Short Film: Orlock

Coming in under 10-minutes this is a silent homage to Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by Kevin Forte and released in 2011.

The film has a near sepia tone and a deliberate fuzzing and added film degradation, which is meant to harken back to the days of silent movies and nitrate film and which also allows the filmmakers to hide any issues. That said, when we see him, the makeup work for Orlock (Michael Licatese) looks pretty good.

Amy (Lori Pirone) conducts a ritual, including cutting her hand and drinking her own blood, to try and summon Orlock. A note here, whilst the IMDb page calls him Graf Orlock, the intertitles (on more than one occasion) say Count Graf Orlock… Graf, of course, means Count and it is a little faux pas. Eventually Amy puts her ritual candles out and goes to bed.

Amy turned

Some time later, Mist rolls down the side of the house and Orlock arrives. He enters the building and feeds from Amy – a scene that has a fair amount of fake blood – and turns her. She awakens vampire… and that’s it, though the intertitles do give us a tad more of an insight into the workings of her mind. The film is an homage, as mentioned, and clearly a labour of love for Forte, who would go on to bring us A Vampire’s Heartbreak.

The imdb page is here, the film can be watched on YouTube.

Interesting Short: Luella Miller

“CLOSE to the village street stood the one-story house in which Luella Miller, who had an evil name in the village, had dwelt.” Thus begins the story by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, first published in Everybody's Magazine in December 1902 and then her collated collection The Wind in the Rose Bush and Other Stories of the Supernatural (1903). We are dealing with an energy vampire – perhaps unknown to herself – and maybe even a vampiric building.

The main part of the story is as narrated by Lydia Anderson, who lived opposite Miller. However, when she came to town (with the Maiden name Hill) she had become a teacher – and a poor one at that. It is noted that one of the students, named Lottie Henderson, actually taught for her but Lottie died within the year. As it was, Luella had caught the eye of Erasmus Miller, who married her and Luella stopped teaching. The boy who helped her in the school after Lottie’s death went crazy a year after she married. Also within the year Erasmus’ health had declined so much he died – the story connects this to consumption (which is intimately tied into American vampire folklore).

There then follows a series of people who become obsessed with Luella and do everything for her, with her claiming she was unable to do the slightest household chore. The way she drew a victim seemed supernatural in and of itself. Anderson seems immune and indeed states “There was somethin’ about Luella Miller seemed to draw the heart right out of you, but she didn't draw it out of me”. The townsfolk do mention witchcraft and the ending indicates that the spirits of those killed by her stayed with her, still serving her.

At the head of the article, I mentioned a vampiric building and that would be Miller’s house. The house stands unheimlich in the town, causing children passing by to shudder and had not had a tenant since Miller had died, except one hale and hearty old woman who took up tenancy and “in seven days she was dead; it seemed that she had fallen a victim to some uncanny power.” Not conclusive, of course, but it is implied that the house holds something of what made Miller so dangerous. Just to note, there was a 2005 New Zealand film of the same name but, at best you could say, they borrowed the name. The film is more a sexual cuckoo in the nest story and has no hint of vampirism.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Marvel Zombies – review

Director: Bryan Andrews

First aired: 2025

Contains spoilers

Marvel Zombies was a limited (4 episode) animated series released in time for the Halloween season. It follows the Zombies episode of What If…? As such it is in an alternate timeline to the primary MCU. When we hit the first episode it is five years after the outbreak, the Earth has more or less fallen and is isolated from the universe by atmospheric energy interference generated by the Wakanda Event (the destruction of the infinity stones when Zombie Thanos threatened to use the infinity gauntlet).

young heroes

It starts with three young heroes; Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) aka Ms Marvel, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) aka Ironheart and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld, Sinners) aka Hawkeye, who have the repurposed AI driven ironman armour named F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Kerry Condon) with them. Every time they leave their base to enter the city for supply runs they encounter and are hunted by the zombie Hawkeye, AKA Clint Barton. This time they see a Quinjet go down and find a miniaturised transmitter swallowed by the zombified pilot. They ascertain that it is a transmitter to help save the planet and need to get it to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base.

Khonsu

It is during that journey that all three look about to lose their lives, however Hawkeye and Ironheart sacrifice themselves to save Ms Marvel (with F.R.I.D.A.Y. flying her out of the immediate area before returning to Ironheart) but she looks likely to die too until she is rescued by Blade Knight (Todd Williams, the Vampire Diaries). So, this is Blade but, after the previous avatar became zombified, he has become the avatar of Khonsu (Piotr Michael), God of the Moon, with the Knight in his name coming from the fact that the avatar is normally Moon Knight. 

Todd Williams voices Blade

He has fangs and was clearly the daywalker before this happened, but comments later call him a vampire (rather than dhampir, but we have no reason to believe he is a full vampire), with another suggesting he no longer drinks blood. This is unlikely down to his serum and more likely him being sustained by Khonsu. The other thing to note is the voicing by Todd Williams. The MCU Blade movie has been stuck in development Hell, though Mahershala Ali was cast as Blade and voiced him for a line in the Eternals. Whether this casting means Ali is no longer connected and Williams is, Ali was unavailable for this, or that the project has been finally abandoned, is unknown as I write this.

the Queen of the Dead

Another thing to note is Blade Knight is in all four episodes and represents a major Deus Ex Machina – due to Khonsu – so not the cameo of the character we saw in Deadpool & Wolverine. The series sees Ms Marvel, Blade Knight and those they gather round them being chased across the globe by the Queen of the Dead, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) – the zombified version of the Scarlet Witch, who was a central aspect of the What If…? Episode and who has gained the ability to connect to zombies psychically and is building a horde.

the Blade Knight

This was fun. Blade Knight gets to have plenty of sword play, and there are loads of Marvel heroes (either in flashback or present day) both zombified and still living. If I had a complaint, it was that it felt like lurching from one crisis to another. In a longer built series they would perhaps have had moments of calm to balance it out. That said, the scenario meant that perhaps it would have been relentless. There are moral ambiguities drawn in at times but perhaps not too much of that and the heroes tend just to be heroic. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Midnight Feature – Special Delivery – review

Director: Jackie D Brown

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

This one really does contain spoilers. Midnight Feature is a short anthology series available via Amazon and this is the first episode of the first season. The twist at the very end is that a woman is a vampire and so, by dint of being here, the episode is spoiled – sorry. Getting to that denouement is not the best of journeys, I’m sorry to say, ironic as the episode is within the world of car shares.

The series is linked by a host, the Curator (John Potash), and the episode then goes into an advert for Friend Ships, a ride share company, highlighting “Captain” James (Joshua Myron McKinney). We are then with James (and we move into an unnecessary found footage mode) as he goes to work. A call from his girlfriend out of the way and he starts picking up rides.

ride share

The section with him picking up rides is too long in a very short run time (29 minutes, including credits and series link) and does not offer any character development as James communicates in the absolute false language of the US service industry He eventually gets a ride with an attractive girl (Becca Anne) who puts bags in his boot. When at her destination, she is getting her bags when he gets a call from his girl, accusing him of cheating and dumping him. Without thinking he reverses, into the girl.

tied up

Assuming she is dead, he sticks her in the boot and drives home to get a shovel. When he gets back to the boot he realises she is still alive and drags her into the garage and ties her up. When she comes round, she starts asking him to release her, her father is a powerful man and James will be in big trouble. He takes himself away for a moment and, within his angst, decides to kill and dispose of her but, as he is about to strike, a man (Michael Rock) with two bodyguards speaks. He soon allows his daughter to feast on James – and she codes as vampire.

vamped

And that’s it – the biggest problem being the found footage is unnecessary and moves the film into too dark and too shaky territories. The other issue is the service-speak overwhelming any character development. It would have been better to move straight to her ride and then extend dialogue in the garage to build his character. Unfortunate. 3.5 out of 10.

The episode's imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Carmilla Volume 2: The Last Vampire Hunter – review

Author: Amy Chu

Illustrations: Soo Lee

First published: 2024

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Before Dracula, before Nosferatu, there was...CARMILLA.

In the second volume of this feminist tale of murder, monsters, and mystery layered with dark Chinese folklore, social worker turned vampire hunter Athena Lo has just lost everyone she loves—and it's all her fault.

Hoping to put her life back together, Athena travels to San Francisco’s Chinatown on a quest to uncover the secrets of her mysterious family history. But her journey escalates into a nightmare when she‘s violently introduced to a new, ruthless gang of Asian American vampires and its unlikely leader, who hold shocking truths. As she navigates this dangerous territory, Athena can't escape the ghost of Carmilla...and neither can the vampires. Athena must decide—whose side is she on?

Inspired by the gothic novel that started the vampire genre, this queer, feminist murder mystery graphic novel is a tale of identity, obsession and fateful family secrets.

The review: It would have been easy for this sequel to Carmilla: The First Vampire to have ignored the titular vampire as vampire hunter Athena Lo destroys her in the first volume – but, as we know, you can’t keep a good vampire down. Though, her presence in the book is fleeting (and she seems to have taken the form of a monk). Primarily it follows Athena to San Francisco, where she hopes to piece together her family history.

There she discovers a whole bunch of Asian vampires (and a werewolf), we get Nukekubi (a Japanese Yokai that the book identifies as a Filippino vampire), the Indian Brahmarakshaa (a type of rakshasa), Korean Dokkeabi Goblin (which I have not seen connected with vampirism before) and the Japanese Nure-Omna (another Yokai). Without identifying it, we see a penanggalan and Taki who is a Geungshi (which is the Korean variant spelling of Jiangshi or Kyonsi). The leader is Wing, a young boy who had been attacked by a vampire and was saved by Taki – causing Wing to become a hybrid of western vampire and Jiangshi – Wing happens to be Athena’s older brother though she doesn’t remember him. He tells her of their parents, and their deaths, the Jiangshi hunter heritage and that a Taoist priest had taken her and protected her – the man she knew as her grandfather Yeh Yeh. Unfortunately, Wing has plans for Athena.

Of course, the first volume used Athena’s queerness and Asian identity as lenses for othering. This volume concentrates on the American historic, and more modern, treatment of Asians, and the Chinese specifically through Taki. The redemptive element around him was really rather well done and moving. The story is neat, the appearance of Carmilla fleeting but it was a good, solid little volume. 7 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Honourable Mention: Jim Haggerty's Unnatural Causes

A 2025 portmanteau film directed by Jim Haggerty, there are three stories here and, whilst arguably, there might be a revenant in one of the segments, the reason for the mention is the wraparound and that is both a fleeting visitation of someone who may be acting as a vampire, rather than being one.

The film starts with a news report of the death of a minor celebrity. Vlad Eterno (Baron Misuraca, 60 Seconds to Die & Seymour the Unfortunate Vampire) was an actor in low budget horror films, whose films veered towards the really poor eventually, but he was due a comeback by making a TV series for the same channel the news is on. The newscaster reports Eterno’s alleged age as 300-years-old.

out of the coffin

A couple of Goth women are let into the funeral home to see the body before the family get there. They discuss how he was meant to be a vampire – so with the mythology of being 300 and a vampire, likely acting as a vampire. They give him a rose and he awakens, gets out of the coffin and gives them a film tin with the first three episodes of the series Unnatural Causes (our segments obviously) and tasks them to get them seen. He then leaves; getting into a black Cadillac, which then drives off and vanishes – so perhaps there was some truth to his supernatural claims? Maybe it was a publicity stunt? But, from our point of view, that’s it; bar his intro segments to each short film, a fleeting visitation.

The imdb page is here.

Vampire Club – review

Director: Dennis Devine

Release date: 2013

Contains spoilers

Back with the video vampires of Dennis Devine and the director’s efforts haven’t found much favour in my reviews so far. So, let’s see how this fares.

It starts with a woman, Vicky (Veronica Ricci, Arise of the Snake Women & Fangs Out) strutting down the street. She arrives at a house and meets Ali (Tracy Carr). Ali has fangs and soon bites Vicky but not before suggesting she should join “the club” and makes her drink her blood after the bite. She needs a second draught of vampire blood to fully turn (and it is suggested that not drinking vampire blood at all would have resulted in her death), but Ali needs to feed first.

stomach stake

She heads out and spots Amanda (Krystal Ellsworth) and is about to attack when Amanda uses her name. Confused, she asks how she knows her, which is the opportunity Amanda needs to stake her – avenging her brother and sister. Her hunting partner Lance (Dylan Vox, the Lair, Scab, Brides of Sodom & Vampire Boys) arrives and takes her head with a sword. Now, the beheading looked good – even if the head was obviously a prop – as did the staking (at least on the surface). However, the stake was clearly in the stomach. Now, whilst the stomach might be folklorically accurate (to pin the corpse to the grave), this wasn’t what they were going for and was slapdash.

Marlene Mc'Cohen as Dorothy

Vampire Master Dorothy (Marlene Mc'Cohen, Vampire Boys 2: The New Brood, Fangs Out: Blood Apocalypse & also Fangs Out and Vampire Boys), with vampires Piper (Harmony Smith, also Fangs Out: Blood Apocalypse) and Stephanie (Ginny You, also Fangs Out: Blood Apocalypse), finds Ali. Piper decides it is time to move on, but the hunters read newspapers to track their progress. As things develop, the vampires get jobs as dancers (of the go-go variety) but Piper is out of control and her devouring of a stag at the club leads to his sister joining the hunters. Vicky, in the meantime, is drawn to the vampires to get the second draught of vampire blood (the spirit of Ali apparently speaking to her).

double bite

There isn’t much more of a story. The strip club has an outside establishing shot but seems to be just any old office location converted into a makeshift stage and back rooms. The lore is confused in terms of crosses not working (though the hunters seem to think they do) but holy water burning – the film makes no attempt to explain the reasoning. Sunlight is mentioned as the hunters’ friend, but is not utilised in film. The story is simplistic, the characters under-developed. Plot-wise Veronica Ricci is underutilised, she is used for sexploitation reasons (and the only actress who is filmed nude) but for the plot, she is little more than a catalyst and could have been missed altogether. Straight to video, this is a low-end film I’m afraid. 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.