Honourable Mention: Love Bites (2025)

This 2025 movie, directed by Laméo Flores, is not a vampire movie. However its presence on TMtV may become more understandable when I point out that the original French title is Dracula est amoureux. It is a well-crafted, well written and well-acted drama, a bitter-sweet portrayal of the aftermath of a relationship and the impact of trauma on the lives of the sufferers of the trauma and those who love them.

The opening sees Anatole (Roman Freud) in a doctor’s waiting room with boyfriend Liam (Lyad Smain). Anatole has an ear infection and is exasperated with Liam (who has googled a homemade earache cure consisting of onion juice). They reference a painting that seems out of place in a doctor’s waiting room but we don’t see it until the end of a scene – it is a bat and there is later another clear bat motif (although as much of the film takes place at a Halloween party, that isn’t too unexpected). Anatole is called through to the doctor, Liam says he loves him but Anatole doesn’t reciprocate.

Liam and Gabriel

Three months later and they have split and Anatole has ghosted Liam. Liam is getting ready for a Halloween party – a private, invite only party he intends to crash because he knows Anatole will be attending. He dresses as Dracula – and this is the reason for the mention as he maintains this outfit for the film, so acting as a vampire. At the party, he manages to get in by posing as the cousin of one of the attendees, Victor (Léonard Chouin), but is sussed by a young woman who blackmails him into sitting her young brother, Gabriel (Nathan Haggege) who is dressed as a ghost – whilst she goes off elsewhere.

fang

The film follows the pair bonding as they try to find Anatole (Liam forgot that he’d be in fancy dress also) and moments within the film take Liam out of the present and show us moments from their relationship, which builds a picture of the reason their love was ill-fated. When he does eventually find Anatole, he is dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster and there is a line suggesting that the Monster and Dracula being together does not exist in any tale. Absolutely brilliantly paced, this gets on here by dint of a costume but is a very watchable tragic love story.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Dracula Eternal – review

Director: Alan Smith

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Another reimagining of Dracula, this one struggles. It cites Bram Stoker in the opening credits and lifts names… or modified versions thereof… but uses the love story background from Dracula (1992). Not that the love story aspect was the issue, more it was sloppy scriptwriting and the twist. I’m going to spoil the twist as the film broadcast that punch pretty darn early on.

So it starts on Monday evening and a couple are wandering the streets, bored and wanting a drink. First he is attacked by a grey thing – the vampire is seen in man-bat form when attacking but never for so long that the rubber mask is obvious – but the attack is unsatisfying cinematically. CGI blood and then we see him on the floor, a fence by him is then seen to have a huge amount of blood (smear not spatter/spray), with nothing between the close body and fence, and massive bloody handprints. It’s the opening moment of horror in the film and it is badly executed. The woman is then attacked.

Mina and Lucy

Tuesday, and Mina Harker (Cody Renee Cameron, the Neon Demon, Ravenwolf Towers, Verotika and the Obsidian Curse) is walking with her friend Lucy West (LeeAnne Bauer) and let us talk names for a minute. That Westenra is shortened to West is no surprise. More surprising is giving Mina the surname Harker, given that her fiancé is listed as Jonathan Harker (Cardon Ellis) in the credits, one wonders why both had the surname. The other name to mention is Mr Fields (Nathan Smith-Finley); we finally hear his name towards the end of the film but given the character’s dishevelled look, repeated references to “the Master”, and appropriation of Dwight Frye’s laugh he is clearly Renfield.

Nathan Smith-Finley as Mr Fields

Anyway, Mina’s profession is unknown (though mention is made of a photoshoot and studio) but Lucy is an old friend who is there to interview her. They are having a laugh when they are approached by Mr Fields, who grabs Mina and says she is for the Master. Lucy offers a judicious knee to his privates and he leaves. They drive to Mina’s home (to be fair we don’t know if they went elsewhere first) and when they get there Mr Fields is stood by the door. He offers creepy words and then leaves. Lucy follows but loses him immediately, Mina calls the cops.

at the crime scene

So, elsewhere, Detective Mills (Denise Milfort) is at a crime scene. We see fang marks in the neck of the deceased. With a skull on his car hood and covered in tattoos, Detective Paller (Mike Ferguson), does look a tad more gang member than detective but he is Mills partner. This is far from the first victim. Paller is convinced there is a serial killer, Mills has talked to her priest and has come to the conclusion that there is something demonic going on, like vampires. Apparently the only cops in LA, they are sent to Mina’s to discuss the stalking.

Drake and Mina

I mentioned broadcasting punches. Jonathan is at Mina’s when the detectives arrive. Paller waits for an actual invitation before entering and once in is overly attentive to Mina, who asks if she knows him. Later that night Jonathan is attacked by the vampire whilst going home (and there is an alarming lack of concern when he goes incommunicado) and we see Lucy dragged through the house – so the vampire has already been invited (back to alarming, despite Lucy screaming and bleeding wounds on her neck, Mina does not call Mills about the attack in her house till the next morning). Oh, and we discover Paller’s first name is Drake… yeah, he’s Dracula, posing as a detective and working the homicide case where he is the killer.

Lucy turning

It is the laxness in the script that concerns most. With Lucy acting odd (and the film letting her have a gyrate for no real reason after her lesbian advances are rebuffed and before pounding on Mina’s door), Mina decides to contact a priest, picks the first random one she spots online, Father Connor (William 'Bill' Connor, Bloodthirst), and he happens to both believe in vampires and know Dracula’s backstory. Strangely, after he tells Mina about the 15th Century Prince Vlad, who turned from God because his wife died and struck a deal with the devil for immortal life, she uses the name Dracula – though he never mentioned it. You could argue she remembered the name (being his wife reincarnated) but beyond the vague recognition there are no other suggestions of past life memories.

Dracula attacks

Lore is pretty standard, other than Connor telling Mina that Dracula is immortal but can be destroyed if he falls in love again and renounces his pact with the devil, which will lift the curse. Beyond that we get stakes, a silver dagger, and holy items. This was hampered by the lax script and by the fact that they really didn’t put any effort into building a meaningful relationship between Dracula and Mina. This is far from the best, but I have seen a whole lot worse. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Vain – review

Director: Justin Bergonzoni

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

I am not overly sure about the found footage genre generally, but some examples do work. This film mixes found footage with influencer culture and has some interesting moments, though perhaps struggles with tension when we need it (partly down to the nature of found footage). What is interesting is that, in the credits, the film is called Vain by Halvor1812 (Mike Thompson), suggesting that the film was put together by the film’s antagonist.

Halvor's footage

The film is interspersed with footage from Halvor’s YouTube channel, which seems to be captured on film (rather than video) and has been manipulated often to hide faces with Xs. This footage edited through genuinely adds an atmosphere and an artistry to something that, otherwise, would have been digital filming and the primary digital footage would have struggled to keep the viewer's attention on its own. These added moments, placed without commentary, create an unheimlich texture.

Taylor Kilgore as Elizabeth

The rest of the footage is based around the filming that is carried out by Elizabeth (Taylor Kilgore), for her Monsters and Mysteries channel and footage shot by Russell (Justin Bergonzoni) who is making a documentary about Elizabeth. This then draws in Andrew (Mike Lenzini) who has a conspiracy theory channel but also helps out Elizabeth with her channel (both in terms of research material and appearing on it).

Andrea A. Walter as April

Elizabeth had a featured aspect on UFOs but shifts the focus (through a mock ritual) to vampires for the upcoming month. Andrew has lent her a variety of vampire movies for research. One regular feature on her channel is looking at footage that viewers submit (sent both through email and snail mail). She gets a package through the post from Halvor with both a letter and an SD card. When she shows the footage on the card, broadcast live, she’s confused as it just seems to be travel video of a woman, later identified as April Spencer (Andrea A. Walter). In the chat Halvor asks how she liked his vampire movie – the characters don’t pick up on the significance of this for some time.

Mike Lenzini as Andrew

So, there is an investigative part of this, which includes finding Halvor’s page and working out that the subjects of the holiday videos are either missing (four of them) or have been found murdered, holes in the neck and drained of blood. Andrew, being the conspiracy theorist, does believe in vampires and believes there is a cover-up of their existence. Elizabeth takes information to the police, at Russell's insistence, but they seem less than interested and so she vows, on livestream, to stop Halvor (which seems like a dumb move).

Tom Devlin as himself

There is also an aspect of following the influencer around, for the documentary, and that includes attending Tom Devlin's Monster Museum – a real place where, in this, Andrew works part time. This also means meeting Tom (played by himself) and Elizabeth filming a part in his vampire movie. This was fairly neat as the movie is the After Dark, which Tom Devlin really did direct, and though actress Taylor Kilgore isn’t in the real-world movie, it made for a nice blurring of lines between this film and reality.

kidnapped

The issue, as insinuated above, lies in the building of tension within the found footage format. As a for instance – Elizabeth is kidnapped but we don’t see that, just hear of it, as Russell was not filming. In a more traditional narrative, the filmmakers may have made that a thing and built a tension for the audience visually, rather than relying on third hand notification of the event. Equally, when looking for her, I felt the creation of tension relied on Andrew wandering round a dark area (Russell filming) and that atmosphere didn’t build. A shame as, re the Elizabeth footage, Taylor Kilgore is very personable and the Halvor footage builds that mentioned nice uncanny layer. Aside from the uncanny, this is really a 'cat and mouse' and not a horror but I felt it deserved 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mention: Pest Control

The Blurb: Chino and Wang aren’t your average monster hunters, they’re brawlers, hustlers, and unlikely heroes who’ve seen it all.

From the shadowed forests where werewolves prowl, to graveyards crawling with the undead, to crypts ruled by bloodthirsty vampires, they’ve fought their way through every nightmare you’ve heard whispered around a campfire.

Just when you think it can’t get any more dangerous, a multi-headed Hydra rears up from the darkness, ready to tear the world apart. Armed with quick wits, questionable luck, and a knack for surviving the impossible, Chino and Wang are about to face their wildest adventure yet.

The Mention: Another comic from the Afterlight stable, written by Max Aguiree and with art by Jok this was kickstarted in 2025 and is set in a world where society is crumbling after an interdimensional portal opened and allowed an incursion of bugs into our world. It follows Chino and Wang, a couple of monster hunters – who turned to that trade after losing their jobs and, as things start, they are the two remaining hunters out of their crew.

There are a variety of monsters within but, of course, the mention is for the vampires who appear over two chapters. The first of those start with the hunters and a few others trapped in a church under siege by vampires – beyond that the pregnant woman in the church, due and in need of a Caesarean, adds to their problems. The vampires in this are destroyed by direct sunlight but a bit of shade can allow daywalking. When holy water proves to be efficient Chino calls his ex-wife asking her to get a pressure washer and a long hose to him, and he’ll have the priest bless the water as they make a break for the tanning salon over the road and its sunbeds. He aims to get the head vampire en route, describing him as likely the largest alpha male – boy is he wrong about that…

Irreverent, with fatally flawed characters, there is a touch of Ghostbusters to this (it is directly referenced in the opening chapter) but more action and far less genius in the team. You can get the graphic directly from Afterlight.

Honourable Mention: Freckled Max and the Spooks

Directed by Juraj Jakubisko, who would go on to make Bathory, and released in 1987, this is a kid orientated film that features a cornucopia of monsters and the youthful protagonist Freckled Max (Martin Hreben). The film seems to have been cut together from the series Frankenstein’s Aunt (which itself is based on the book of the same name) and explains why the film feels very episodic and slightly disjointed.

Max is an orphan, stuck with a circus and foster parents who are exploiting him. As they pass through a particular region known for vampires and water sprites (amongst other monsters) he manages to escape the caravan, aided by water sprite Alojz (Eddie Constantine). Nearby Henry Frankenstein (Bolek Polívka) is on the verge of copying his ancestor and creating a monster, Albert (Gerhard Karzel). Now the brain is brought by Count Drakula (Ferdy Mayne, the Fearless Vampire Killers, the Vampire Lovers & Frightmare), who flies it in, and is that of a genius professor. Unfortunately, rather than just let it cool, Igor (Jacques Herlin) freezes it, impairing it. Henry leaves (following a village mob’s assault on the castle) and his Aunt (Viveca Lindfors) returns to the castle.

Ferdy Mayne as Drakula

So, Drakula. Firstly it is great to see Ferdy Mayne as a vampire again and he makes a fine looking Dracula. The trouble with it is that he appears very occasionally in the film. There is one particular vampy moment, as he flies Albert’s love interest Klara (Barbara De Rossi) home from the castle and, fascinated by her neck, his fangs pop out but his instinct to feed is quickly interrupted. His cloak turns into leathery bat wings when he flies. At one point he dons a helmet from a suit or armour because the sun is still out but later has got used to flying in daylight. Beyond this he really is a bit of a background character and more a fleeting visitation than mainstay of the film.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

Salem’s Lot (2024) – review

Director: Gary Dauberman

Release Date: 2024

Contains spoilers

When I saw this reimagining of Salem’s Lot at the cinema I was somewhat disappointed, not in the film as a vampire horror as it does well in those stakes, but as a version of King’s book. It failed, to me, to capture the small town and its large cast of characters, who are the reason, to me, that the book is so effective.

I wrote my First Impression with a view to reviewing the film when it was released on physical media. In truth, having heard that the studio trimmed an hour off the theatrical release, I hoped it would be restored and we might get the characters reinstated. As it is, the film still hasn’t hit physical media (mostly) and so I recently picked up the Chinese release (I trust it is kosher), it isn’t restored but here is my review.

getting instruction

The film starts with Straker (Pilou Asbæk) instructing Hank Peters (Mike Kaz) to collect a large crate and deliver it to the Marsten House. It is here that we see the loss of characters. Hank is never named, nor is his helper Snowy (Timothy John Smith, Castle Rock). All we see of picking up the crate is them arriving at the Marsten House and carrying it in – no issues at pickup or transporting it – and the two characters play no further part. They get the crate in, dropping it at one point (the crate is meant to contain a dresser but dirt spills out). They leave, though Hank is nearly mesmerised, and then Barlow (Alexander Ward, American Horror Story: Hotel) emerges from the crate.

Lewis Pullman as Ben

Daylight, and Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), looks at the distant Marsten House. Local sheriff Gillespie (William Sadler, From Dusk till Dawn: the series & Living Among Us) approaches him and Mears explains he is sight-seeing. He is an author, he was local until he was nine (when his parents were killed and he was moved to family) and he promises Gillespie that he won’t cause trouble. He goes into town and the real estate office owned by Larry Crockett (Michael Steven Costello). Working there is Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), who is reading one of Ben’s books – she finds him familiar, not realising that it is from his author’s picture on the fly sleeve until Crockett has taken over the conversation. She directs Ben to Eva Miller (Marilyn Busch) and her boarding house. Again, here, we lose Crockett from this point and Weasel (the town drunk and Eva’s former paramour) we see for the briefest moment, top of the head only with one line of dialogue.

"say Uncle"

At school new kid Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter) is being tied up by the Glicks, Danny (Nicholas Crovetti) and Ralphy (Cade Woodward), for an escapology trick when school bully Richie Boddin (Declan Lemerande) pushes Mark. He retaliates and makes him call Uncle (though he doesn’t release) and teacher Matt Burke (Bill Camp) intervenes – telling Mark off for not releasing when Boddin cried Uncle as they keep their word in the Lot. What was strange here was making Mark the new kid. Mark may have been the weird kid in other versions, but he wasn’t an outsider but in this he is. The film makes mention of Ben also being an outsider – though he is more the Prodigal Son. Vampires are outsiders, of course, hence needing invites and the film doesn’t explore deep enough to explain why the primary two vampire hunters are also coded outsiders.

shadow puppets

Ben has been, unsubtly, invited to the drive in – the place the whole town goes to – and ends up sat on a roof with Susan. Meanwhile the Glick boys have been at Mark’s and head home. A side-bar to mention the fact that Mark has a poster for the great blaxploitation film Sugar Hill on his wall. As the Glicks walk, a car pulls close and slows; it is driven by Straker, who offers them a lift. In response Danny refuses and guides his brother into the woods to get away from the strange man. It is a strange design choice to make the ensuing scene unreal, trees and characters in silhouette against a mostly blue background. This is like shadow puppets. Straker grabs Ralphie and takes him back to the Marsten House and gifts him to Barlow as a sacrifice (to cement his presence in the town).

revoked invitation

This is the start of the death (or undeath) of the town and the film cuts forward a week, with the search for Ralphie still ongoing. We get the death of Danny and him returning to get Mark and gravedigger Mike Ryserson (Spencer Treat Clark) found ill by Matt Burke, dying and returning for the teacher. What I want to discuss is the confused invitation rule. Mike enters Matt’s house as a vampire and presumably is using the invitation he got when he was already bitten and ill (and so part vampire). Matt revokes his invitation and it drives him out. Equally Danny visits Mark and Mark opens a window and Danny floats in. But there was no invitation – true he’d been there before but before being bitten. Perhaps non-verbal invitation (opening the window) was enough? Equally Barlow enters the Petrie’s house and there appears to have been no invitation (though perhaps being invited to the town, along with the sacrifice, sufficed?)

Danny triggers the cross

The scenes mentioned above highlight another way lore seemed off. When Danny is in Mark’s room, and Mark is backing away, a cross on a diorama lights up as the vampire draws near, Mark grabs it and burns Danny. It is very much the presence of the vampire, near the cross, that causes the cross to glow. When Barlow comes to the Petrie House, a cross held by Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) glows. However, it loses its glow as his faith wains – if faith is needed then the crosses would not be glowing simply because a vampire was near as the faith in the cross would, I imagine, need to be focused into it. Indeed two tongue depressors crossed, with conviction, don't work until taped and constructed to form a cross. Other lore involves vampires flying (they can’t stand on holy ground but can fly over it), a bite turns (pretty quickly in some cases, depending on what the film needs), staking or sunlight kills.

below the mortician's shroud

Beyond the inconsistent use of crosses/faith and invitation this is not a bad vampire film. It leans into horror and uses Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown neatly in the soundtrack. What I cannot call this is a decent version of Salem’s Lot. I get things can be changed from source material (indeed sometimes changing source material improves the experience) but this seemed to utterly lose the point, the cornucopia of townsfolk, their stories, are at the centre of the point of the tale. I still hope to see a 3-hour cut, of course that won’t cover all characters from the novel but could restore the small-town focus. 6 out of 10 as a vampire horror, but when you watch it divorce the book from your mind.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Bela Belara's A Vampire – review

Director: Juaquin Sebastian Rosales

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

This independently produced film has a huge amount going for it – though there was one issue I need to address – but it’s great to see filmmakers creating decent films, clearly on a budget, and doing it well. My thanks to Paul who alerted me to it being dropped by the production company onto YouTube.

Kayla and Charlie

The opening sees a couple walking at night, there is religious music and they speak and their speech might be indistinct purposefully... but it is here that I’ll briefly touch on my main issue – sound. Indistinct chatter may have been a choice here but in other scenes one actor's voice might drop compared to another as they face away from a mic. It is never so bad later that you can’t hear but you can hear the drop in volume and I’d look to tweak aspects of the sound in the future sequel (as this does lead to a ‘to be continued’).

bloodbath

The couple, Kayla (Cecilia Cuevas) and Charlie (Quinn Sbrega), reach his parents house. He is taking her to meet them and she is nervous – they are very religious. However, on getting in there both mum (Emily Candia) and dad (Robert Coe) seem cool and they sit down for a meal when the subject of work (Kayla works as a server at a diner at night) and church (she isn’t practicing) come up. Dad suggests she go to mass with them and she agrees, but for a moment she is distracted as blood-soaked hands are seen in the window, smearing blood on the porch woodwork. Grace is said but we cut to Kayla sat, covered in blood, as the family have been/are being slaughtered.

Bela's dream

Bela (Annie Jean Buckley) seems to wake in a field, in the middle of nowhere, a locket on a tree branch has blood on it. A voice (Daniel J Lee) suggests that there are things she cannot run from. Bolting awake in bed she puts her hand into a shaft of light, which does not burn. Where this sequence features chronologically is unclear as she has not come across the vampires yet. Be that as it may… we then see her in a car with her best friend Micah (Taylor McDonald) and Micah’s friend Aaron (Broc Stermer). He has taken them to, what appears to be, a frat party but warns that the guys are hardcore, he is their chaperone and will remain in 5-feet at all times and not to accept a drink as it might be spiked.

Juaquin Sebastian Rosales as Arthur

He heads in and Bela and Micah speak – Micah is nervous, she has awkward social skills, and tells Bela not to ditch her. Bela agrees and they get through the door when Bela is off and doing shots. Bela notices a guy for a moment, and asks about him and his whereabouts, showing pictures on her phone, which he looks like, that include Hotel Transylvania’s Dracula and Count Von Count. As a moment that seemed odd, no more was made of her having vampire related pics on her phone and more natural would have been to ask about the Goth looking guy. Nevertheless, she finds him and starts a conversation – he is called Arthur (Juaquin Sebastian Rosales).

aftermath of newborn hunger

This is where the film started to really gel for me, and it was within their conversation. A big shout for Annie Jean Buckley and Juaquin Sebastian Rosales’ performances, the naturalistic conversation and the chemistry they offered. She eventually gets out of there with him, back to hers. When Aaron hears that Bela has left, he leaves Micah and goes chasing after her. We get a great sequence of Bela and Arthur making out, interposed with Micah drunk and dancing. The make out session ends with fangs and him biting her. He bites his own wrist (they make this look difficult and painful) and drips blood into her mouth, leaves a note and leaves the house. Aaron arrives as he leaves and he sends the lad inside, knowing she will awaken vampire and uncontrollably hungry (later he says he did it to protect her little sister who is in the house). When an angry Micah gets there, Bela is blood encrusted and Aaron is dead.

bite

What we get then is Bela coming to terms with her new reality, Arthur being cryptic, the revelation that Micah is a witch and an overarch regarding the plans of master vampire Sânge Albescu, whose voice was in Bela’s dream, which are about death, destruction and worship of him. Other lore we get is that these vampires reflect (we see reflections), are burnt by the sun and the ‘disease’ is incurable. The film is an hour forty-four but never feels a chore, but it is only the opening of the story and needs to be continued. As mentioned, our two primary leads are great, I might have removed some minor aspects (vampire pics on Bela’s phone) and there are dialogue moments where the sound could have been strengthened but for an indie film you can watch for free (at time of writing) I was impressed. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.