Sex and Xen II – review

Director: Man-Kei Chin

Release date: 1996

Contains spoilers

The second in the series of films, I have previously given an honourable mention to the third film, which contained a fleeting visitation of energy vampirism. The vampirism is the central point of this film, indeed the blurb of the 88 Films Blu-ray release suggests a succubus. Whilst that western creature is not mentioned in the dialogue, the central villain does act like the myth where the incubus and succubus are the same creature (albeit this is not based around semen harvesting and subsequent impregnation as the Western myth can be).

Loletta Lee as Yiau

The film itself is a sex comedy, certainly at the level of sexploitation movies, the softcore sex does not stray into pornography and the film is underscored with the aforementioned comedy (albeit the humour of the bedroom farce). Whilst the first and third films were based on Chinese erotic novels, from what I can tell this was an original story (despite the blurb suggesting is was based on a “(notoriously fruity) classic of Chinese erotica” and the film showing books at the head of the film, one being the Carnal Prayer-Mat, which the first film was based on). It did take some of its beats from a variety of sources, however.

Elvis Tsui as Kin

It centres on the Sai-mun family; dad Kin (Elvis Tsui, the Seventh Curse and Sex and Zen III) is known for his iron member, which he has trained (we see some of the training though not the member). His first wife died and he now has three concubines. He has two children. His son has a learning disability but his daughter, Yiau (Loletta Lee, Mr Vampire 4 & The Musical Vampire) is clever and wants an education. After she meets a scholar named Fa-tau (Tat-Wah Lok), who mistakes her for a boy, she determiners to run away to school.

Yiau and Fa-Tau at school

She is caught but her father relents and allows her to go to school, so long as she wears chastity armour. The armour is weaponised, with spinning blades over breasts and buttocks and a nasty guillotine covering the pudenda. She successfully enrols and shares a dormitory with Fa-tau, who still believes she is male. However, during the night she has an erotic dream about him, he sees her still dreaming when he awakes, trips and falls member first into the guillotine. Ruined, she helps him to a monastery where (having dismissed becoming a gay prostitute or having a full sex change) he is fitted with an artificial mechanical penis.

Shu Qi as Mirage Lady

The monastery is visited by Mirage Lady (Shu Qi, Resurrection) to acquire a pamphlet on a form of mysticism that teaches an energy sucking magic, amongst other things. Yiau soon learns that her father is marrying her brother off to a woman – and we discover she is Mirage Lady. When his son fails to perform his conjugal duties, Kin takes them on and starts a scandalous affair with his daughter-in-law. The son dies, clearly at her hand, and then she starts preying on Kin’s concubines – sucking their Yin energy. This includes pulling them into a magical dimension and a rather tentacley scene. I mentioned incubus and succubus. She is able to morph from male to female and when she has a surfeit of Yin energy she will balance it by feeding off male Yang energy, and vice versa. She will change sex during a single encounter.

in the male form

So, there you have it – an energy vampire that changes gender and will feed on both male and female energies. The film itself looks absolutely sumptuous (and the 88 Films print is particularly gorgeous). The story isn’t as convoluted as it might have been, the cast work very well although some of the comedy sinks to the puerile at times. This one is definitely worth a look and I’ll balance the more puerile aspects with its sumptuous side by giving it a score of 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

You and the Night – review

Director: Yann Gonzalez 

 Release Date: 2013 

 Contains spoilers 

I considered looking at this French arthouse film under the “Use of Tropes” heading but, ultimately, it is a vampire film, albeit sexual vampirism and I will look directly at that phenomena as I review the film. It is a film I was unaware of until noticing it recently on Shudder, which seems an odd home as I really didn’t read this as horror at all – though there is an overt supernatural aspect. Rather it is a film ostensibly about an orgy but truthfully more a character examination against that backdrop. 

riding into the night

It starts in the rain and Ali (Kate Moran, Vampires) sits on the back of a motorcycle, imploring the rider to wait as *he* said he would come, and calling out for Matthias (Niels Schneider). When his figure is seen running towards the bike, the rider sets off leaving him behind. Ali asks the rider who he is but gets no response and so feels his face (the helmet is a 3/4s one with no chin guard), touching round and in his mouth. Her ultimate reaction makes the viewer think she finds him somehow familiar… Ali wakes, suggesting the previous scene was a dream (or premonition), and she sits in snow with Matthias dead or dying in her lap. Udo (Nicolas Maury, Paris je T’aime) comes to them and Ali and Udo kiss, as they masturbate Matthias, this revives him.

Nicolas Maury as Udo

A note about Udo, who is described in things I have looked at as a transvestite, and certainly wears a maid outfit and tiara through the majority of the film but also referred to with a masculine pronoun in the film. As such there appears to be a fluidity of gender and so I am using they/them pronouns for the character. Matthias suggests that he had gone to the land of the dead, a place ruled by children violently killed, robbed of their potential and hatred had made them monstrous. Udo reminds them that their guests are due to arrive soon for the planned orgy. I wondered as I watched this as to how the guests were invited, as it wasn’t revealed. They all carry and use stereotyped names, and, to some degree, it almost appears that fate drew them to the event.

the Stud and the Star

The first to arrive is the Slut (Julie Brémond), or so she is called in the English subs, in the French she is called La Chienne or the Bitch. She is ready to party, but she is told to wait for all the guests and is introduced to the jukebox – a device that reads the person through their palm and plays music based on their mood. Next to arrive, coincidentally together, are the Stud (Éric Cantona) – in French L'Étalon or the Stallion – and the Teen (Alain-Fabien Delon) – in French L'Adolescent. The final guest to arrive is the Star (Fabienne Babe). She demands the lights are turned off, and remain off, before she enters and kisses each guest passionately in the dark until the Slut turns the lights on, out of curiosity, which freaks the Star but the earnestness of the Teen causes her to stay.

Ali widowed

The film explores their stories, often presented to the viewer in a surreal style, but from our point of view it is Ali, Matthias and Udo’s story that is important, which they are open about when the guests enquire. Ali and Matthias were young lovers who married – this is suggested to be centuries before. Unfortunately, there was a war and Matthias had to go, writing home for two months until the letters stopped and then Ali was informed that he was killed. Ali then spent her nights in widow’s black at his grave. She was approached there by Udo, a gypsy who claimed that Matthias’ spirit had implored their help and they could bring Matthias back for her. Before Udo appears, mist curls around the gravestone and Ali, reminiscent of a mist from which a vampire emerges.

Matthias returns

That night Matthias visited Ali, the side of his face wounded with maggots writhing in the wound (modern Matthias wears an eye patch on that side). He tells Ali that she can trust Udo – and his visitation immediately brought the idea of Death and the Maiden to mind as well as the ballad Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger, which supplied the line "Denn die Todten reiten schnell!" as used by Bram Stoker in Dracula. Reassured by Matthias she allows Udo to perform their ritual, which invokes Lucifer and sexual deviancy to enable Matthias’ return. They go to the graveyard and dig him up and when lifted from the grave he does revive. On that revival his wounded face is mostly healed through Ali’s kisses, bar his eye – death always claims a souvenir.

Matthias and Ali

Udo had levelled a price for their service. They had observed Ali and Matthias as the most passionate of couples and the price is the couple allow them to remain with them to observe and indulge in their passion. Udo suggests they are immortal and, like them, Ali will be immortal also but Matthias’ life depends on Ali’s desire, he has to feel it vibrating and pulsating, whether stimulated by him or others. They state categorically that vitality is the important part and also warn that sadness cannot take over. So, it is implied that the orgy will stimulate Ali’s desire and she will impart that vitality to maintain Matthias’ undead state but he has seemed melancholy throughout and this maybe why he seems to be edging towards the land of the dead. Though on the surface this makes Ali seem like a succubus, there is no suggestion that the orgy will harm any of the guests in her doing so, and more so Matthias is an incubus feeding from the vitality of desire – though it is only his immortal lover that feeds him (and heals him, her kisses previously seen to heal his face). It also needs to be noted that the Teen comments on loving the night “where only vampires and lunatics lurk.”

Alain-Fabien Delon as the Teen

The film obviously has sexual themes throughout – it is the story of an orgy – but the characterisation and stories, the revealed flaws and acceptance of the characters, are the important narrative, and the sexuality takes a backseat (and is perhaps drawn a lot less passionately than it might have been). It is absolutely queer, not just through the gender fluidity of Udo but in the fact that the guests could all be described as pansexual and refreshingly matter of fact around that. One might criticise the fact that flaws are highlighted underpinning their queerness, but the flaws are the underpinning of the narratives. There are also taboo subjects such as incest within the narrative. On the (understated and perhaps subverted) vampire side there was something (in both Ali and Matthias' characters and attitude) of Adam and Eve from Only Lovers Left Alive and interestingly they premiered at Cannes Film Festival within 5 days of each other. Only Lovers is more traditionally vampire but, overall, I preferred this as a film 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Weird Fiction – review

Director: Jacob Perrett

Release date: 2018

Contains spoilers

Stranger Things may have brought retro-fitting horror/sci-fi into an eighties vibe straight into a general viewer eye, but reaching for that earlier aesthetic has been a popular pastime with filmmakers (especially indie filmmakers) for a while now.

Jacob Perrett’s Weird Fiction grabs back to the eighties and holds on tight, offering us an anthology film with a horror host – the Collector (Jacob Perrett). It is actually rather strangely done in places. The eighties is certainly captured in look and feel, straight to video filming is given its homage in logical leaps and plot derivations that feel right but then there are the idiosyncrasies. Cabled house phones are there but characters also carry smart phones – and it feels deliberate.

bite mark

The section we are interested in is The Incubus. We follow Dan (Taylor Rhoades), a porn actor who seems ill after a shoot and falls to the floor. He wakes, goes to his apartment and bumps into neighbour Missy (Torri Bouslough), returning some music cassettes, who clearly has a crush on him. As he messes around in the apartment, he finds a vest (I think) that is covered in blood and a cape. He showers and blood runs down the plughole, out of the shower he notices wounds on his neck.

the nails

That night he has a strange fever dream as his body levitates off the bed and by the next morning, he has developed long nails. The nails look bad – clearly plastic Halloween claws – but again this feels deliberate, perhaps pointing to films such as Vampire’s Kiss or Martin (both of which having scenes with cheap Halloween fangs). This connection fits with a film that plays with whether Dan has become a vampire or just believes he has. It is clear he has some form of illness (the film, again, is deliberately vague – could it be a std, or some debilitating condition, or vampirism) and he admits to be negligent over having it checked out.

hunting

He starts developing a relationship with Missy. Interestingly she is a hunter (having her grandfather’s rifle) and takes him hunting (he, swathed against the sun with scarf, shades and hat) but could her being a hunter also mean she is a vampire hunter? When she tells him she knows what he is, does she mean vampire or porn actor? The film revels in this vagueness. Taylor Rhoades appears through the film's various segments, but I felt his strongest performance was in this and Torri Bouslough lit up the screen with her presence (so why she was only in this segment is a mystery).

fangs

The vagueness works but the story does lurch around because of it. However, that wasn’t too much of a problem. The nail effects might be distracting (especially as the Collector’s nails looked much more convincing in the link sections) until you realised that this was likely deliberately done. The budget, however, does show. That said, as a whole I enjoyed this throwback to straight to video horror and, in respect of the specific segment, I enjoyed what I saw. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Vitaortus Book 3 - review

Author: Dea Schofield

First Published: 2014


The Blurb: After the shape-shifting violence of the night of the Brumalia in Vitaortus Book Two, Devi Trevathan, Prime Channel, has trouble forgiving her new sanguinivorous friends. She refuses to speak to her Champion, Lord Alexander Gregory, but there is a price to pay. The Vitaortus now have a mysterious disease which threatens the plants’ survival. Meanwhile, bizarre happenings are spreading out from remote Pacific islands which Alec and company have been investigating. Ex-CIA assassins, demons, zombies, revenants, sorcerers, spirits–and of course, new species of Vampire—all figure in Gregory finding his way back into Devi’s good graces. But the Washington DC-based religio-political group, The Brotherhood, has dire plans for her, as well as for all mankind. A supernatural wild card has joined them with a nefarious plot to wreak havoc, terror, and apocalyptic consequences. Can Devi, with help from her supernatural friends, stop it?

The review: Is hosted at Vamped.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Vamp or Not? Dis

Dis is a disturbing piece of horror-arthouse, directed by Adrian Corona and released in 2019, which walks a line that perhaps owes a tad to torture-porn but also I was reminded – in some small way – of the starkness and ponderous beauty of Tarkovsky’s Stalker both through the forest scenes and industrial decay.

It is a film that explores the mythology surrounding the mandragora – and the idea that the spilled seed of hanged criminals caused the plant to grow and produce the mandrake's homunculi-like root. So, you might ask, why would I look at this as a ‘Vamp or Not?’ Well, firstly this has a focus both on nocturnal emissions and blood. From that we have a potential joke to thank for the firm place that vampires have when it comes to vegetation.

the garden

Ethnologist Tatomir Vukanović wrote about vampire watermelon, a folklore he came across from Gypsy culture in Serbia (the full journal publication was reprinted within Jan Perkowski’s Vampire Lore). It has been posited that the tale may have been a joke at Vukanović’s expense, but nevertheless the concept entered into vampire folklore. Plants that seek out blood have also appeared in various media vampire stories/films.

witch and devil

Dis starts with the sound of a baby crying, a sound that becomes the squeal of a pig. There is a small cultivated patch with a sigil above it. An interesting aspect of the film is that the abandoned buildings are covered in graffiti and some will be just there but other pieces are clearly designed to have meaning within the film’s narrative. Some are obvious – like the image of a witch and devil that we see in this sequence.

the syringe

A masked person in formal male attire approaches a chained, naked woman. It (the reason for the gender-neutral pronoun will be mentioned later) has a large syringe. It notices a maggot and finds a head wound on the woman that has maggots within it, something that annoys it (a spoiling, perhaps, of the meat). We see the woman, still chained, in the centre of the room. It pushes a bowl between her legs and goes behind her with a sharpened sickle across her throat. It feels her breasts and starts to stimulate her privates until she ejaculates. It takes the bowl away.

Bill Oberst Jr. as Ariel

We then move to see a man, Ariel (Bill Oberst Jr., Black Water Vampire), in the woods with a gun. Ariel is an ex-soldier, it is suggested in the film’s blurb, and he lives out in an abandoned building. We see him searching the woods, perhaps hunting, and someone searching his hut in point of view (possibly the figure we have already seen). We see him find a building that is not as abandoned as it seems, with lit candles creating a shrine and graves out back (I read this as a witch’s home and a witch is mentioned later). He eventually comes across a large building.

the woman

As he explores it, he sees a figure on an elevated floor, cloaked and masked. When she removes the cloak we see she is a woman, her breasts exposed. He tries to reach her but she is moving away from him at all points. When he finds her cloak, I noticed that the graffiti in the background displayed the name Orlock (whether this was a deliberate cross-reference is hard to say). He gets up on a rooftop and watches as she falls from the edge, killing herself. After a while, and more movement through the building, Ariel drops to his knees and lets out a primal scream. The figure comes up behind him and knocks him out cold.

chained

From here Ariel is held by the figure and prepared. He is given water (which might be drugged) and forced to eat a mandrake – this prepares him for harvesting. During this we get backstory offered through black and white scenes of Ariel returning to the bar owned by his brother, Orlando (Peter Gonzales Falcon). Through this we discover that Ariel is a criminal and abandoned his lover, Sophia (Lori Jo Hendrix). We discover that Sophia wanted a baby but couldn’t carry one to term. Ariel got the witch to treat her and claims she almost killed her but Orlando has a different view of the events.

the graffiti says Orlock 

Orlando has flying ointment from the witch (used as a narcotic and named as Devil’s Root by Ariel). He asks Orlando if he knows where it comes from and Orlando confirms that it comes from deep in the woods (a no-no area) and is created from the seed of a hanged killer. He then says that there is a darker version that suggests that people are becoming plants and, certainly, there have been many disappearances and the mandrakes are blooming. Sophia is in the building, a mindless shell in bed, who could clearly never offer consent – Ariel rapes her.

the gardener

I used a gender-neutral pronoun for the masked figure and that would seem to be apropos. We see it in very male attire and also in a wedding gown but when the face is revealed it is a demonic looking thing. The very fact that it steals emissions from men and women, as well as changing the gender related clothing, brings the incubus/succubus to mind. Its mandrake roots seem to pulse with life (there is a dolls head in the patch at one point, perhaps indicating an attempt to make something more than just a root). It feeds the garden with both blood and emissions.

tortured

The folklore this plays with is multi-layered and includes the mandrake folklore, witchcraft and the incubus/succubus. The fact that the vegetation is cultivated with blood and nocturnal emissions would connect the dots to a vampiric form of vegetation (whilst recognising that the use of semen was part of the original mandrake folklore) and Vukanović squarely allowed vampire vegetation into the equation. I did look for a connection between mandrake and vampires and found an entry in Bane about the masabakes; a Spanish vampire variant it sends an imp (a tentirujo) to sleeping virgins, which then rubs mandrake into their thighs. The masabakes then feeds from the energy of the resultant sexual desire and intercourse. It should be noted that there was only one source listed for the entry – Jonathan Maberry’s Vampire Universe.

an intense performance

The film itself is one that will be enjoyed or hated depending on the viewer. It is dialogue light, specialises in disturbing the viewer despite a beautiful vista that is wonderfully photographed. Bill Oberst Jr. exudes dark emotion and intensity in it (as one would expect). To me the film managed to capture a slice of the uncanny and that worked in all sorts of ways for me. Is it, however, vamp? It probably depends on your view of vampire vegetation – if you accept it as part of the genre then this is a vampiric plant that is grown exclusively through blood and sexual emissions. If you don’t then it is at least of genre interest and the overlap into the succubus/incubus myth helps that view.

The imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Breaking the Waves

This is a 1996 film by auteur Lars von Trier, which was nominated for the Cannes Palme d’Or and won the Grand prize of the Jury. So why look at it here? In a foot note to “André Gide, Nosferatu and the Hydraulics of Youth and Age” Naomi Segal suggests that, “An unusual version of the vampire myth can be found in Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves”. (Undead Memory, P86) Good enough for a look-see.

The film is set in a remote Scottish village in the 1970s and focuses on Bess (Emily Watson, Happy Family). As the film is starting she is talking to the (male) elders of her church and explains that his name is Jan (Stellan Skarsgård) but the elders have not heard of him. He is not from there and they suggest that they do not encourage matrimony with outsiders and ask her to name one good thing the outsiders have brought them. Music she replies.

Jan and Bess

Jan and Bess get married and we discover that Jan works on the oil rigs and Bess is overly innocent it seems. She is prone to childish outbursts (for instance she hits out at him when the helicopter bringing him and his wedding guests is late – though the action is less spoilt and more naïve – Segal suggests she is Sancta simplicitas) and a virgin. Jan is her first love and she has prayed for love (we’ll come back to that). As things develop we find out that when her brother died she ended up being sectioned (involuntarily incarcerated in a mental health hospital) – her sister-in-law Dodo (Katrin Cartlidge) is a Sister at the nearest hospital and, despite being an outsider, remained in the village after her husband’s death for Bess’ sake.

an elder

Again, as things develop we discover that Bess has conversations with God and God replies – at least Bess replies for God, changing her voice. It seems to the viewer that she is delusional to some extent, perhaps even schizophrenic (and giving vocalisation to the voices). Perhaps it is down to the oppressive religion, which is patriarchal and certainly misogynistic – women may not speak in services and may not attend funerals. At said funerals the priest (Jonathan Hackett) condemns sinners to Hell and those who transgress the morality of the church might be cast out of the church and be dead to the locals.

Jan injured

Bess’ bliss is broken when Jan has to return to the rig. During his absence she is criticised for being overly emotional about him being away and eventually she asks God to return him to her. She asks herself (in God’s voice) whether she is sure. At sea there is an accident on the rig and Jan is injured. He is brought back and operated on and does survive but is paralysed. He asks Bess to sleep with other men and tell him about it – an act of love that Bess believes can heal him even though she does not like the idea.

searching out encounters

Her sexual encounters are distressing for her and her actions come to the attention of the elders, Dodo and a doctor (Adrian Rawlins) who has fallen for Bess. He believes Jan is essentially abusing her (possibly due to his condition) and eventually attempts to have her sectioned again. Yet from Bess’ point of view when Jan relapses and she does as he wishes it brings him back to some level of health – hence the fact that, at first, she lies about the encounters (making them up) and eventually actually goes through with them; in turn they become more and more dangerous. Is it really making him better though?

Emily Watson as Bess

MASSIVE SPOILERS – Jan refuses further treatment and it is thought he will die until Bess’ terminal sexual encounter with a sadistic sailor (Udo Kier) from whom she had barely escaped previously and who she goes to willingly. She dies but we then see Jan actually ambulatory again, looking to bury his wife. It seems that he has recovered. The community had turned her away and at her (fake, as Jan steals her body and puts stones in the coffin) burial she is condemned to Hell and yet the Doctor suggests, at the inquest into her death, that rather than calling her neurotic or psychotic – as he had written in his report – he should have written good – for that is why she acted as she did, because she was intrinsically good.

attacked by the local kids

So, a vampire? We know that in the basic model, drawn from Stoker and expanded in many of the films based upon Dracula, the male vampire feeds upon a female victim and in that act of penetration/bloodletting ultimately hyper-sexualises her. In this Jan penetrates Bess on their wedding day (in the toilets at the reception) and leaves a stain of blood on her wedding dress. After his injury his encouragement/manipulation causes her to become a sexual creature (called a tart by stone throwing village children). However, Bess says of her encounters “I don't make love with them, I make love with Jan and I save him from dying.” We can also quote Taylor (2012, The Urge Towards Love is an Urge Towards (Un)death: Romance, masochistic desire and postfeminism in the Twilight novels, quoted in Race in the Vampire Narrative) who says that for vampires “Sexual hunger becomes conflated with literal hunger.”

landscape

The results of her sacrifice can’t actually be argued with and the film ends with a truly supernatural/spiritual happening that underlines her ultimate goodness and suggests that she might truly have been speaking to God. But if she is the vector, then it is Jan who would be the vampire, feeding of her goodness and perverting it (or at least trying to, arguably she maintains her innocence in the face of her encounters). Ultimately her death gives him life (and more, he can walk again, can even return to the rig, though he uses a crutch). So, whether he is a sexual vampire – perhaps even an incubus who feeds/heals through her sacrifice, made for love – or not depends on your view. I think there is a case for saying so. Certainly, however, the film plays with a trope that is out of the genre and at the very least is of genre interest.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Vitaortus Book 2 – review

Author: Dea Schofield

First Published: 2014

Contains spoilers


The Blurb: This supernatural fusion tale twists and twines along as Devi Trevathan, the world's only Prime Channel (and herb-growing, immortal horticulturist), comes to grips with her critical new role.

Nefarious forces and dueling romantic distractions vine around her, causing plenty of trouble and strife. New revelations about the tricky vampires she helps sheds light on their ancient mysterious ways as well as the special relationships with their human ‘bonded’.

Can Lord Alec Gregory, Devi’s 'Champion' and facilitator, keep her safe and on track after horrifying events? And what of the magical wild card, Demetrios? Can the strange new friends Devi makes along the way help save them all from the looming mysterious apocalyptic plans of 'The Brotherhood'? From Washington DC, to New Orleans, to Crete, Devi and The Vitaortus are in for a tasty, tangled, dangerous ride!

The review: is hosted at Vamped.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Horror and Hamsters – review

Director: Randy Smith (segment)

Release date: 2018

Contains spoilers

When is a vampire film not a vampire film? There could be a few answers to that but today we are looking at the segment La Grosse Mort. The short had been in the anthology Monster Pool: Seven deadly Sins as the segment Lust, also. As for this anthology, the film has a formula where it alternates between a horror short and a scene of hamsters being cute – and I’m not kidding.

So, what do I mean, not a vampire? The creature in this segment is vampiric but there is a specific play around it not actually being a vampire in film, as you’ll see.

eating energy

It starts off with a woman, Cassandra (Rhapsody Blue), searching through a dating website until she comes to Tim (Jake William Smith). They meet in a club, he seems shy and perhaps clumsy and she seems sexually dominant. They leave with a specific aim of having sex. She is atop him when we see a tail behind them. Who it belongs to is, at first, not clear until its pointed end jabs her in the back, piercing her flesh. It pushes her down to Tim who draws her lifeforce from her (so an energy vampire), killing her.

producing a stake

We see many accounts on the dating site become inactive and then see Tim walking and talking to Anne (Kaleena Jay). They seem to be getting on but she is worried about the area he has taken her to and asks that he not attack her by the dumpsters. He says it isn’t his thing, unless she wants him to, when she suddenly elbows him in the nose causing it to gush with blood. He laments her choice, suggesting that they had made a connection, but she has a stake and she buries it in his chest.

alas, it will not work

There are some sarcastic pain sounds and then laughter. A stake won’t work, he jibes he’s not a vampire. He is, Anne insists, but he corrects her and states that he is an incubus. Now the incubus has less association with the vampire genre than the succubus but the former is the male version of the latter and he is definitely an energy vampire at the very least. Of course he might not be the only creature haunting the night. As for the segment, it is good fun and centres on a lesser used entity, 6 out of 10.

At the time of review there is no IMDb page

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – season 2 – review

Director: Various

First Aired: 2017

Contains spoilers

Based (loosely) on the books by Douglas Adams, I looked at season 1 of this series here.

The primary reason for doing so was because of the characters the Rowdy 3, 4 “Anomalous entities” who are actually energy vampires. However, covering off the end of Season 1 (spoilers if you haven’t watched that yet). The CIA project Blackwing has become active and is aggressively capturing and testing the AEs.

coffin like prison

At the season cross-point Dirk (Samuel Barnett, Penny Dreadful) has been captured and is being tested, as have three of the Rowdy 3 though they are on ice in coffin like containment. The last member, Vogel (Osric Chau), is on the run with Amanda (Hannah Marks) and separate to his sister, Todd (Elijah Wood, Paris Je T’aime) along with Farrah (Jade Eshete) are also on the run (and on the FBI most wanted list). Last of all, Bart (Fiona Dourif, True Blood) escaped the army sent to catch her but has been separated from companion Ken (Mpho Koaho), who is held in Blackwing on the assumption he has powers (he doesn’t). If I had a small frown, it was that we didn’t see Bart slaughter the army sent for her.

Martin feeding

The story this time around centres on a world/separate dimension called Wendimoor – a world created in the mind of a small child where the laws of physics do not hold true. Unfortunately Wendimoor and reality are beginning to cross over with weak spots allowing things to transfer between worlds. In Wendimoor, Amanda’s paraibulitis, which Todd also has, is controllable and even allows her to access magic. The story is convoluted but perhaps we see the solution much quicker than Dirk – who is enveloped in self-doubt through the season.

Vogel feeds on Amanda

As for the rest of the Rowdy 3, they are broken out of Blackwing and reunited with Amanda and Vogel. Note that they were 4 but called 3, and then they added Amanda to their ranks… this is all an Easter egg referring to The Hitchhiker’s Guide and the number of books in the trilogy. Could they be gaining a 6th member? The Rowdy 3 play an integral role in the season but we don’t really see much else with regards the lore of their vampirism and I really don’t want to spoil the central mystery too much. So there is nothing left to say but 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

But Deliver us from Evil – review

Director: Joshua Coates

Release date: 2017

Contains spoilers

Lilith (Alice Rose) has become linked to the media vampire but let us not forget that this is a fairly recent pairing, and also note that the alleged first wife of Adam (Marsahn Wilson) might be the adoption of Babylonian myth or even just a medieval elaboration to Jewish folklore.

Despite being human (she is made from the same clay as Adam but refuses to bow to the innate misogyny of man), she is then called a demon. Indeed in this she is tied into the myth of the succubus (and, indeed, the gender fluid nature that allows the succubus to become the incubus (James A. Sims)). I would also say that (possibly by accident) the filmmakers have tied this to the lamia – they give her a snake aspect that I suspect is meant to tie into the serpent in the Garden of Eden but such an aspect is immediately reminiscent of the lamia and, if you look at the work of Twitchell, there is an argument, which might be made, that the link between the lamia and the media vampire is actually longer apparent than that of Lilith.

Eric Roberts as  Leigh Warring

So, the film starts off with a biblical quote (from Isiah) that mentions Lilith and a retelling of Sodom and Gomorrah’s story with a Lilith addition. It then cuts to a show (as the credits role) hosted by Leigh Warring (Eric Roberts, Lost Girl, Halloween Hell & Sicilian Vampire), this show seems to be anti-religious or cynical thereof, though the film essentially takes a pro-Christianity position. We also hear about an evangelical ministry run by Robert J Knight (Joseph Gian) and his wife Tammy (Veronica Petrucci) – who are actually doing good in the world.

RJ Konner as detective Reid

We see Knight in a hotel, he goes into a room and a woman is waiting for him (she remains in shadow/silhouette but you wouldn’t lose the bet if you guessed it is Lilith). They end up in bed, she scratches his chest and licks the blood from her hand and then attacks. The police are called to the hotel and lead detective Mckenzie Reid (RJ Konner) is called in. The suspicion is that a specific serial killer has returned. We later discover that hunting the killer had previously cost Reid his marriage.

Jeremiah and Charles

We see social worker Charles (Franklin Ojeda Smith) trying to place Jeremiah (Grant Harvey) with temporary fosters but he is rejected as a youth with no past. This was meant to be a temporary solution before he goes to college. Later we see Jeremiah leaving his room, going outside as he thinks someone is near. He is stopped from walking out in front of a car by Charles. Jeremiah was sleepwalking and suffers from vivid visions, mostly when asleep but sometimes when awake. When he gets to college he is placed in the Jocks’ dorms and his roommate, Pete (Pooch Hall), is less than impressed with being saddled with the weird kid – especially when he has a vision of Pete’s death.

Alice Rose as Lilith

So, convoluted story aside, Lilith is back in the city and is alternatively killing men and also causing unsuspecting men to carry her offspring, that then burst from their stomach. We see this once with a business man, Todd (Dave Shaver), who collapses, is given cpr (which is aborted when a snake comes from his throat) and then something bursts from his stomach. Those around him at the time do not describe it to police, it appears, though it is clear that something exploded from within.

wings on show

Lilith sometimes appears scaled and produces fangs (and bites in a standard vampire way if they are out). We get a moment when she is winged and they are bat wings. A cross holds her back at one point (though she can enter a church/ministry). Jeremiah becomes the focus of her attention when she realises there is something about him and he, in turn, discovers that he is a descendent of the righteous man from Sodom and Gomorrah and his visions are real.

fangs

It is quite a convoluted story and one got the feeling that they were pulled in multiple directions as they built the story, with Lilith trying to hatch a macrocosmic plot but that plot was overwhelmed by microcosmic moments in the film. Probably one of the biggest problems was with Lilith and the performance thereof – actress Alice Rose tried her best, I’m sure, but simply did not have the presence to convince the viewer that she was an ancient evil looking to destroy the world and her performance lacked any nuance. Indeed, there were several performances that lacked the conviction this needed – though Grant Harvey tried his damnedest. The effects were passable for a film that was filmed on a fairly tight budget but ultimately I wasn’t convinced. 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.