Sleepover Massacre – review

Director: Gary Whitson

Release date: 1989

Contains spoilers

This film originated from an advert offering to make custom videos according to IMDb “All the guy gave {Whitson} was a basic plot about six women having a reunion who are attacked by a female vampire. He also sent a couple of pictures to Whitson of how he wanted the vampire bites to be shown.” So, going in, we know the level of quality we’re looking at.

However we need to address the opening intertitle, which gives a quote of “according to vampire legend, a vampire can feed of a victim twice before turning them into a creature of the night.” The three bite rule does show up from time to time but… the quote is attributed to Bram Stoker… ahem… no…

Denise and Janet

So after the fake quote we meet two women, Janet and Denise, who are having a catch up. They went to college together, along with four others, and time has passed. Denise is still in contact with Julie (Denise is a TV reporter and Julie a producer for a rival station). They have the idea of a sleepover and Janet offers to host and contact Amy, Terri and Sharon. They aim for a Saturday night.

run, girl, run

Denise is suffering from restless sleep and in her dream she runs through woods, pursued. She awakens and disturbs her boyfriend, Carl. She says she has had the dream again, in the first two times she was caught and her neck was bitten. In this the vampire stated that he would bite her a third time and make her his bride. Carl puts it down to stress but later she hears a news report of a man trying to bite someone in a park, the attempt by the police to arrest him lead to him being impaled on a wooden post – perhaps that was why she wasn’t bitten a third time?

rotten vampire

So, they are having the sleepover but Terri and Sharon are going to be late die to work (they work at a hospital) and then get very delayed. Janet has bought a coffin for a laugh and tells the story of the man and woman who, after he inherited a property, found the coffin in their basement. After some sex in there she found a bracelet, put it on and she turned into a vampire. She attacked the man but, before he died he flung a stake and killed her. The woman who sold the coffin then finds the bracelet and puts it on, turning into a rather rotten vampire (Terri Lewandowski, Vampire Brides).

Denise injured

For some reason, when Denise goes in Janet’s cellar to get more beer, the new vampire has moved there (obviously to do with the coffin but unexplained – just as is the reason that the bracelet creates vampires). She is attacked (the others think her screams are a joke). The vampire then goes after the others. The late (and staggered) arrival of the other two allow some pacing out of kills. Of course, Denise believes she has been bitten twice already by another vampire…

the cross

There isn’t much lore. A magic bracelet or three bites turn (and they can hunt in dreams it seems). Sunlight seems an issue and two bits of wood work as a cross. A stake to the heart kills. There is some evidence of eye mojo. The vampires reflect and that is about it. So, it’s not great but compared to the other Whitson movie we’ve looked at (Vampire Brides) this worked a bit better. 2.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Baobhan Sith – review

Director: David William Hutchison

Release date: 2017

Contains spoilers

The baobhan sith is a little used fey vampire type from Scotland. They are listed in Bane, who suggests that they are created when a woman dies in childbirth and, much like a Banshee their wail can predict death. Bane describes them having deer hooves for feet and lure victims, dancing with them to exhaust them before draining their blood. They are dealt with using iron, as are most fey. Bane lists shapeshifting – into women the victim knows, crows and fog – this shapeshifting is omitted from the lore in the film.

opening

The opening of the film has illustrations against which a story is told of three brothers, Iain, Duncan and Willy. They are travelling and the two elder brothers cannot understand why Willy bought a cauldron, which he carries. They camp and a woman in white comes out of the trees, she dances with the elder brothers, whilst Willy sleeps, and then slits both their throats with her long talons. Willy awakens, she attacks him but her attack hits the iron cauldron causing her claws to shrivel. She curses Willy’s line, saying that all women in his line will become baobhan sith after the first child is born (we will discover that is in the line by birth or marriage).

Joanna Kaczynska as the baobhan sith

The film proper is a comedy or at least purports to be that way. I wasn’t overly amused and suspect it was both the script and an element of comedic timing that let it down, however, whilst not making me laugh I did warm to some of the characters. It starts on a Scottish Island and the Laird, Jeremiah Clate (Greg Drysdale), is making a movie – though he is not on set. His housekeeper Valerie (Danielle Farrow) is applying makeup to a person (Joanna Kaczynska) we only see from behind but who we hear making inhuman snarls. The DP calls the Laird, but gets too close to the “star” and, despite a warning from Jeremiah, she manages to claw his throat out. Jeremiah calls the person who got him the photographer.

the inflatable

Documentary maker Senga Sutherland (Janet de Vigne) is tending her carnivorous plants (a pitcher plant and a Venus flytrap). She takes a video call from her agent Larry (Andy Nicholls) just as her daughter Freya (Larah Bross) arrives – having travelled from Canada to spend time with mom (and lie low after a sasquatch penis incident). Larry has just arranged with Senga to continue Laird Clate’s film, in exchange for which she will be able to film his Bog Bloater as it flowers for her documentary. She promises Freya a yacht to get there and a mansion to stay in – when they get to the boat it is an inflatable.

the bogman

The gist of the story goes like this. After giving birth to their son Ivan (Daniel Campbell), Jeremiah’s wife Belinda turned into a baobhan sith. He has researched a cure and discovered that should 60 or more people witness the baobhan sith whilst the bog bloater blooms the curse will be lifted. He tried to cure her once with a gala but it went wrong and she killed the 60 guests (the authorities bought the boat accident excuse) and so he has come up with the idea of filming a horror film, Baobhan Sith vs the Bogman (Bogmen being a druid created zombie, designed to protect them from the baobhan sith). Only one problem, they don’t show on camera but he has discovered that petals from the bog bloater sprinkled on them will make them appear and has put petals in the makeup. Senga and Freya, of course, are caught up in the madness.

Greg Drysdale as Jeremiah

For the lore, the filmmakers have changed the death during childbirth origin lore to that of a curse, but kept that link by having the curse activate after childbirth. Iron is deadly (Jeremiah has a shard of Willy’s cauldron, which when pressed against her forehead can knock her unconscious). She has claws rather than fangs but a scratch (or killing someone with the claws) will cause them to turn into a baobhan sith – so long as they are a woman. Because of this we end up with more than one of the vampire and so we also see vampire deaths (presumably through steel rather than pure iron). We also, later, get a chicken baobhan sith and it is killed by bludgeoning with a vibrator. They do have hooves rather than feet.

Freya and Senga

As I mentioned earlier this is billed as comedy and I wasn’t massively amused. The normal caveat around the subjectiveness of comedy needs to be given, of course, but it tried too hard and the gags fell flat for me. However both Janet de Vigne and Larah Bross did come across as personable and kept me with the film. There was something meta about the low budget horror in which they are making an almost no-budget horror and, of course, it is great to see alternative vampire types make an appearance. That didn’t save it for me, unfortunately. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

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Dracula: Blood Hunt: 1 – review

Writers: Danny Lore & Cavan Scott

Artists Vincenzo Carratu & Kev Walker

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: An icon of horror rises again as the blockbuster event BLOOD HUNT rages on! When day is night, and all is not as it appears, bitter enemies may find their interests - however briefly - aligned. And that will be true of Dracula, lord of the vampires, and Brielle Brooks, daughter of Blade! Faced with a devil's bargain of the soul, Bloodline needs a priest and a lawyer - and Daredevil has a little experience as both! But will even he know fear in a city full of bloodthirsty vampires?!

Plus: One man has made it his mission to protect his nation from the bloodsucker invasion. But what does the one-man-army Joey Chapman, who now bears the mantle of Union Jack, have up his sleeves? Who will Union Jack have to face to keep London from falling? And as he paints the town blood red, what will he be willing to sacrifice to save his country?

Collecting: Dracula: Blood Hunt #1-3 and Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1-3

The review: Bloodline, also known as Brielle Brooks, is front and centre in the first three comics worth of this volume. This adds flesh to the bone of how she and Dracula team up (plus a brief appearance by, and some guidance from, Daredevil). This is one where you have to be grounded in the overarching story as moments that have appeared in other volumes are jumped and it can feel a tad jarring.

The story sees Dracula preparing to hit the streets (via occult teleportation) and search out Brielle – his ruthlessness is displayed early on as he tidies up a loose end and thereafter his business with Brielle is not altruistic – she is the key to stopping Blade, and therefore the vampiric entity Varnae but his reason for trying to prevent the end of the world is not heroic and he only offers her one pathway. We do get to see Brielle mystically tempted by Blade/Varnae and a manifestation of the latter.

The volume then moves to Manchester, England where we join Union Jack (through the eyes of a policewoman), I’m not familiar with these Marvel characters but we see a Manchester as devastated as the US cities previously seen, Union Jack protective of the turned Bulldog and the machinations of the Master vampire involved – a vampire named Hunger. Hunger is a character associated with Morbius, Blade and Spider-Man and, like Morbius, is normally portrayed as a living vampire. In this he seems to be creating a collective with him at the centre of the hive and we see a weakness in that any pain delivered to one of his minions also impacts him. This tale is a standalone three episodes and worked very well. 7 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Tales of Dracula 2: Dracula Meets the Werewolf

The sequel to director Joe DeMuro’s solid love letter to monster mash movies of yore, Tales of Dracula, I was surprised to see that this wasn’t a feature. The DVD case suggests the deceptively inaccurate running time of 60 minutes, but the actual film is around 44 minutes long.

It follows two primary stories. The first is that of Jessica Von Helsing (Samantha Sloma) travelling into Transylvania to tackle Count Dracula (Wayne W. Johnson, Tales of Dracula & The Vampire (2013)), without realising that he is looking forward to meeting her. The conductor on the train is called Renfield (John Carey), which can’t bode well…

Wayne W. Johnson as Dracula

The other storyline follows Creighton Reed (Tom Delillo, also Tales of Dracula) who, having killed as the wolfman once again, reaches a Romani encampment and is caught stealing a shirt by Marina (Olga N. Bogdanova). She does his tarot and realises the hefty weight fate has put on him and is going to shoo him off when her elders intervene. It turns out she is also a werewolf but they have a relic that presents her from turning and a method of killing Dracula, if Reed will help…

female vampire

Of course paths cross and the two stories start to overlap. The relic the Romani have belonged to Radu (Jon Campbell), chief werewolf and brother of Vlad Dracula (which makes this Dracula a version who was, in life, Vlad Ţepeş). The film, like its predecessor, is shot in black and white and the overall impression I had was good but desperately too short and so it left more questions than it answered.

The imdb page is here.

Shadows of the Past – review

Director: Luz Cabrales

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

A portmanteau film, where the anthology is made up of films that seem to have been created for the film, rather than just tying unrelated shorts together, should be welcome. However this one struggles due to its poor framing of the narrative and, frankly, lack of chills.

There is no traditional vampire in this, rather there is a banshee that is part of the wraparound. Banshees do actually appear in Bane’s Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology but generally are not thought about as vampiric beings. In this I would argue she is.

the youths

So, before I get to the banshee, let me talk about the framing. It starts with a group of teens running. One asks why Mario (Jamie Dougherty), leader of the gang and only guy, made her do it. *It* is shoot a woman – a senseless slaying, as another gang member says that she was going to give them all the expensive items in the museum. It just feels hokey, like a story sketched but not thought through. They head for a mansion and duck in the unlocked door.

Dan Frederick as the Caretaker

Inside they meet the caretaker (Dan Frederick) and the gun is aimed at him. However, he talks them down by saying if they leave they’ll get caught but if they stay and keep him company then he’ll give them all the valuables. Again, hokey and not great storytelling or realistic sounding dialogue. Nevertheless, they stay and each story the caretaker tells is a segment of the portmanteau. When Mario demands the treasures, we get the wraparound’s backstory.

the Langstones

It centres on a ring, that the caretaker puts on, and the owner Collin Brooks Langstone (Karl Barbee), a 19th century gang leader and businessman who was given the ring by a banshee (played by several actresses). The ring would grant his desire so long as he kept on luring souls to feed to the banshee – the souls/life (both are mentioned interchangeably) kept her young. However, he met and married Rose (Tara E. Kojsza), the banshee grew jealous and killed her, cursing him. The dialogue says he was “condemned by the banshee’s dark mind” and then “the mind turned mansion” – indicating that the mansion is a manifestation of her mind and, as she is an energy vampire, the mansion is a vampiric building.

supping a cup of blood

Now, where this goes further awry is that it is indicated that the caretaker is Langstone in another form, and the curse can be lifted if he passes the ring (and thus the curse) to someone as evil and greedy as he… the inference being Mario. However, then the kids are hunted through the mansion by the banshee and the ring is not passed on. A cop, going door to door, shows up in the morning and Langstone answers. He is asked about what he is drinking (we only see the teacup) and he says tomato juice, it keeps him “young, rich and vibrant” and “he just made a fresh batch”. This implies it is blood that he drinks but, as a concept, comes from nowhere.

vampiric building

It is very crude storytelling, certainly for the wraparound, and whilst the segments feel a tad stronger it isn’t by much and they fail to chill. It is a shame as dedicated anthology/portmanteau films are very welcome in general and this might have been a welcome entry in that genre. Rather it is a damp squib. The use of a banshee as an energy vampire is unusual. 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

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Vampire in the Garden – review

Directed by: Ryōtarō Makihara

First aired: 2022

Contains spoilers

There is so much vampire genre material out there that it is impossible to keep up, hence this blog has been running so long and why I have a watch pile like Mount Everest (and that pairs with an equally high read pile). There seems to be little excuse for me to have not watched this anime series, however. Only 5-episodes long and released to Netflix it is a short, satisfying little animation.

soldiers

It starts with a group of soldiers including the young woman Momo (Megumi Han). They are human troops and they are in conflict with vampires. This is a world which has virtually fallen to vampires, with cities in ruins. These humans live in a conurbation that they protect with a wall of light and they scavenge from the dead lands to survive. Momo, we will later discover, is the daughter of General Nobara (Rika Fukami), and on these duties to stave off suggestions of favouritism.

musical box

In a building they discover vampires and Momo faces a child who holds up a musical box that has a painting in the lid of vampires and humans living in harmony. The music startles Momo – music has been banned in human society and is deemed part of vampire culture – as does her apparent youth. As more troops arrive, the child injects a vampire drug that morphs her body into a monstrous form. It is defeated and once back at the city Momo is reprimanded for not firing.

vampire decadence 

Elsewhere the vampire queen Fine (Yū Kobayashi) tries to avoid her duties by attending lavish parties and hides the fact that she is ill as she refuses to drink blood. It is notable that at this point you could read the vampires as a millionaire class, decadent and dancing, with the humans as a worker class who are violently estranged from the vampire class. However, later we see poor and destitute vampires and thus there can be a further reading of the false promise of trickle down economics and the impact on those workers who buy into the system (are turned).

Fine and Momo

There is a raid on the city by the vampires (human traitors have been promised turning to take down the generators for the lights) and Fine is, reluctantly, amongst the vampires. Momo has been caught with the musical box and has run from the city in upset. Fate brings the two together and, coincidentally, Momo is the image of Fine’s human lover, a relationship that ended disastrously. Finding each other they run away – but the humans want Momo back and the vampires want their queen.

Megumi Han voices Momo

What was nice about this, beyond some lovely animation, was the fact that the story concentrated on a friendship and invested itself entirely in that. Of course the relationship could be read as deeper than friendship and queer but that is a subtext and the writing felt like it wanted to genuinely portray a growing friendship without needing to rely on sexual attraction (and fan service) and felt all the more authentic for it.

monstrous vampire

However, beyond this, the story did feel a tad curtailed, as short as it was. There was a whole fascinating world that was barely built due to time. They just put the essentials in place to carry the story forward and thus develop the friendship aspect. Don’t let that put you off, there is a neat little anime here that looks lovely, has some fighting and vampire action and is worth your time. 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mention: The Invocation of Enver Simaku

Released in 2018 and directed by Marco Lledó Escartín, this is a very slow burn horror, done in a documentary style, which interests us due to the central entity they call a kukuth. This would seem to be a derivative of the Albanian kukuthi/kukudhi, which is a vampire type listed in Bane’s Encylclopedia of Vampire Mythology. However, the entry in Bane bears no resemblance to the creature here, Bane’s description of the kukudhi is a vampire that “seldom needs to feed, and when it does, it takes a very small amount of blood from its victim.” In the film the kukuth is described as a soul eater.

monks' fresco

The primary character is Julien (Julien Blaschke) a documentary maker. He had been in Albania some 18 years before the primary timeline of the film, creating a documentary about monks within a particular order who seemed to have a spiritualist/pagan overtone to their beliefs. He was there with his wife and a crew and they were in a bar, having finished filming, when they heard gunfire and screaming. They rushed out with camera.

Julien Blaschke as Julien

In context it was the day before the so-called lottery insurgence of Vlora, a real-world event of civil unrest following the collapse of a Ponzi scheme. However they were too far away, in Mesopotam, for it to be connected. The night became known as the Mesopotam pogrom and it started with a man, Enver Simaku (Ferran Gadea), dying. Enver had been in a coma for years (actually, probably not a coma and more a vegetative state) and with his death his brothers went mad and tortured and killed at least 50 people – Julien’s wife amongst them.

the spirit of Enver

So, Julien has returned to Albania to understand what happened and unearths a story of supernatural events, discovering that an undercover agent from the Government’s anti-paranormal brigade had been investigating the Simakus due to a belief that they were involved in the supernatural. The villagers believed a kukuth was in the village – and as things develop it seems that it could possess people, had possessed Enver and the man had kept it trapped within him – his death allowing its escape. Julien starts seeing things, including the creature…

the Kukuth

The film, as mentioned, is a slow burn and the documentary style adds a real world feel but also stifles the scares. This isn’t helped by the absolutely stoic portrayal of Julien. Nevertheless, I found the idea fascinating and loved the idea of using some pretty obscure (to me) Albanian folklore; even if the nature of the kukuth seems changed to fit the film, with possession and inciting violence being the order of the day and even the accusation of being a soul eater seems to be hyperbolic. It is primarily shot in English but there are moments of Spanish, Italian and Albanian.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK