Use of Tropes: Bat Zombies

I guess this 2023 feature, directed by Brian Orvik, couldn’t help but use tropes being a stitch together of several public domain films, with a slapdash of new footage, and a re-dub to aim towards something more comedic.

The films used include the Last Man on Earth, House on Haunted Hill, The Bat, White Zombie, The Devil Bat and Night of the Living Dead and so you can see, given the inclusion of Last Man, why tropes might be used.

Indeed, in this tale of zombie bats and infected humans, the reanimated dead are all called zombies but they can be repelled by mirrors (as opposed to not reflecting) and are killed by a stake to the heart – as per the Last Man on Earth. For that reason this deserved to get a brief honourable mention due to use of tropes. 

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

DC vs. Vampires: World War V Vol. 2 – review

Writer: Matthew Rosenberg et al.

Artist: Otto Schmidt et al.

First published: 2025 (THB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: The epic sequel to DC Vs. Vampires barrels towards its earth-shattering conclusion! Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt have teamed up to conclude their story about the DC Vs. Vampires universe in its new Ice Age as the human resistance gathers their strength against vampire queen Barbara Gordon...and even greater threats that loom just out of sight!

The world is frozen over, infested with vampires, and now in the crosshairs of even greater threats!

The inevitable Darkseid has tightened his grip on the already ravaged planet, forcing a tenuous alliance to form between the humans and the vampires, lest they both find themselves snuffed out by the power of a terrifying New God. But is even the threat of extinction enough to keep these two sides from tearing each other apart?

Collects the epic conclusion of DC Vs. Vampires: World War V with issues #7-12.

The review: Followng DC vs. Vampires: World War V Vol. 1, this takes the DC Elseworlds event and brings it to a conclusion. Darkseid had appeared on Earth in the last volume and, from page 1 of this, he is conducting all out war against vampire and human alike. Part of the reason is to get to his prodigal adopted son Mister Miracle; thought dead by most but actually held in Atlantis by (the vampire) Aquaman as his baby may hold the key to the vampires’ destruction and the duplicitous King of the Oceans is holding that card close to his chest. The spirit of Constantine is stuck in the House of Mystery. Alfred, the new Green Lantern, has mastered his powers and is forced to work with the faux Batman in a plan that should reopen the House of Mystery to the mortal world. Vampire Damian Wayne is still single-mindedly focused on killing Vampire Queen Barbara Gordon.

One thing the series has been vague upon is the impact of vampirism on alien physiology. Although the series generally says it doesn’t turn aliens, this is not always the case (for example Superman turns early in the series and Mister Miracle is the Scott Free version, who was a New God). Knowing that Darkseid would come, the vampires had been working on a weapon that would use the vampiric infection as ammunition, not to turn but rather to kill aliens – the prototype was destroyed but a certain Haley Quinn was privy to its design. Finally the New Gods also arrive but can they be trusted?

This takes the DC Vs Vampires universe to a conclusion and was a satisfying, action packed read. 8 out of 10.

In Hardback @ Amazon US

In Hardback @ Amazon UK

Daydreamers – review

Director: Timothy Linh Bui

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

It great to see a piece of vampire cinema coming out of Vietnam, especially when it looks as good as Nguoi Mat Troi (which apparently translates to People of the Sun). There were aspects of this that felt like underlying social commentary around class and status, which I missed the nuance of due to not being aware of societal cultures in Vietnam, but they were a minor thing within a vampire movie that owed its tropes to Western cinema.

opening animation

That importing of the tropes is tackled in an animated opening that suggested a history were European vampires were being wiped out and so they fled to Indochina, where they cut a bloody swathe through the country, murdering, feeding and turning. Eventually the people fought back, driving the vampires to near extinction. The commentary on colonisation here is obvious.

Marco hunting

The vampires decided they had to blend in to survive and there is a general rule of no killing (though also a rule of leaving no witnesses, which does involve killing). We meet a schoolgirl, who is helping her dad. She is apparently top of her class and doing really well. Her dad transports stock from his store as she closes up for him. He is worried for her, but she reminds him it is a five minute walk home. As she leaves we see she is observed and a hooded figure, later revealed as Marco (Thuan Nguyen), floats down behind her. She does get home and is sat at a dresser, not noticing the reflected shutters opening – vampires in this cast no reflection. He feeds from her and then takes her to the river and dumps the body, wrapped in chains to weight it down. The police are called to the bodiless bloody scene in her bedroom.

testing Nhat

We meet a group of vampires, the so-called Daydreamers. They have a legend of a turned monk who sealed himself into a cave for 100 years, subsisting on rat blood and avoiding humans, until he eventually became human again. These vampires believe that through abstinence they can tame their inner demon and turn back to human. The sect is led by Vy (Thiên Tư), with her her human son Loc (Thach Kim Long), who is a police detective, acting as a daylight protector. They do a test of some of the vampires (chaining them up and putting blood before them) following the murder (Loc recognising the signs of a vampire attack at the crime scene). Among those tested is Nhat (Trang Ngoc Vang), the main protagonist of the film – one of the vampires fails the test and is killed by silver bullet.

slaughter fantasy

Nhat’s job is to pick up animal blood (currently fish blood) and distribute it to fellow daydreamers. As he drives through the city he passes Ha (Trinh Thao), being bullied by other schoolgirls. She jumps onto his trailer but he stops (she drops her purse that he subsequently accidentally rides off with), forcing her off the vehicle, but does intervene in the beating Ha is getting. Elsewhere Marco is with Trieu (Chi Pu) at an opulent restaurant celebrating their 1-year anniversary. She offers venison blood to drip in their champagne – he fantasises about the two of them slaughtering the staff and customers. We later discover she is the vampire queen of the city.

Nhat and Ha

Marco is Nhat’s brother. He escaped from the daydreamers when he failed the blood test but their mother took the silver bullet fired at him. He returns to Nhat and tempts him to go out with his new friends – which involves going to one of Trieu’s clubs (it seems she runs clubs, gambling dens etc). Coincidentally, also at the club is Ha, dragged there by her friend Mai (Ngân Hoà). There is an attraction between her and Nhat and he does become drunk. Trying to help him in the restroom she sees he has no reflection and runs. Trieu’s rule is there are no witnesses, so Ha should die – Nhat wants to save her by getting her out of Ho Chi Minh and Loc sees them together and fears the worst. Marco wants his brother with him but, of course, he has embraced his vampirism more fully than any other vampire we meet, with a credo that goes against both Trieu's rules and the ethos of the daydreamers.

dying vampire

So, the lore is pretty standard – sunlight burns, silver can kill and burns otherwise, no reflection and the vampires are fast and strong (though Marco seems exceptionally strong comparatively and this, presumably, is down to his human diet – there is a quite a collection of weighted down bodies in the river). When they die they crumble and dust and the effect is neatly done. They refer to humans as pets. It appears that a bite turns – so I guess that fully draining kills and part draining turns (the film doesn't distinguish). The film looks great and clearly had budget. Trang Ngoc Vang really does well, creating a sympathetic protagonist, but Thuan Nguyen needs mentioning as he really makes Marco a character you root for, despite being the one vampire with absolutely no moral compass. The film’s English title is odd as the daydreamers play a relatively minor role in the story. 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Vampire Zombies... From Space! – review

Director: Michael Stasko

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

With the best will in the world, this film drawn like a 1950s-B should score low, it really should. However, I sat amused as I watched this. Michael Stasko and his team aimed for something straight out of Ed Wood’s playbook and totally committed to it and that commitment paid off, this should be bad, or so bad it’s good, rather I think it is actually pretty darn good.

Drawn in Black and White it starts at the MacDowell tobacco farm and mom, Bernice (Catherine Valle) sings a lullaby as she and pa, Roy (Erik Helle), put daughters Mary (played young by Elizabeth Wacheski and older by Jessica Antovski) and Susan (played young by Lauren Meadows and older by Charlotte Bondy) to bed. Later in the night the family dog, out on the porch, starts barking. Susan goes to the window and sees it run off into the tobacco fields, she follows.

spattered in mom's gore

Mary gets her parents and they look for her sister, who has been traumatised when she found the dog fed on by Dracula (Craig Gloster). In response Dracula causes his spaceship (yes, he’s a UFO flying Dracula) to blast Bernice, leaving Roy, along with the girls, spattered in her gore. Dracula turns his attention to the family but the spaceship fails and a reflection of light catching Roy’s cross causes the vampire to flee, turning into a bat.

Oliver Georgiou as Wayne

Ten years later and, a now grown, Mary is walking to school, something is in the field by her but she is distracted when a car with some guys stop by her. The majority are being sexual to her – though there is a warning about her murderous father. It seems that the townsfolk believe Roy killed Bernice, though he was acquitted. No one believes about the UFO. One of the guys, Wayne (Oliver Georgiou), is pissed with the attitude of the others and makes them drive off. They don’t see the zombie come of the field and rip Mary’s throat out – or the others that then rip her to shreds. I say zombie but they have fangs…

stake

Essentially, Dracula is going to invade Earth. His son, Dylan (Robert Kemeny) – a secret human-o-phile – created a serum that prevents their reaction to the cross (although these space vampires do not know it as a cross and refer to it as a t symbol). The side effect is that those bitten by a vaccinated vampire will turn, develop fangs but they (and their brains) rot. In other words, zombie vampires (or zompires, we would say). Like a vampire they must have the heart destroyed, not the rotting brain. There is, however, another apotropaic in the film, which the audience works out long before the characters – tobacco. It scares them off and makes vampire technology fritz out (hence the foul up at the beginning). It seems that it works fresh but tobacco smoke seems more effective.

the vampire high council

So, there is a vampire high council – not impressed with Dracula’s efforts. Unnamed in film they are credited as Vampira (Judith O'Dea, Night of the Living Dead), Nosferatu (David Liebe Hart) and Coppola's Dracula (Martin Ouellette). There is a cracking mirror bit with Dylan dressed as a soldier with a massive fake beard and only being spotted through the mirror – and it’s a moment where we can see a reflection of clothes (and fake beard) but not the vampire. There is turning into bats, as mentioned, but at one point Dracula turns into a bat to get into a mini bat-winged UFO.

clothes reflect

High silliness abounds with some genuine NSFW jokes - Lloyd Kaufman for instance appears as a character credited as town masturbator and his antics, when described, are consistently followed up with the line, “did he finish?” But the real reason this works is the absolute commitment to the aesthetic. The designs – be it the sci-fi elements or the fifties elements are bob on. There is no attempt to hide the wires. Because that fits the aesthetic. This was way more fun than I thought it would be. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

The Boulet Brothers’ Holiday Of Horrors – review

Directors: The Boulet Brothers

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

A special for Shudder by the Boulet Brothers, unlike the previous special this was not a sketch show, rather it was an anthology of short films with a portmanteau of Dracmorda and Swanthula getting into the holiday spirit with (a dug up) David Dastmalchian.

The first film was entitled Gaudete and was directed by the Boulet Brothers. It does not mention vampires but it certainly codes that way in the look and actions of the creature (Bonnie Aarons, Jakob’s Wife & Little Bites).

Aaron Abrams as John

Judy (Eloisa Huggins) is sat in the kitchen of, what used to be, her grandmother’s house. Grandmother recently passed and her mum (Briana Venskus) is talking to her, but Judy is upset at both her loss and the speed at which they have moved in, noting that Grandmothers’ things are all still there. Meanwhile, her stepfather, John (Aaron Abrams), washes up and makes comment, whilst a flashback shows grandma at the bottom of the stairs and John at the top, intimating he pushed her.

deep upset

Judy storms out, it is clear she has no time for her stepfather, and goes to, what amounts to, a shrine to Grandmother. She listens to a musical box and lets out a keening sob (interesting note, the musical box tune is either not diegetic as it plays before she touches or opens it, or she doesn’t notice the supernatural nature of the music from an unopened box. We know it is a musical box due to a note in the box she wrote to grandmother). Mum tries to speak to her again, to no avail, before Judy retires to bed.

awakening

Meanwhile, in a crypt a pair of eyes open. Now, by the credits this is grandmother, but I mentioned a creature at the head of the review. Long bat-ears, sunken-grey features, and bald at least at front (with long hair at the back of the skull), she codes very strongly of inhuman vampire. There is a great choir driven piece of music over this as she goes to avenge herself. Again, coding vampire as although there is a kill by ripping a throat out there is also a feeding moment as she worries a neck and turns to camera with a bloody mouth – but that is all we get iro grandmother and the story.

the hosts

This works well enough. It broadcasts the story in broad brush and would probably have benefitted with a little longer – in fact that could be said for most of the shorts as the entire special, including portmanteau, is only 40 minutes. That said it is a perfectly serviceable little flick, with a holiday connection as it is set during Christmas. The other segments of the anthology do not contain vampires or vampiric content – though I will say the final animated segment is wonderfully trippy. The score is for the vampire segment, and I found it decent enough but basic in story. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Shudder via Amazon US

On Demand @ Shudder via Amazon UK

Honourable Mention: Operation Blood Hunt

This is a 2024 film directed by Louis Mandylor and follows a special ops group pulled together to do a mission during the second world war and, of course there is a supernatural threat, betrayal and such shenanigans. It starts however, with a black and white scene in 1928 with a man (Willy Zogo) who has been injured on the neck and Murphy (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the Mortal Instruments: City of Bones & Dracula – Season 1). They have a found a box of vials which are shown coloured in the black and white.

Cut forward to 1945 and Murphy runs a bar. A man, Richter (Louis Mandylor), enters and orders meat and booze trying to pay with some form of antiquated coins. He wars a generic black coat with SS symbols on the lapels. Murphy recognises him for what he is and yet still allows a couple of patrons/bouncers to fight with him. Eventually he is about to bite someone, and Murphy suggests if he bites their neck he’ll blow his head off.

stabity stab

Enter the Reverend (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson) who takes a seat and whiskey. Richter says he knows who he is, and then mentions his father before running at him (there is a blurry effect when the vampire moves fast). Without getting up, the Reverend sticks a sword through the vampire, and then manoeuvres him to a bathroom where he extracts his fangs with pliers. Leaving the bathroom there are two US forces agents (in rather ill-fitting uniforms) waiting for him. They sent the vampire to get his attention – why is never clear – and want the Reverend to do a mission for them, in return they have information they’ll declassify about his father.

Louis Mandylor as Richter

Richter reappears later, whilst the Reverend is on the mission, trying to steal the vials from Murphy, who stakes him – though not through the heart as he wants him to suffer. He ends up letting Richter leave, shoots his leg as he exits the building and allows him to burn in the sun. A black and white flashback shows him with the man – who was the Reverand’s father. The bandage on his neck shows he was bitten by a vampire due to the two points of blood oozing. Murphy gives him a vial of spirit elixir and suggests it’ll hold off transformation for a month. He promises to watch the Reverend’s back as the man leaves, to lose himself out there.

in the sun

And that’s it – a fleeting vampire visitation of a nazi vampire (so coded by the SS badges on a coat that is clearly not a German officer issue) and introduced to give a bit of a muddled backstory around the Reverend, Murphy and the Rev’s missing father (who ended up at the island the mission takes place on, which is home to werewolves and we hear they turned him to try and help with his sickness – that might indicate a werewolf/vampire hybrid but we never see him). A bite turns, staking and sunlight kills, presumably they struggle hunting without fangs (that tends to be the trope when extracted, though it is pretty senseless as, well, knives…). A fleeting visitation.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Lesbian Vampire Seeking Jewish Lover

Directed by Chris Hale and coming in at under 15 minutes, this 2025 short film was shot in Black and White and follows vampire Laura (Addi Main). In the first instance we see her with Emily (Noah Freeman). Laura soon attacks her.

One thing I noticed was Laura wearing a glucose monitoring patch and it did take me out of the film for a moment but the idea of a diabetic vampire is not unique and, indeed, we meet one in Sanguine Teeth on a Driftless Road. Be that as it may, she cleans herself up, gets a cab and goes to Club Requiem.

cab ride

In the club she meets Hannah (Dolly Universe) who goes home with her but there is no attack, indeed Hannah sleeps against her in the taxi home and Laura allows her to sleep at her home, sleeping herself on the couch. In the morning, before she leaves, Hannah gives Laura her Star of David, a guarantee that she’ll show to their next date… There isn’t a great deal more to the story, the film simply following the two characters falling in love, obviously with a vampiric twist.

The imdb page is here.