is not explained). Later we discover that alcohol actually gives a resistance to the airborne spores (though not to infection through bites). When power has been re-established they discover that they are now subjects of the California Monarch – the irony of a communist monarchy is not lost on the film, and commented on in dialogue. There is some thoughts that the monarchy was created by the gangs, who seized control. There is a remarkable upshift in technology, also, with cybernetic implants being offered to members of the Red Knight Division – the Government militia.

dancing

That, of course, doesn’t answer the question of vampires. They come in to it late in the film (though we had already unknowingly seen a moment of vampiric action) when Cecilia returns after a five year absence. We see her dancing down the street towards Chuck, now part of the militia, and his partner. She dances round them and then attacks the partner before beating Chuck. She then heads to her father’s house.

vampire speed

We discover through this that she is incredibly strong and fast. That she avoids sunlight and that she does need to be invited in (but not into garages). The existence of vampires is known and so, when he can’t see her on the door cam Van does not invite her in, rather contacts the Government to report an infestation. An enhanced knight (Jose Venegas Jr.) is sent to deal with her. However we discover very little else about the vampires and what they are up to.

fangs

For they are up to something but the film is really a first part, taking us to a story break. There was a sequel to After the Fall also, so I expect there is an aim to do the same for this. As well as the stop motion baby there is a combination of practical and digital effects (quite a bit of digital blood splatter for instance but, also, a slew of fake blood). The film relies on character to drive the narrative and the dialogue feels as though it wants to live in the same space as Kevin Smith, but isn’t overly up to it. The film is very ambitious, given the story vista it paints, but minimalizes much by concentrating on Van’s house. You can see this is budget but, despite ambitions being occasionally bigger than skill (returning to the dialogue, for instance; Brad isn’t funny, just uncouth) and bank roll (the vista it uses, the effects – though some are rather good), I couldn’t help but be somewhat charmed by it. That charm pushes this to 5 out of 10 – with the caveat that this is watchable and I will watch the sequel.

At the time of writing there was no IMDb page for the film.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Anguish of the Sapiens Queen (Thrones of Blood volume 5) – review

Author: Nancy Kilpatrick

First published: 2020

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Two warring species are at risk of extinction. In a twisted tale of love, hate and power struggles, allegiances and alliances shift dramatically and jeopardy threatens at every turn.

Vampir King Hades braves the Sapiens city to warn his enemy, the beautiful Queen Liontyne, that a virus threatens to annihilate her population. He is shocked that this sharp-tongued ruler doesn't care. But what affects her world affects his—and far more than blood is on the line.

Queen Guin finally sees a chance to reclaim her stolen throne and escape her vampir captor, King Necros. But with treachery and betrayal from all sides, Death leads and follows her and the price of her crown might be impossibly high.

The review: This is vol 5 of a series. My review of the first book of the series is hosted at Vamped. I have read volumes 2 and 3 but, unfortunately, at the time of writing I cannot link to those reviews as they were written for Vamped, who have not published them as of yet. My review of volume 4, however, is online at TMtV. Currently volume 3 is my favourite of the series thus far.

For those not versed in these books, suffice it to say that we are in a world – an alternative Earth or a distant future – where the world is split into nation states. These territories have Sapiens cities; monarchies where humanity dwell in what feels like a medieval/feudal setting and also vampir cities, built to escape the sun and daylight raids by humans. The vampir are turned humans but with their (mostly) expressionless faces and permanent black feathered wings they are somewhat different to the standard undead. There are also ghosts haunting mountain passages, their voices both audible to the vampir and maddening in their cacophony.

Getting to this volume and I think we hit an unfortunate moment in the series, not that the volume was poor – it certainly wasn’t – but my expectation as a reader has now geared towards the big picture, the impending nation level arc and the betrayals and conflicts therein but this book focused narrowly on the vampir King Hades and sapiens Queen Liontyne (with some focus on the relationship of Necros and Guin from the previous volume). The Hades and Liontyne relationship is drawn with mistrust and tragedy and there seems less of a fetished erotic aspect to this volume than the other volumes – though its till exists.

That narrow focus was a tad frustrating given expectation built in the general direction of the series but, it has to be said, it was still drawn with the author’s well-crafted prose. There was precious little about the ghosts in this volume – though a moment towards the end might cast a subtle hint of light on the reason for their existence. As I mention above, the medieval setting could be a futuristic one and in this, from nowhere it seems, we discover that (some of) the human cities are interconnected by trains. This was included without a reveal of the method of powering said vehicles and added to the mystique of the setting.

This is clearly going to be a volume for those already invested in the series, given that it is volume 5. For me, I wanted more of the bigger picture, as I’ve said, but it was still an enjoyable return to the author’s unique world. 7.5 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Dreamland – review

Director: Bruce McDonald

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers

Bruce McDonald directed one of the most interesting zombie/infected movies, Pontypool staring Stephen McHattie (McDonald also directed the pilot movie My Babysitter’s a Vampire and I'll mention Pontypool again later), and the two have gotten together to create this slice of vampire art-noir. When I saw the trailer, I was intrigued and excited and then the film appeared an Amazon VoD…

I must warn you now, this is almost the definition of a love it or hate it movie – so much so I fear it was sponsored by Marmite. I loved it but many will hate it, it is a jazz fuelled noirish nightmare in a world that follows its own rules and would seem to have no concern for our rules.

Stephen McHattie as Johnny

The film starts with McHattie (Deadly Love & Rabid) as Johnny – one of two characters he plays in this. He looks at photos of people – his targets we soon discover. Elsewhere a woman, in her American flag jacket, leaves for work. A plane lands and a wheelchair bound man is pushed through arrivals to a waiting car. A woman learning another language gets in her car, chauffeured by the first woman. The two cars meet and it is clear this is a clandestine meeting – the selling of children. Johnny turns from the driver’s seat of the airport car and shoots all involved – he had killed the real driver.

leaving the palace

Moving to the Palace, and a jazz musician (also Stephen McHattie), referred to only as maestro or the trumpet player, leaves the building. A concierge intercepts him and states that the Countess (Juliette Lewis, From Dusk Till Dawn) wants the trumpet to stay at the Palace as it’s a museum piece, and so he hands over a case. He asks if he can get an advance for his performance but that is refused and so he walks away. The concierge then suggests that the Countess wants the musician to stay in the Palace also, which he acknowledges as he leaves anyway.

Henry Rollins as Hercules

Johnny is in a club owned by his boss, Hercules (Henry Rollins, Jugular Wine: A Vampire Odyssey & He Never Died), he dances to jazz on his own and with Lisa (Lisa Houle). He is summoned up to see Hercules and sees a room full of subdued (and drugged) children as he goes up, recognising one of them. He challenges Hercules about them. Hercules suggests that they have expanded their business and Johnny enabled it (by killing the child traffickers on Hercules’ order) whether he approves or not. Hercules then instructs him to find the trumpet player and remove his little finger for a slight. Hercules met the trumpet player, asked for an autograph but the player didn’t know Hercules’ name and had to ask.

Lisa and the Countess

So, where are we going? Well on a fully surreal journey that has drugged up jazz musicians, a wedding in the Palace that brings out the powerful – including Nazis, jihadists, the new world order, actors and politicians from around the globe, child mobsters (a sequence has Johnny tracked by suit wearing juveniles that almost harked to a deadly Bugsy Malone), Johnny aiming to rescue the girl who he knows, and a vampire (Tómas Lemarquis). The vampire is the countess’ brother and his bride to be is the trafficked 14-year old from Johnny’s building.

bloody vision

Is he a vampire? Well, he has the aesthetic and he has fangs. He can tell that his bride is alive by tasting her spilt blood. We do see a full-on bite and we do see a transformation into a bat late in the film. So yes, actually a vampire. We also get some moments of vision or fantasy. One in particular, that Johnny has, is seeing the trafficked girls stood in a wood, blood on his hand from a tree he touches that is bleeding and the girls doused in blood.

Tómas Lemarquis as the vampire

There are marvellous performances throughout; from Tómas Lemarquis as the vampire, who manages to instil his character with a level of creepy malevolence that is almost blackly comedic relying mostly on gesture and posture. Also from Juliette Lewis who is so bombastic as the Countess and seems to be having great fun and Henry Rollins who is just psychotic. The star, of course, is McHattie playing the two characters, often interacting with himself. There might be a tendency to drift into an understated mumble, but that seems deliberate and both characters work. There seems no acknowledgement of the fact that they seem to resemble each other within the film.

after credit scene from Pontypool

I need to mention the connection between this film and Pontypool, which starred McHattie as Grant Mazzy and Lisa Houle as Sydney Briars. In a post-credit sequence to Pontypool the two are in a room, Mazzy has a gun and they rename themselves Johnny Deadeyes and Lisa the Killer and they’re going to “a new place that isn’t even there yet”. This conceptually stretches to Dreamland, names the characters and ties to the coda of this film where a name is revealed. Pontypool writer, Tony Burgess, co-wrote Dreamland.

blood at mouth

There are obvious filmic similes and the one that demands attention is the fact that one could describe this as Lynchian in its surrealism and within the fact that no character seems innocent (even the primary kids have a dark side for instance, if the bride’s brother cries at her fate, he is also more than happy to buy a gun). For some reason I was also reminded of In Bruges as I watched, though that is nowhere near as surreal as this. This is noirish, brutal in parts and maybe even Takashi Miike strange in places . You might well hate it. I loved it. 8 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon UK