Kombucha – review

Director: Jake Myers

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Another unusual vampire film I first watched at Grimmfest 2025, this one was definitely geared towards vampire lore even if the central creature is a sentient bacteria… I say bacteria, but in truth it is a SCOBY that is to say a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, which ferments tea to create kombucha. Associating vampires with bacteria isn’t unknown, indeed bacterial infection is the source of the vampirism in I Am Legend.

Magdalena Conway as Rachel

It starts with a worker in an office, Rachel (Magdalena Conway), who seems distressed and has some sort of raw rash on her arm. Her mobile rings and it is her mother, Tammy (Charin Alvarez), who asks where she is. She admits still at work and suggests she is going to be replaced. Ending the call she goes to a kitchen area, opens a fridge and looks at the stock of kombucha and then turns to a supply closet, the camera lingers on bleach. Her boss, Kelsey (Claire McFadden), collects her to go to a HR check-in. There, in a room with a striking (and a tad low-key Lovecraftian) painting, Rachel declares she quits and drinks the mug of bleach….

gig

Luke (Terrence Carey) is playing guitar and singing on stage. It is his last song of the set. After, he goes to where his girlfriend, Elyse (Paige Bourne), is sat with a friend. He is annoyed as the record company representative meant to watch the show didn’t turn up. He is approached by Andy (Jesse Kendall) who he used to be in a band with. They have a beer and it transpires that Andy has gone corporate, no longer missing the endless struggle of being a musician. He gives Luke his card, the company Symbio (the same one Rachael worked for) would offer an entry level salary of $100k to creative types, no experience needed.

Paige Bourne as Elyse

Back at Elyse’s place they end up arguing after she asks whether he will go for the job. He points out that she hasn’t continued with her visual art since getting a job in a lab. She decides they should have a break and he should go home. He returns to his apartment where past due bills are piled up and decides to give the job opportunity a shot. He is shocked to discover he has already got the job off Andy’s recommendation. The company analyse other companies' cultures and introduce rituals and purpose brewed kombucha to help create a corporate unity. Kelsey suggests he try their kombucha, labelled Mother’s Secret – he refuses.

drinking the kombucha

His desk has a memorial to Rachel on it, which Kelsey suggests should have been moved and sweeps it away. At that point Tammy comes in and accuses the company of killing Rachel and warns Luke he is next... So, of course he drinks the kombucha eventually, which has astounding productivity effects but also makes changes; he starts getting the rash, has weird dreams, some violent stomach action and becomes addicted to the stuff. Elyse becomes worried and, researching the company, discovers Tammy – who tells Elyse that they are vampires, though she hasn’t worked out how they can walk in daylight. Elyse gets hold of some of the kombucha and discovers it contains blood.

vampire kit

So, the vampirism is apparent on more than one level. Firstly, we have capitalism as a vampire, with its cult like rituals the company could be said to suck the life and creativity out of the employees. I haven’t seen the short that this was based on but, by the write up, the kombucha in that was eating the employees inside out. In this it is prepping them for turning. It contains the yeast and bacteria but also blood, connecting them to Mother (the main giant SCOBY, which is like a tentacled entity) psychically. The actual turning is more on a body snatcher level (so again, corporate capitalism destroying individuality). Elyse gets biocide and fungicide to deal with it. Tammy has crosses (which don’t work) and garlic, which not only works on Mother but also the turned and is, of course, a more traditional trope.

emerging from Kelsey's nose

I enjoyed this at the festival and also watching it again at home. Luke was a character you could get behind and Claire McFadden neatly balanced corporate speak and a somewhat unhinged cult member. Mother is realised pretty well, especially given the likely low budget, and held till the end of the film so as not to over expose. A neat, thread of the comedic runs through it, but not overwhelming. There is a body horror aspect, with the turned revealing their true nature accidentally sometimes – such as a small tentacle coming out of Kelsey’s nose – and the impact of the kombucha on the original body. 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Onlyfangs – review

Directors: Angelica De Alba and Paul Ragsdale

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Onlyfangs is a vampire comedy that was crowdsourced for funding, I had backed the project and so got the electronic release as my perk. We are back in the world of the content creator – the online amateur cryptozoologist, in this case, and a more adult version of content creation – and the influencer is very much a theme in several vampire (and more generally horror) films at the moment. The film, unfortunately, has a major issue, which is a shame as it does much right.

Neve and Scarlett

So, it begins 100 years ago with Neve (Delawna McKinney) and Scarlett (Nina Lanee Kent), who are running through the countryside, trying to escape *him*. Do not let, what might be, night-for-day shooting put you off. It may just be twilight as these vampires can go into the sunlight it seems. They get to a river and we do have an issue I’m picking up on regularly in budget flicks – modern technique tattoos on vampires in period settings. In this case, they are visible but it is a quick scene and ultimately forgivable. *He* is Harvey (Nick Zagone) and he catches the errant vampires – they are his (there is an underlying theme of ownership of women) and he kills Neve.

turning Reece

Cut to modern day and Scarlett, along with Zooey (Meredith Mohler, Queen Dracula) and Selena (Adriana Uchishiba) are having a photoshoot featuring Reece (Kansas Bowling, Verotika & Death Rider in the House of Vampires). At the end, Harvey comes in, the other women leave and there is almost a casting couch feel, which leads to him biting and turning her. Later we see he keeps her in a cellar/cell and feeds her mice – however, Scarlett appears along with Selena, with a sword, who takes care of him.

on the road

The credit scene then sees the four vampire ladies trudging through California, with Reece dragging a trunk – later we discover it contains Harvey, his arms and legs removed but still undead as Scarlett wants him to suffer. There is a montage of travelling (taking turns dragging the trunk) and then getting a ride, who they kill and take his vehicle. Eventually they set up shop in an abandoned skate park. They then go hunting. Three go to a bar, where they dance on the bar top and then slaughter the people there, whilst Reece goes on a date. Clearly Reece was always going to eat him but, before that, he goes all murderous Christian Nationalist/incel on her. This gives her a reason beyond vampirism for her attack. There is a theme through this, which takes aim at conspiracy theorists and the MAGA type,

The Monster Boys

Elsewhere in the park that Reece is in, Wes (Drew Marvick) is shooting content with sister Gwen (Jessa Jupiter Flux, Debbie Does Demons) and friend Quentin (Shane Meyers). Together they are the Monster Boys (Gwen notwithstanding) and they are looking for monsters in a park, where Wes' hero, monster hunter Wilhelm Johanssen (Bryan Hurd), allegedly found a chupacabra. Gwen isn’t in to it, Quentin gets lost and Wes stumbles upon Reece feeding, gets footage and legs it.

Reece feeding

So, without dragging this out – as dragging things out is an issue with the film – the vampires meet Wes. His footage is too blurry and ridiculed to cause them an issue. However, he does have an idea for OnlyFangs, shooting subscription based vampire footage, including visits to clients for the full vamp experience (it is notable that he thinks it a gimmick until later in the film). Peril comes in the form of a MAGA type congresswoman (Ellie Church). So, what about dragging things out? Well, the film has a 2-hour running time, and that is way too long. It’s pacing suffers and it outstays its welcome. Wes has a group of conspiracy nut friends and the vampires kill them. They could just let all that hit the (virtual) cutting room floor – it really doesn’t add to the film.

offering her blood

That said there are some great vampiric images and the photography is professional, but story elements don’t add up. The vampires are keeping it on the down-low after what they did to Harvey and yet indulge in a viral app phenomenon. They seem to have other vampires involved internationally but then there is talk of a war coming with the vampire elders (so why get involved with other vampires and, presumably, bring more focus to them) and needing to build a vampire army. The dialogue does touch on Scarlett hating capitalism and corporations – and yet content creation is an act of micro-capitalism. The big issue, though, is the running length and it is because of this that, despite some earnest performances (and a particular shout out to Adriana Uchishiba, whose Selena was gloriously demented), decent photography and good imagery, I have to hold this at 4 out of 10. A substantial re-edit would earn it a return review.

The imdb page is here.

First Impression: Various Vampires at Grimmfest 2025

I have just got back from Grimmfest 2025 and have set to writing up my first impressions of the vampire and vampire adjacent films I saw over a great festival weekend. However, firstly, a shout out to the festival organisers and volunteers who make it such a great event year after year. A shout out to Hellbound Media, particularly Mark Adams for the chat, and also to Catherine Green who was at the festival on the Saturday. I will, of course, offer full thoughts when the films become available for home viewing.

The first film I want to offer an impression of was Landlord, which was the most traditionally vampire-genre film of those I intend to cover.

Directed and written by Remington Smith, the film follows an unnamed bounty hunter (Adama Abramson) and one of the strengths of the film was in the great characterisation with this unnamed protagonist. She arrives at an apartment complex on foot and rents a room for a week, no questions asked. She is there tracking down someone, or more accurately a briefcase he carries, but soon notices strange things.

Investigating, what sounds like, a domestic disturbance she is blocked by manager Christopher (Lance Gerard), who seems in cahoots with the local sheriff (J. Barrett Cooper), and the next day follows the manager as he removes the apartment contents and takes them to a farmstead owned by the Lawrence family. She discovers that the residents of the apartment have been dismembered and are being fed to the pigs.

Alex and the Bounty Hunter

Back at the apartment complex she discovers that the apartment with young resident Alex (Cohen Cooper) has been targeted. She enters, too late to save Alex’s mother but intervening in an attack on Alex himself. It is, of course, a vampire attack. The conceit of this being, as listed by Grimmfest, “If vampires can’t come into your home without being invited in, what would happen if they owned your housing?” The vampire, John Lawrence (William McKinney), owns the apartment complex and many residents are transient in the slum housing, easy to disappear. There is a commentary here about the landlord class as vampiric.

bitten

The bounty hunter and Alex become loose ends to tie up, of course. A nice touch came about in her not even recognising what the vampire is - despite getting up from a head shot and biting her neck, Alex is the observant one, though their knowledge of lore is limited. I liked the grittiness of this and, as mentioned, the characterisation that was built around the bounty hunter. If I had a criticism, it would be in the lighting, as I felt that the night scenes were overly dark – though that might be a screening issue rather than a production issue. The imdb page is here.

The next film to mention is Spanish offering Lily’s Ritual, directed by Manu Herrera. Possibly best described as “vampire adjacent” it starts off as a witchcraft film with three witches, Lola (Patricia Peñalver), Leo (Elena Gallardo) and Laura (Eve Ryan) taking Lily (Maggie García) out into the countryside for initiation into witchcraft as their fourth – which, of course, has overtones of the Craft. Unlike that, however, which had a power corrupts theme, these witches already had a darker purpose in mind.

Lilith

Rather than initiation, Lily was to be used as a centrepiece for a dedication to Lilith – this could be a spoiler except it is listed in the film’s blurb. As to whether they will succeed and whether Lily can survive – well that is a spoiler too far. However, I will say that this was probably my favourite film of the festival and, of course, the use of Lilith makes it of genre interest. The imdb page is here.

The third film to mention is Jake Myers’s Kombucha. I did not go into this expecting a vampire element, although the film does aim at the vampiric nature of corporations. It follows Luke (Terrence Carey) a struggling musician who is tempted – due to pressure from girlfriend Elyse (Paige Bourne) and a recommendation from ex-bandmate Andy (Jesse Kendall) – into signing up to a corporate job. The corporation, Symbio, is more than a little cult-like and forces everyone to drink a specific kombucha.

As Luke starts to change, Elyse meets the mother (Charin Alvarez) of a previous employee (Magdalena Conway) who believes that the corporation is made up of vampires – and it is that belief in vampires that puts this firmly on the radar, as well as the use of a tropes such as blood in the kombucha and the efficacy of garlic as a weapon to combat the sentient scoby at the heart of the film. A genuinely funny side-swipe at corporate mentality. The imdb page is here.

The final film to mention is Sergio Pinheiro’s Wormtown. This very much uses tropes and the Grimmfest synopsis suggested it had “just a pinch of classic vampire lore and a sly tip of the hat to Richard Matheson’s I AM LEGEND.” Set in a town where the vast majority of inhabitants are infected by worms, which have infiltrated their entire system, with a large “heart worm” that feeds on their blood and “brain worms” that alter their minds, the worms that burrow and infect are reminiscent of the blood worms in the Strain.

caught in the sun

The worms are impacted by loud sounds, modern signals (such as Bluetooth) and bright light. This is one of our tropes as being caught in the sun is deadly, with the worms quickly turning on their host. The similes with I am Legend mentioned are there and, more so, I felt a homage to the Omega Man in the scarring of infected flesh, the retreat from technology (although not as radical), and the cult-like behaviours. I also felt it tonally had a bit of a feel of Stake Land and I did really enjoy this one. The imdb page is here.

Blood Pay – review

Director: Brace Beltempo

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Vampiric Machines are a lesser used vampire trope and, this has both a physical machine and the AI driving it.

It is set in a dystopia where AIs are taking human jobs and we get some news scenes outlining the background. Without this, the viewer would find it being dystopia a little less easy to spot, set as it is in a nice apartment and on a beautifully sunny coastline.

The apartment belongs to John (Gianluca Busani) and though he is successful (in real estate it seems) he is depressed. We first see him waking and then going for a walk. An old friend (possibly ex) approached him. Hilarie (Marta D'Ambrosio) has moved back into the area after a co-worker went missing and she was asked by the employer to return. She also has bought John a birthday present, he is about to turn 40, and makes it clear she wants more. She picks up on his down mood and he admits depression and that he is getting therapy. When he leaves her, he throws away the present.

Gianluca Busani as John

That he was pre-chosen for what happens could be suggested by him suffering sleep paralysis and seeing a woman crawl over him. Beyond this, we do get the impression that he is a lady’s man – sleeping with a client’s wife, previous liaisons with a woman who runs his gym, etc. He also feels suicidal (though he can’t go through with it). He sees an advert for the Blood Pay system and decides to buy it – missing the part of the advert where the owner kills himself with a remote control.

set up

He has to meet out in the dessert to take possession of the system (from a couple of thugs, one masked) and meets Eva (Maria Vittoria Varoli and voiced by Barbara Sirotti) when he sets it up. There is a control box that opens and contains an organic looking vagina and, once it is set up, to access many of the services – such as extreme pornography and snuff – he has to jack a needle into his arm and pay in blood – which goes into the box. Eventually Eva tells him he needs to pay the next subscription but the price is up and he ends up having to kill three people for their blood…

giving payment

And this is part of the problem. This escalated quickly, way too quickly. The kills could have been spread out to offer more tension. The system records dreams and we see one of his and it is neatly weird but it absolutely shies from showing any of the services he is paying for. There is a line between what a film should show or leave to the viewer's imagination, this edged its bet so much that you see very little – even the kills (bar the last) are pretty tamely done.

Maria Vittoria Varoli as Eva

What the AI is up to is partly answered – she is bored and has eternity, However what she does with the blood and why she needs it isn’t answered but there is a commercial aspect revealed in an end credit sequence. It isn’t a spoiler to the main story and we see a Blood Pay establishment and a man go in and use an ATM – where you can deposit and withdraw blood. The man has black circled eyes and looks either tired, a junky or dead (a vampire perhaps?) and it wasn’t clear if he withdrew or deposited.

in a virtual world

This could have been really good, but it pulled some punches and escalated too quickly to build the tension. It might have revealed much more about the world they have created and what the AI wants the blood for, but more may eventually be revealed as it has a “to be continued…” Nevertheless, a vampiric AI is worth the entry fee. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

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.

Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt – review

Authors: Various

Artists: Various

Release date: 2024 (tpb)

The Blurb: Collects Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #1-3, Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #49 And Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2023) #21-22.

Marvel's Spider-Men swing into the BLOOD HUNT! Vampires are running rampant through New York City - and while the Avengers are caught in the middle, someone has to take care of the citizens of the Big Apple. That person? Peter Parker, the spectacular Spider-Man! But if only things were that simple. They never are, and that means Spidey has a massive role to play in the nightmarish saga - one that involves Morbius, the Living Vampire! But will Morbius be fanged foe or friend this time? And will Peter need to take him out or save him?! Meanwhile, the world's greatest vampire slayer, Blade, has a plan - and his only hope for victory rests with the young Spider-Man, Miles Morales! But Blade's mission comes with a massive cost Miles may be unwilling to pay!

The review: The second tpb to be released in the Blood Hunt event – this one concentrates on spider-men, with a Peter Parker story and a Miles Morales story. It starts with Parker, fighting vampires and rather enjoying himself fighting monsters, when he gets a text from a criminal, Kareem, asking Parker to get Spider-Man to help him. When he gets to him he discovers that Kareem's partner in crime, Rabbit, has been turned and he needs the hero's help. They find the vampire who bit Rabbit – he has chained himself, ashamed of what he has become and begs Spider-Man to kill him. Suddenly he realises that the vampires are not just monsters, but Kareem stakes the vampire anyway and Rabbit (and Kareem who was turning, having been bitten by Rabbit) are cured. With the shine taken off vampire hunting, Spider-Man is suddenly confronted by Lizard (who is somewhat rough about getting his attention). Lizard and Misty Knight are trying to track down Michael Morbius who has been kidnapped and this leads to a vampire corporation. The Morales story stands aside from the Amazing Spider-Man story, shows us Blade turning him and then a team up with Hightail, and later Blade’s daughter Brielle Brooks, to defeat energy vampire R'ym'r.

Tonally lighter, for the Amazing Spider-Man part of the TPB at least, this was still a welcome foray into the Blood Hunt event – with a much more street level focus. Whilst both stories featured vampires (the Morales one, being energy ones of course) the action occurred with the main Blood Hunt as a wider event and these stories occurring separately – albeit sundeath offering a starting point. 7 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Hungerstone – review

Author: Kat Dunn

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: FOR WHAT DO YOU HUNGER . . . ?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to the Peak District, to the remote, imposing Nethershaw estate, where he plans to host a hunting party. Lenore must work to restore the crumbling house and ready it for Henry's guests - their future depends on it.

But as the couple travel through the bleak countryside, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .

As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband's affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the Peaks and the uncontrolled appetite of the Industrial Revolution, HUNGERSTONE is a compulsive sapphic reworking of CARMILLA, the book that inspired DRACULA: a captivating story of appetite and desire.

The review: Whilst this is a retelling of Carmilla (and I note the blurb mentions it as a sapphic retelling, which forgets that the original – whilst not as direct or graphic as this – was a sapphic tale anyway), it is so subtle around the vampirism that a reader unfamiliar with the original novella or not deeply invested in the vampire megatext may well miss the fact that it is indeed a vampire novel.

And it has a couple of vampiric themes in it, not least that of capitalism as a vampire as the industrial revolution literarily bathes in the blood of the worker to extract the capital. But Carmilla is a vampire and the book connects vampirism with appetite (as well as hunger), which was interesting as Orlok in Eggers’ Nosferatu says “I am an appetite, nothing more.” I am not suggesting there was any read across between the two texts but it was a nice trope, used in both, where the vampire is drawn as having (and offering) a psychological desire to consume as well as a physiological need. Jumping ahead, we only see attacks on Lenore – with sleep paralysis, a (potentially imagined) cat form and, at one point, a blood soaked Carmilla at the end of the bed (mirroring a scene from Le Fanu) but we can read into at least three other women visited by Carmilla (the appetite), which unleashes a hunger that manifests as one eating hair, another eating a live chicken and a third eating flesh from her husband’s arm. The hungers awakened in Lenore are much more complex.

The book moves us from Styria to the Peak District for location (offering an immediately Gothic landscape to play upon), in 1888, but whilst Carmilla still enters their lives through a carriage crash, the reader does not see the crash, rather the aftermath as Lenore and Henry come across it on their journey to the Nethershaw estate. Indeed, the more graphic description of a carriage crash comes in flashback as Lenore recalls the crash that left her orphaned as a child. Lenore is, of course, very different from Laura in the novella – as well as the trauma from her childhood, she is married, sexually active (though she has not during ten years of marriage become pregnant), with Carmilla awakening her bisexuality, and whilst naïve in some respects she is wise in the way of society and etiquette. This brings in other dimensions that Le Fanu could not explore. Her marriage allows for an exploration of misogyny widder than the patriarchal exploration in the original novella.  

I did wonder whether the book was aimed at the YA audience but the themes it explores certainly do not seem to be. However, I very much enjoyed the book, found it a satisfying revisit to Carmilla through an interesting lens. I enjoyed the subtlety of the vampirism and overall think this deserves a strong 7.5 out of 10. I need to add a thank you to Gary who posted about this volume on Facebook, which brought it to my attention.

In Hardback @ Amazon US

In Hardback @ Amazon UK

Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – review

Author: Kiersten White

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: In this epic and seductive gothic fantasy, a vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love, from the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else's story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula's first victims.

But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire, and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula's clutches - and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn when, in twenty-first-century London, she meets another woman who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. But she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris, while Iris is mesmerised by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by forces from without. Iris's mother won't let go of her without a fight, and Lucy's past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl again.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

Dracula changed her. Love will transform her.

The review: Based on Dracula, I need, in the first instance, to address the obvious error in the text. One of the main (modern) characters is Iris Goldaming part of the Goldaming dynasty, founded in the US when Arthur emigrated and took his hereditary name as his familial name – so, not Godalming then? Friend of the blog Clark has read the volume and mentioned this to me, he also communicated with the author who admits it was a missed thing. This has not affected the score.

Because, beyond that faux pas, the book showed an insight into Stoker’s novel and the story fit nicely with Stoker. The volume does, however, deliberately change things. Lucy is a closeted lesbian and unrequitedly in love with Mina, her engagement to Arthur is due to it being expected (she shows, in her real journal, little care for any of the suitors) and she kept two journals – the one that might be found (and we are familiar with from the novel) and a real, personal and hidden one. I have to say the method of her survival from the ministrations of the crew of light was really inventive.

The other main character is the aforementioned Iris. Her controlling mother recently died and she has run away to London to escape the family business – a predatory MLM with cult like practices. Indeed, as well as vampires we get the business as a vampire, capitalism out of control. In London, trying to free cash to vanish, she meets Elle – a museum worker and they start to fall for each other. This is very much a queer re-telling and expansion of the tale.

There was a really interesting take on vampires and flowing water, with a suggestion that as they age, they become denser and they have, therefore, a tendency to sink. The vampires are often not as rounded as Lucy as they lose themselves but Lucy was given her name back after she turned (literally told her name) and this allowed her to mentally reach back to her mortal life and self, but the vampires are also frozen in development, prisoners of their mortal desires/belief at the time of death. As we see Lucy grow beyond this we see a vampiric coming of age. Holy items are not so much a thing – it is the belief behind them that is important – and there is a really clever thing done with this and self-belief. There is also a wonderful deconstruction of the character Dracula that I don't want to spoil.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I thought it a really clever exploration of themes through a modern lens – despite the faux pas with a primary name. 8 out of 10. Thanks to David who got me the book for Christmas.

In Hardback @ Amazon US

In Hardback @ Amazon UK

Suckers – review

Directors: Brandon Morson & Kenny Pettis Jr.

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

When I first sat down to watch this, I was concerned. Clearly a film set in the world of social media influencers, I was concerned that without a level of satirical savvy the film would not be so great.

In truth, I believe it did not have that savvy and works with stereotypes to build character rather than to underpin satire. However, it actually does work in its own way (though it pulls its horror punches) and I found myself enjoying it as a fairly short (69 minute) feature.

attacked

It starts with a woman, unnamed but called Passion (Shira Monae) in the credits, walking through a pretty darn empty office building looking for her booty call. She gets fed up of looking for him when her beau, Howie (Lamar A. Burks), appears. He is the building manager and they are just about to get it on when she hears a noise. He doesn’t hear it first time but then does and goes looking. We see him got POV (but not the actual getting) and then she sees something and is dragged off. In truth the opening seems to have little to do with the film (though I guess the building is meant to be the same as in the film proper).

Max, Freeway and S Dot

We watch Max (Lexi Collins) bathe, get dressed, do her makeup video (she is a beauty vlogger) and then head out to a mixer she has been invited to, for a Young Hollywood Influencer Event. Getting to the event, only Freeway (Kenny Pettis Jr.) is there – a nerdy, game streamer with (we discover) very little social network following. However, in comes S Dot (Suede The Plug), an egotistical streamer-douche with large follower numbers. Next to arrive are Crystal (Zahra Elise) a beauty vlogger and her friend Trinity (Melinda Thompson). The lack of others there might have killed the event but free booze and food (though Crystal orders her own food to be delivered) keep them there.

Luna Star as Serena

Next into the building is Benny (Errol Cummings Jr.), he is famous for a viral TikTok but wants to be more than that and he meets singer Dee Jay (Ajdin Sefer). Dee Jay’s girl, Serena (Luna Star), has organised the event (and is an Only Fans performer). They get to the main room and she takes everyone’s phones. Drinking ensues and then she takes Dee Jay for some rumpy and vamps out and eats him. She manages to get one more before they realise what is going on. They are phoneless… the door to the outside world is locked… A bite turns so there is more than one vampire… the influencers have to survive…

vamp face

The premise is revenge, with Serena wronged via a viral video. Freeway is there as a fall guy (although as they are being turned one wonders what he is a fall guy for) and, of course, she has managed to maintain a relationship with Dee Jay (for how long we don’t know) without him knowing she is a vampire. There isn’t much else story wise and the actors might not have a huge amount to work with but they do, to be fair, manage to inject enough in to keep the viewer's attention. The film stereotypes the influencers but doesn’t manage to make any kind of message about micro-capitalism. This then leads to the issue; the film pulls its punches. We see little in the way of vampire action and staking is done out of camera frame. Practical gore effects would have boosted this film where characterisation and underlying message are missing. 5.5 out of 10 as it doesn’t outstay its welcome and it was surprisingly watchable despite simple story and lack of horror.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Bloodsuckers - A Marxist Vampire Comedy – review

Director: Julian Radlmaier

Release date: 2021

Contains spoilers

One that I had heard of but only recently sourced (the German DVD has English subtitles for those interested) this film runs from the metaphorical use of vampire in Marx: “Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks” (Marx 1982 {1867}, 342). A gentle comedy, subjectively I didn’t find it uproariously funny but was pleasantly amused through the running length, this creates political satire by suggesting there was something less metaphorical about Marx’s point.

questions in the book club

It is set in 1928 – the year the first five-year plan was adopted in the USSR and a year after Stalin took power – the film is set in a German seaside town. It starts with a book club on the beach. All the participants are factory workers, and they are reading Marx’s Das Kapital. One of the participants has a question however and reads from the book, quoting the vampire passage. The leader of the club, and others, suggests it is metaphor but the question is asked, what if it is literal?

the Baron

The camera looks to the sea and we see the first of many idiosyncrasies (which I will dwell on later), which is what appears to be someone Kiteboarding – a sport thought to be invented in the 1970s and certainly not popularised until the 90s. On the beach is heiress Octavia (Lilith Stangenberg), her parasol held by her personal assistant Jakob (Alexander Herbst). She sends Jakob to a man, Ljowushka (Aleksandre Koberidze), a distance away, in formal dress, and receives a card that suggests he is Baron Kobersky. The Baron walks away from them.

Octavia and Jakob

At a golf course we see Ljowushka walking across the greens. He gets to a tee where there are sandwiches and a bottle of champaign set out. He eats a sandwich and takes the champaign. Meeting Octavia again she assumes he is a noble who has escaped the soviets and invites him to her home, where they will have escargot (gathered by, and crawling over, Jakob). In the meal she notes that he does not know how to eat escargot but we notice something else. Jakob has a can of coke, Coca Cola did not use cans until the 1950s and the depress opening was much later still. Why would the filmmakers let this slip through?

on the beach

Idiosyncrasies continue in the film, and I believe they were absolutely deliberate. There is nothing that shouts out as a symbol of capitalism than the Coca Cola distinctive packaging. The can is deliberately placed, in a way that resembles product placement. As the film progresses we get establishing shots (both of Germany and Leningrad) that feature modern vehicles, a very modern looking factory, a modern ship), we get the use of obviously cheap plastic fangs and Octavia rides a very modern motorbike. Radlmaier adds these as part of his satire and, in doing so, makes the capitalist vampirism timeless.

Aleksandre Koberidze as Ljowushka

Ljowushka is caught, after taking money from Octavia’s purse, trying to open her safe. The truth comes out that he was from a Russian peasant village and ended up working in a factory (out of lust rather than economy) when he was “discovered” for a film (the actual film October (Ten Days that Shook the World)) by director Sergei Eisenstein (Anton Gonopolski), cast to play Trotsky. Unfortunately the political winds are harsh and all his performance ended on the editing room floor as Trotsky was erased. This left him both embarrassed and politically damned due to the association with Trotsky and he escaped the USSR and, whilst posing as a Baron, is trying to get passage to America and Hollywood.

biting Jakob

The film then follows Ljowushka (still posing as a Baron, with only Octavia and Jakob knowing the truth) as he and Octavia try to make a short film – a vampire film – for him to use as a portfolio piece in America. However, there is rumours of an actual vampire (or maybe it’s fleas) feeding on the factory workers. When Ljowushka is caught by Octavia and Jakob, Jakob checks if the Russian has a reflection and we see her feeding on Jakob (though he has no memory of it). The film casts the bourgeoisie and shareholders as actual vampires. It also poses the proletariat as stupid and people like Jakob, a servant given the title personal assistant and asked not to call Octavia “miss” as an attempt to give the illusion of class elevation, as carrying a self-loathing of their class and a delusion that they are higher than other proletariat – the delusion going as far as his unrequited love for Octavia (Ljowushka, equally, has romantic delusions about Octavia, though she is physically attracted to him).

a film within a film

Another thing the film introduces is racial Othering. In the film there is a Chinese character, Algensammler (Kyung-Taek Lie), a hard working, self-starting immigrant who is openly disliked for making a skin tincture that undercuts the factory’s product and who is the recipient of racist language. He is cast as the vampire in Ljowushka’s film and footage is shown of him biting Octavia (who plays the heroine) when the locals decide she is the real life vampire. This proves enough to convince the mob that she is innocent and Algensammler is the actual vampire and so also serves as an exercise in media manipulation of the populace.

checking reflections

As you can tell there is much going on here, a film of layers that has, be aware, no real horror aspect. Rather it is a comedy drama, which is particularly quirky and offbeat in places. As I said at the head of the review, this was not an uproarious experience, but it was certainly enjoyable, humorous and the layers makes one think. The performances fit perfectly into the film, giving weight to the satire. Definitely worth your time, if you like a more intriguing use of the vampire figure. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK