Vampiras: The Brides – review

Director: Ivan Mulero

Release date: 2022

Contains spoilers

A, mostly, Spanish language film that was filmed in Spain but is set primarily in LA, this film looks at the brides… Now, Stoker never refers to the vampire women in Dracula as brides but that name became attached within the wider megatext and the female vampires in this are (or were) the brides of Dracula. The film itself is low budget and there are some telling cgi moments, it is also probably 20-minutes too long but, despite this, I found it rather engaging.

the trophy

A castle on an island is the starting location, we are in Transylvania in 1888 and we see a bride, later revealed to be Luna (Bruna Rubio), who is in a wedding dress and has blood on her. She reveals fangs. Another vampire, Adriana (Milett Figueroa), enters the room calling her sister. Lastly to enter is Van Helsing (Carlos Lozano) holding aloft a vampire’s head – clearly belonging to Dracula (Octavi Pujades). It becomes apparent that the two brides aided Van Helsing. He holds aloft some jewellery and it blasts white light at them…

at the photoshoot

We are then in LA in 2022. A professor (Malik Yoba) is lecturing on vampires. Katya (Yuri Vargas) gets in late, stays and chats to him and then meets up with friends. This is a perfect example of a scene we didn’t actually need and could have been trimmed, it added little to nothing to the story, not even the vampire lecture really foreshadowed anything, though it did suggest that the book Dracula did exist in this world. We then move to a photoshoot with a couple of models and a photographer. The boss, Adriana, comes in, berates the photographer for using sex as a sales point (it’s a shoot for a perfume) takes one shot herself and says the session is done.

Luna undercover

We next meet Detective Luna Santos – and I should add that, whilst it is clear by the names that Luna and Adriana are the vampires we saw, that wasn’t necessarily clear in the film at first. But, as we’ve observed that she is a vampire, it is worth noting that it is during the day and sunny. She has entered her precinct wearing a red dress with plunging neck – she has been undercover. After experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, she speaks to Detective Kenner (Salvador Zerboni) telling how she is getting close to a main player in a criminal gang. As she leaves, Kenner immediately rats her out.

the mysterious contact

So, the film then jumps through scenes. Katya is in a club with friends and blows a self-inflated DJ off, leaving him in no doubt that she isn’t interested. Adriana is in an art exhibition and a businessman comes on to her; she refuses him, leaves the building, and he goes after her. She refuses him again, walks away and he is grabbed by a fast moving something. Kenner meets his mysterious contact (Johanna Fadul) who is a vampire and she kills him, taking his file he was looking to sell. The DJ pursues Katya outside the club and she pushes him away with supernatural strength and then, after putting distance between them, calls Luna and says she was close to killing him due to not having fed – Luna sends her the address of Ingrid (Maria Conchita Alonso, Vampire’s Kiss) who can supply her with blood. However, Luna has been drugged and subsequently passes out.

blood moment

The next day Adriana leaves a guy in her bed whilst she goes to get some bagged blood. When she gets back up there he is bleeding out and a voice seems to tell her to drink from him – which she refuses. She goes to Ingrid’s also and it becomes apparent that Ingrid works for the Van Helsing organisation. The magic jewellery takes away memory and neither Luna or Adriana remember each other – indeed they both believe they were turned in the 1960s (indicating they’ve had their minds wiped at least twice each). They are trying to become human by abstaining from feeding on the living and certainly not killing them. Luna, 6-months before, was responsible for Katya being accidentally shot and turned her to save her life. But who is the mysterious vampire messing with their lives?

brides with guns

Though the flashbacks added story background, at times they, and some of the extraneous scenes, threatened to throw the pace off and, as I indicated earlier, it could do with twenty-minutes shaving off the running time. Nevertheless, the film holds a decent story (the not killing rule vacillates a bit and we do get baddies shot dead as well as injured). The acting is ok – it won’t set the world alight, but the principles did what they needed to do. Some of the CGI effects irked (gunfire for instance) but overall the film did what it set out to do. This was surprisingly entertaining. 5.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Abigail – review

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

I originally looked at Abigail as a First Impression having watched the film on the big screen. I promised a full review when it hit the home market, and this is that review.

Before I go on, I want to touch – as I did originally – on the connection that has been made with Dracula’s Daughter. This is a Universal production and it does open with Swan Lake – a fact that intertextually reaches back to Dracula (1931) and was likely purposeful. I also noted, this time round, a dragon motif on the family crest and in some of the art in the house tying into the character Dracula, of course. Does this mean that the father vampire, Christof Lazar (Matthew Goode, A Discovery of Witches), is Dracula – after all he says in film that he has had many names? I’d say you could look at him through that lens, yes (though see the edit at the end of the review). But it still doesn’t make this a remake of Dracula’s Daughter. The tonal quality of the films and the plot are quite different. Abigail (Alisha Weir) is seeking Lazar’s approval and revels in her powers, Countess Marya Zaleska hated her father and wanted rid of the curse. There is no queering in this particularly and, if you want a reinvention of Dracula’s Daughter I suggest you look to the under rated Nadja.

Melissa Barrera as Joey

So, the film starts with Abigail dancing in an empty theatre, the implication of her coming from money and renting the stage. Meanwhile a young woman, who will later be given the fake name Joey (Melissa Barrera) and I’ll name the characters via their code names, waits in an alley and pops a lollipop in her mouth. Her ride picks her up (she checks her revolver before getting in) and there are two others in there, Frank (Dan Stevens, Vamps & Apostle) and Peter (Kevin Durand, Dark Angel: Love in Vein, the Mortal Instruments: City of Bone & The Strain). In another van Sammy (Kathryn Newton) takes down cams at a house and Rickles (William Catlett, Lovecraft Country) takes sniper position. Sammy continues hacking to open the gates, distracted by driver Dean (Angus Cloud) turning the radio on. Abigail leaves the theatre, and a tracker goes off on her chauffer driven car.

Giancarlo Esposito as Lambert

The gang are there to kidnap Abigail when she gets home, in order to extort money from her father. They have been picked for the job and do not know who the father is. The job goes fairly smoothly, Abigail struggles but is soon drugged by Joey, and though the father gets home unexpectedly they get out safely, despite the alarms being tripped. Escaping, Dean shows he has at least street smarts as he keeps on a fast route but avoids street cameras. They take her to a rendezvous house, the rambling gothic pile where they are to hold up. At the house they are met by the mastermind of the job, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito, the Hunger: Fly by Night & Chupacabra Terror). Lambert takes their phones, gives them fake names and stipulates only Joey should enter the room where Abigail is held. Otherwise there is plenty of food and drink and they should only be there 24 hours.

the gang

So, we get to know more about the characters mostly through Joey, who can read people well and intuits some of their backgrounds – Sammy is a rich, bored hacker and Frank an ex-cop for instance. We get to know more about Joey when she checks on Abigail and tries to reassure the girl – for instance that she has a son about the same age – though Frank identifies her as a junky who is currently clean. Something Abigail says, delivered innocently but with a clear threat undertone, spooks Joey and soon they have discovered that her father is Lazar – a notorious crime lord. Frank is for leaving at that news but is persuaded to stay. Soon they are being picked off – they assume by Lazar’s infamous enforcer – discover they are trapped in the house and eventually discover that it is Abigail, the vampire, doing the killing.

Alisha Weir as Abigail

I made mention in my first impression that this shares some similarities to the much lesser known Blood Trap and it does but the vampire in this was turned very young (the vampire in the earlier film is adult and looking to breed) and this has a lot of class. Alisha Weir is able to inject a believability into this young girl who is hundreds of years old, likes playing with her food and is ultimately killing enemies of her father to regain his affections thus seeking his approval.

hand exposed to sunlight

The lore is interesting, especially in a visual sense. Vampiric death is explosive – be it sunlight or stake the vampire explodes in a mass of goo and gore. When sunlight strikes Abigail's hand there is no smoking or flames, it literally explodes as though blown off, but it also quickly regrows. Abigail can fly and is incredibly strong, a bullet to the head simply heals but she is susceptible to the drug used to “kidnap” her. Interestingly she maintains breathing and a heartbeat. A bite will turn, though killing the biter will prevent this, but a vampire can control the one they turn like a puppet.

Matthew Goode as Lazar

The setting was a nicely ramshackle Gothic mansion that offered a good backdrop for the action and the film is orientated to horror/action as the “And Then There Were None” trope plays out. All the cast fit well, though there is perhaps less menace than there might have been in Lazar when we finally meet him, but Goode had little time to do anything more with the character and a more developed look at him would likely have carried an undercurrent of danger better, but the film does not call for a longer appearance. Having watched this more than once now I do have to say I am still rather taken with the film. 7.5 out of 10.

Edit 25/8/24: The question around Dracula now seems to have been answered. In an article on SyFy wire we are told: "While the ambiguity surrounding the character works to the story's benefit, the co-directors did consider making Lazar — already a feared figure in the criminal underworld — even more of a terrifying badass. In other words, they nearly went the "bigger fish" route by having Lazar admit to killing Dracula long before the events of the film. "There was ... a version where he said, 'Oh, I killed that motherf—er 200 years ago. Dracula's nothing!'" Gillet remembers." (my emphasis). Of course that line was not put in dialogue but it does seem to show the directors' direction of travel,   

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Scampire

This was a film that runs just under 6-minutes and was directed by Frank Romano III, it was released in 2023. It starts with a large castle and Nina (Keilah Jude) waits, bottle of wine in hand, ready to deny the owner and giving herself a pep-talk.

The door opens and she is met by Rachel (Chena Verony) who, we soon find, goes by Raquel now. She leads her old school friend to the kitchen where there is a group of people Nina doesn’t know.

scampires

They soon make it clear that when Nina was invited to dinner, she was to be the main course, they are all vampires. Nina is relieved, much to the confusion of the vampires, and explains that she was afraid Raquel was trying to scam her into a pyramid scheme – just killing her is a blessed relief. Could the vampires have more than just dinner on their minds though?

resisting

This was a fun little film with a nice sideswipe at pyramid schemes and tying the vampires in with that most unsavoury part of capitalism. Well shot and very well acted from the primaries it is worth your time.

At the time of writing, I could not find an IMDb page.

Countess Dracula – review

Author: Carroll Borland

First Published: 1994

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Carroll Borland is the legendary star of early cinema, who's portrayal of "Luna" opposite Bela Lugosi in the 1935 motion picture horror classic, "Mark of the Vampire," indelibly etched in the minds of moviegoers the "look, the style and the sexuality of female vampires for generations to come." How did Bela Lugosi inspire the writing of the legendary sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula? What was the true story behind the infamous "incest scene" rumored to have been cut from "Mark of the Vampire", starring Carroll and Bela? Was Carroll Borland visited by the ghost of Bela Lugosi? What was the secret of their relationship? Learn the answers in Gregory Mank's compelling account of Carroll's life and film career.

The review: Though some may buy this coffee table sized volume for Carroll Borland’s biography, I was more interested in her short novel (actually a novella), a sequel to Stoker’s Dracula. Written when she was fifteen, having seen Lugosi in the stage production of Dracula, it would prove to be her introduction to the actor years before they played opposite each other in Mark of the Vampire.

To some degree it is fanfiction, but it is well written, if a tad sparse, and follows the Stoker story some 50-years on. In doing so it introduces a unique piece of lore that suggests a setback (perhaps the attack by Harker, as the Count turns to dust, or the interruption of an attack and the saving of the victim) can cause the vampire to have to sleep for 50 years (hence the jump forward in time). This also happens to the vampire’s maker – so if the bride must enter the 50-year hiatus, so must the Count. It also suggests Mina did not turn as she died whilst the Count was so indisposed and during the day (prior to the book’s opening, though Jonathan Harker and their son Quincey do make an appearance). The story hints at, though does not explicitly state, a reincarnated love (though this could be a retrospective interpretation).

As for the more biographical side Borland makes a categorical statement that the allegedly lost (to the cutting room floor) incest scenes between Mora and Luna (the vampires), from Mark of the Vampire, were never shot. This is likely the case but whether background story narrated by, say, Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) included it and was cut might not be far-fetched.

For fans of the film, for fans of Borland herself and for those just interested in the rather fun musings of a fifteen-years old Lugosi fan and what it developed into, this is a wonderous curio. Thanks to Sarah, who got me this as a birthday present. 6 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Alice and the Vampire Queen – review

Director: Dan Lantz

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

Appearing for free (on the film is now YouTube channel), kind of out of nowhere, it feels churlish to be too critical of this film – especially as it does have some interesting ideas. Unfortunately it also has some really rotten choices as well, most notably in accents.

It has a very loose connection to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, not just in the naming of the titular heroine (Shelby Hightower) but also through actually referencing and quoting Carroll’s novel but, unfortunately, that connection really is missing once one scratches below the surface.

Shelby Hightower as Alice

It starts with a beach and a woman, Madeline (Rachel Aspen), enjoying the location as the sun sets. Figures start appearing around her and she runs up a dune but is grabbed… In a greasy spoon, Alice is preparing a burger. She is openly abused by her boss Big Joe (John Groody, Bloodrunners) and has a highly prominent facial scar (which he references). After being threatened with her parole officer, she walks. Outside, in an alley, a stranger, Charles (Graham Wolfe), offers her a light.

Graham Wolfe as Charles

As they speak it becomes clear that Charles knows a lot about her and, as her backstory fills out, we discover that she was a Michelin star chef who was married to another (abusive) chef. It was he who cut her face and she ended up killing him. Her plea bargain kept the fact that she cut out his liver and served it in his restaurant out of the press. Charles is offering her a deal – cook one meal for his boss, Isabella (Brenna Carnuccio), for a ridiculously large sum of money. If the boss likes it, she’ll be offered a job.

eating steak tartare

Unbeknown to Alice, Isabella and her entourage – Fredrick (Xavier Michael) and Sophia (Danielle Muehlen) – pay Big Joe a visit, expose themselves as vampires and kill him. Alice is asked to make steak tartare, which she does. She is taken to meet Queen Isabella, who is suitably impressed and feeds it to Madelaine and Sophia, revealing the restaurant as a vampire place, where Alice, Charles and kitchen hand Gordon (Chris James Boylan, also Bloodrunners) are the only humans and if Alice doesn’t maintain her usefulness and loyalty, well she’ll be dinner.

Aaron Dalla Villa as Kieran

There is a sub-plot about vampire rebel Kieran (Aaron Dalla Villa) and another where Gordon turns out to be an escaped serial killer (the vampires are aware and are using his peculiar tastes to their advantage). It is notable the Michelin star chef never questions the meat type and apparently vampires like a little undercurrent of rot in consumed meat (though meat laced with garlic or holy water could prove deadly). I liked some of the ideas – such as the queen able to cure Alice’s scar (which she literally finds fallen from her face). The idea of having leverage to maintain control of their human servants worked as a concept. Unfortunately, other things didn’t work so well.

attack

The whole rebellious vampire wanting to usurp the queen was under-explored. The film is a standard 90 minutes, and there is much to be said about not overstaying one’s welcome, but this thread desperately needed more exploration. The serial killer part accelerated from nought-to-sixty way too quickly and more building a relationship to betray it would have been useful – especially as Boylan’s performance was one of the better supporting ones.

restaurant feed 

It is in the performances that we are let down the most. To be fair Shelby Hightower is good as Alice and does what she can with what she has, likewise – despite the comment above – Villa is excellent as Kieran, his performance adding a nuance to a character that the narrative didn’t provide. However, most of the vampires were using the most god awfully fake English accents, with a comment suggesting it was because they felt superior to humans and their (American) accents. These accents stifled performance (this was also true of the one human character who affected an accent), making things stagy at best.

another restaurant feed 

There are good ideas in this and whilst the idea of a human chef amongst vampires is not unique (and my mind drifted to Broil as I watched) there was much that could have been done with this. Director Dan Lantz is no stranger to making a vampire movie, having helmed Bloodrunners. This is not as good as that film partially as interesting things are under-explored and mostly because the accent affectation stifled performance badly, killing nuances that should have been there and impeding the actors’ art. 4 out of 10 reflects the fact that, despite this, I found myself quite taken with the good bits of the film.

The imdb page is here.

Don’t Suck – review

Director: RJ Collins

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

A comedy about a comedian (and a vampire) to my way of thinking is either going to work for you or not. Comedy is so very subjective, as I have said in plenty of reviews. Luckily I was rather taken with this and found it genuinely funny and also quite endearing despite the primary character being deliberately drawn as a douche.

It starts with the compère of the Pioneer Saloon, a backwater little bar. Outside a man approaches Pete (Jamie Kennedy), the main act comedian for the night, calling him “funny man” as a derogatory (which immediately brought a Bill Hicks story to mind). The support act, Ethan (Matt Rife), intervenes, getting between the two but the man, after telling “Twilight” to step out of the way, doesn’t care and shoots Ethan. He buckles and stands, claiming a miss, so there are more shots and Ethan’s eyes glow as his fangs emerge…

Jamie Kennedy as Pete

Two weeks before and Pete has arrived for a regular slot he performs in the ‘Comedy Cellar’. He’s staying in the casino and footage has gone viral (posted by a receptionist) of his arrival. She badgered him to be funny and so he asked her “What’s the difference between a c*nt and a vagina”. He is unphased by the video. There are jokes backstage about him “storming the capitol” – jokes at his look, I guess. And he is told to watch the kid on stage – he bombs badly each time, he is told.

Ethan bombs

The kid is Ethan and his act is based on being a vampire. The audience don’t get it and he isn’t particularly funny. Backstage he is excited to meet Pete and asks for a tip – which doesn’t go down well. Pete is drawn as a douche; acerbic all the time, he is constantly jealous around his girlfriend Steph (Ellen Hollman) as he demonstrates when he discovers that Ethan has invited her to a party (he invites Pete too, and other people at the club, but is unaware of their relationship) but she knows he sleeps around on the road. She somehow still loves him, though later mentions him breezing into town every six weeks.

Ellen Hollman as Steph

Ethan is rich, ridiculously so, and really wants to learn comedy (later we discover he spent 200 years perfecting harpsichord and then it went out of fashion). He has the same agent as Pete and wants to be the opener on a series of small gigs. Pete opposes the idea but drunk, and with the offer of Ethan picking up all the expenses, he agrees. Of course, Ethan bombs and Pete uses his poor performance within his act but they do draw closer and eventually Pete suggests he be himself and, also, do a trick with his finger and a flame that he showed him. This leads to a watershed performance.

victims turn to dust

Ethan is bombing again and so does the trick and also shows his vampiric eyes and fangs. But the thing that really gets the audience is him turning into a bat… of course the audience think it a trick but Pete realises he is the real thing (he had been saying it all along). We eventually get back to the Pioneer Saloon and the disgruntled man (Pete had dealt with the man heckling a hen night by disparaging his manhood, he was then thrown out). Ethan does kill him and, in an interesting twist to the lore, then puts his hand to the victim and makes him turn to dust.

feeding

The film is a bit of a buddy film, with the two main characters being odd fellows. It is also a redemption film, with Pete as the central role who needs to grow (this is directly commented on in dialogue when he asks to be turned – which happens in this if the vampire wants the person he bites to turn – but Ethan suggests that as a vampire you are eternally stuck, that he is the same young man he was centuries before, implying Pete's requirement for growth). We do discover, regarding Pete's character, that the medical bills he mentions near the beginning were for his deceased eight years-old son who had leukaemia... the debt has kept him working the worst of jobs for any income he can get and the incident informed his attitude. In truth, he doesn’t grow that much, more the character grows on the viewer.

eyes and fangs

Additional lore bits are that vampires can go out in sunlight, so long as it isn’t direct, they do reflect and Ethan’s grandmother was Erzsébet Báthory. Ethan runs into a woman called Scarlett (Lauren Compton), also a vampire, who is trying her hand at being an influencer. He doesn’t recognise her at first but it becomes apparent he may have turned her, but there is no big vampire society displayed within the film and no comeuppance for him revealing himself (though there is a circular moment as he seems to become more like Pete at the end). I liked this, the two main characters amused me, worked well off each other and, as I mentioned, Pete grows on you. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Handbook of the Vampire: Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Context

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Andrew Smith the Chapter Page can be found here.

A brave chapter as the idea of putting context to Dracula in roughly 8-9000 words, given the complexity of ideas and the amount of literature on the subject, would seem an impossible task. Author Andrew Smith makes a brave attempt that will serve well as an initial primer for new scholars to lead into further reading. There are several themes explored: Masculinity and Degeneration, The Gothic Context, Vampires and Humans, Medicine and Theories of Mind, Colonial Contexts, and Technologies.

Under the Vampires and Humans section Smith posits an interesting thesis that Harker sees Lucy in one of the three vampire women (or projects her onto her, perhaps) – specifically the golden-haired woman. In doing this he quotes the novel in Harker saying “I seemed somehow to know her face”. It is an interesting reading of the encounter though I tend towards the idea that she was, perhaps, the vampire he saw in the expunged Dracula’s Guest. In this section Smith also discusses the symbolism of the blood transfusions from the various men into Lucy – yet ignores as part of that discussion the fact that Van Helsing’s blood is also transfused. I would have liked him to have addressed that in his discussion (and do not think it necessarily undermines his point).

Short Film: Vampire (2024)

 

Directed by Caroline Sheridan and coming in at a smidge under 5 minutes, this 2024 short film is a situational comedy in which one friend (Caroline Sheridan) accuses the other (Grace Larson) of being a vampire.

the friends

There are lots of giveaway signs… they only hang out at night and she’s never seen her friend in the day, clothes that are totally vampire and a daily (or should that be nightly) alarm that says feeding time whilst playing Toccata and Fugue in D minor. All of this is strongly denied by the friend who takes umbrage at being called out for being different.

alarmed

Actually, the apparent gaslighting at play was really well done and the dynamic between the friends is very skilfully handled. Is it a case of vampirism in the circle of friends, mistaken identity with belief in vampires or simply acting like a vampire? Watching the short will tell all.

The imdb page is here.

Use of Tropes: The United States of Horror: Chapter 2

The second part of anthology series the United States of Horror, released in 2022, sees a segment from director Miceal Og O'Donnell entitled The Star in the Mirror.

Set in the 50s this sees a record promoter (Emmy Harrington) going to the house of a date (Jake McMichael) to pick him up – against her better judgement. Her judgement is spot on as, rather than a genuine date, he is a musician trying to get her to promote him and, when she responds badly to the coercion drugs, he binds her.

in the tree

At the start of the segment we have seen an elf (Vera Takemoto) with fangs, who seems to be in (or within) the sitcom playing on TV. We see her crawl out, into our world, taking on colour and as she watches from within the branches of the Christmas tree she suggests “greedy boys go in my belly". It is the fangs and the consuming of the naughty list that leads me to identify a trope in this. It should be remembered that the darker side of Christmas folklore sees vampiric creatures such as the Tomtin preying on the naughty and this fits in with that.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Le Vourdalak – review

Director: Adrien Beau

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

Based on Tolstoy’s the Family of the Vourdalak, this is a really rather interesting French take on the story. It keeps the film in a period setting and puts some twists into the story to keep the audience guessing, adds in a neat moment of lore and then tops it all by having the antagonist represented by a puppet – this should take the viewer out of the film but, as one accepts it, the conceit works really well making the vourdalak creepy and unheimlich.

Kacey Mottet Klein as d'Urfé 

It starts with the Marquis Jacques Antoine Saturnin d'Urfé (Kacey Mottet Klein) banging on a door in the dark. He is a French envoy and his escort has been killed by bandits. The occupant (Erwan Ribard) tells him the door will not be opened (whether due to fear of Turks or the supernatural one can only guess at). D'Urfé is advised to go through the woods, recognised as dangerous, until he gets to the house of Old Gorcha (Adrien Beau) – there he might find help and a horse.

spying on Sdenka

As day breaks, we see that d'Urfé is a “powdered courtier” and the look, with powder, wig and beauty spot, serves as a nice contrast against the more rustic family especially through the lens of a more modern sensibility when exploring the film and the undercurrent themes of toxic-patriarchy and queerness. He hears singing and spies a maiden, Sdenka (Ariane Labed) but she becomes aware of him when he stands on a twig and she quickly vanishes into the woods.

Ariane Labed as Sdenka

Continuing through the woods something growls in the undergrowth but, when it appears, it is a friendly dog that runs ahead. He reaches a woman, or so is presented through clothing and accessories, but is revealed to be the male Piotr (Vassili Schneider) who, though taciturn, guides him past a skeleton festooned attacked wagon, graves and to a house. D'Urfé picks up a dropped earing that the young man had been wearing. In the house is Sdenka, Piotr’s sister, Anja (Claire Duburcq), their sister-in-law, and the latter’s son Vlad (Gabriel Pavie).

the family

Soon Anja’s husband, Jegor (Grégoire Colin), returns. Recently the area was raided by Turks and, after defending the house, Jegpr and a few others pursued them. He suggests they killed ten Turks but the leader, Alibek, escaped. He asks where Gorcha is and is told that he went out alone to pursue the Turks and left message that, should he not return by six on the sixth day to forget he was their father. Jegor, convinced Gorcha will return, orders a feast to be cooked.

d'Urfé & Sdenka

Having spoken to Anja, who mentions Sdenka’s disgrace as she fell in love with a stranger, d'Urfé goes out to help Sdenka pick blackberries. Now I write notes as I watch films and did mention in my notes that Ariane Labed’s performance brought the stylised works of Jean Rollin to mind. At one point she almost lures him off a cliff, she explains it is the place where she will finally end it, and shows him the grave of her lover – shot when their love was discovered, we assume by Gorcha. For his part, d'Urfé attempts to replicate both toxic masculinity and class privilege, attempting to pressure her into sex. It does become apparent that this isn’t what d'Urfé genuinely is, coding as bisexual and a romantic later.

Gorcha revealed

The clock strikes as the family eat and, unlike the story, Gorcha does not knock. Rather they eat al fresco and he is spotted collapsed nearby. He is swaddled in coat, scarf and hat at first and orders the barking dog killed. It becomes apparent that the cruelty he displays is not down to being vourdalak but (and foreshadowed with the murder of the lover) actually part of his enduring character. He shows the head of Alibek, which he took, and is revealed as a cadaverous dead thing. Jegor, his manly son and inheritor of Gorcha’s toxic patriarchy, cannot see him for what he is. Piotr, being gender fluid and therefore outside the patriarchal pecking order, sees things for what they are.

folk cure

The story follows the original, mostly, with Gorcha preying first on Vlad, the vourdalak preying on those they love. As I mentioned there are some twists to this I won’t spoil. We get a nice folk horror moment of an attempt to exorcise Vlad and the necessary components for dealing with a vourdalak are hawthorn, garlic and an aspen stake. Neatly added into the tale is the idea of the chewing dead, the shroud-eater, which allows for a nice tell.

stake

The photography is, generally, beautiful and the costuming works really well. All the performances are strong and the film really does draw you in, to the point that the puppet Gorcha (and the fact that no-one seems to recognise it as cadaverous) does not undermine the experience. Regular readers will be aware that the Family of the Vourdalak is a favourite vampire story of mine and I love to see adaptations, this one put in enhancements to the patriarchy themes that are dimly there in the original and certainly did not disappoint. 8 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

The Ezzera & Gore-Girl Horror Anthology – review

Director: Brandon Rhiness

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

Another anthology made of shorts, although in this case the shorts were all previously directed by Brandon Rhiness and he is bringing those together into one vehicle.

The surround sees a woman looking through the belongings of her deceased parents and finding a video of a cable TV show hosted by Ezzera (Julia Van Dam) and her sidekick Hellenore the Gore-Girl (Paige Hounsome). Making the shorts fit the VHS nature and cable sourcing does help hide some of the budget issues with this and the stories tend to the interesting, though some are too short for their own good.

the date

There are two that particularly interest us. The first is Bloodbath, which sees Victoria (Julie Whelan) and her unusual condition. The first time we see her she is on a date with Roland (Rohit Kataria), which does go well. There is an unspoken timing stipulation to her dates, which we become aware of as she wakes in his bed. He asks, shocked, what has happened to her face (we don’t see).

the solution

Her condition only gets worse, first there seems to be spots or sores and eventually we see that she seems to be actively rotting. There is a cure, of course, and the clue is in the title and there is a reason why we are looking at the film here. This is, then, a riff on the Erzsébet Báthory story. Beyond that the segment does nothing new or shocking but it is always good to see this story tackled.

suffering from the hunger

The second segment that interests us is The Hunger. Cora (Sarah Louise), a young woman estranged from her mother (Cathy Long), has just split with her boyfriend (Riley Andrews). She is asked if she is ok, looking pale, and replies that she has a hunger. As the segment progresses she is eating obsessively but can’t seem to satisfy it. Strangers seem to be approaching her telling her that she is hungry and should eat… There is a way to satisfy it and, suffice it to say, this relies on The History of Sidi Nu’uman, from the Arabian Nights, and its Western reinterpretation by Hoffmann, Vampirismus.

Julia Van Dam as Ezerra

The two stories work but are not the most interesting in the film. They do belie their own low budget, especially The Hunger, which has a great sense of unease as the strangers approach Cora. I think 5 out of 10 for them is fair. The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK