Undead Girl Murder Farce – review

Director: Mamoru Hatakeyama

First aired: 2023

Contains spoilers

An anime series that (to date of posting) has run a single season, I have to say this was great fun. Set in a fin de siècle setting, in a world where monsters are real and known about, the main character (the undead girl) is Aya (Tomoyo Kurosawa) a fushi who is truly immortal. Unfortunately, she was decapitated and her body stolen and so is now a head carried in a birdcage.

Tsugaru 

She and her servant Shizuku (Makoto Koichi) travel to a circus to find the so-called Oni-Slayer, Tsugaru (Taku Yashiro), half-oni (due to an experiment that was forced upon him) he has the ability to kill supernatural beings with his bare hands. She wants him to kill her and in return she will give him the knowledge to stop the oni side of him causing a descent into homicidal madness. The answer is eating parts of her, however they realise that the person who experimented on Tsugaru also stole her body – an elderly western man with a cane bearing the letter M.

Godard

They agree to look for her body and, as they search for clues, she becomes a detective who specialises in supernatural cases. The first takes them to France where Lord Godard (Hiroyuki Kinoshita) and his family of vampires have tried to make peace with humans – a difficult proposition given the actions of Dracula but made easier as the latter is dead. Unfortunately they were attacked recently by a hunter and, following that, his wife was staked in their home.

a family of vampires

The Godard’s were fascinating as the series had them still impacted by silver and holy water (and fire and stakes kill) but they actively went to church and only drank animal blood. They have two human retainers and Aya quickly concludes that the murderer must be from the home, but who is it and how to prove it? This mystery lasts through to the fourth episode and I suspected that this was going to be the most vampire orientated section. But, whilst it was the one where the episode focused on vampires, there was vampiric involvement all along.

Carmilla

The next section is in London and Arsene Lupin (Mamoru Miyano) had declared to the world that he would steal a diamond from Phileas Fogg (Hideaki Tezuka) both Aya and Sherlock Holmes (Shin'ichirô Miki) are hired to foil the crime but there are other players in the form of the Banquet – a secret society led by Professor Moriarty (Wataru Yokojima). He has a crew of monsters – one being Carmilla (Reina Kondô). They want the diamond as it is synthetic and contains the key to finding the lost Village of werewolves.

bite

Looking at Carmilla, she prefers to feast on women, and she has a venom, which works on skin contact, that causes the victim to become hot and numb and fall under her aphrodisiac spell. At one point she is stabbed with a cross and that burns (whether it is the holy symbol or simply the cross was made of silver is not clear). Interestingly, whilst a silver burn takes time to regenerate, cutting the affected area away allows for immediate regeneration (so silver burnt fingers will take a week to heal but cut them off and they regenerate rapidly).

detectives

There is a third set of antagonists – insurance agents for Lloyds who are monster hunters and prejudiced against their kind. This hotchpotch of literary, historical (such as Aleister Crowley (Tomokazu Sugita) who is an agent for the Banquet), and original characters made for an interesting watch and the stories were great fun. The animation was sharp – the character design were typically anime, which made for an interesting interpretation of characters such as Lupin. It’s been a couple of years, but I do hope this gets a second season. 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Crunchyroll via Amazon US

On Demand @ Crunchyroll via Amazon UK

Halloween Horror Tales – review

Director: Jeff Kirkendall

Release date: 2018

Contains spoilers

Jeff Kirkendall is a budget filmmaker and I have reviewed a few of his films now. I think it a measure of the man that he commented on my review of Terror of the Master, saying that he has enjoyed my reviews of the films – they have not scored high but I always try to give an honest review and see the positives in a vehicle. He directed me to this anthology film that he released in 2018.

a victim

The quality of story varied, and they were clearly budget but it was the final segment that interests us, as that was a vampire tale called The Hunt. Perhaps not as inventive as some of the segments (I was rather taken by The Horror Hostess) it actually made the segments feel cohesive by having the Host (Marie DeLorenzo) of the anthology a part of this story, as Elizabeth, despite this being released as a short three years before the anthology.

Tim Hatch as Darren

It starts with a flash to Elizabeth, a dream of an attack on her by a vampire and being found by her husband Darren (Tim Hatch, Terror of the Master, 3 to Murder, Shadow Tracker: Vampire Hunter, The Temptress Four Nights at Fear Forest & Sharkula) – it is his dream and he is haunted by her murder. Meanwhile cops are removing a body from a house – one of a series of murders being investigated by FBI agent Leanna Stark (Deana Demko, The Ironbound Vampire & Requiem for a Vampire).

Florence Steinberg as Camille

Graveyard caretaker Cyrus Linden (James Carolus, also Terror of the Master, The Temptress, 3 to Murder, Shadow Tracker: Vampire Hunter and Sharkula) knows more than he is letting on – something Darren has realised – and eventually spills the beans about the visit of a mysterious woman called Camille (Florence Steinberg) who he invited in without knowing what she was and is now living out of his shed. She, of course, is the vampire that Darren is determined to kill.

fangs

The story, generally, was fairly simple but was loaded with a nice twist to a motivation, What struck me more than anything was that it really felt that, whilst simple, it could easily have been expanded into a feature and would have worked – indeed the extra time would have allowed for more of an investigative side and exploration of character that would have added to the experience. Of course, it is still low budget and the segment carries that baggage with it, but it showed promise. 3 out of 10 for the segment, with a thought that if extended – even with the lack of budget and the stagy acting – it might well have scored more.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: Vampish

At just 4.5 minutes, this 2023 short by Christopher Goodenough takes the form of a breakup for infidelity but makes it a breakup due to vampirism.

Set in a diner, we meet Julia (Julia Gritzbach) and Shane (Shane R. Richard). She looks all the vamp, velvet gothic dress and fangs, he looks like an average guy. He wonders if she let them do it?

meeting

She says she guesses she did... she didn’t really think and she would, she admits, do it again. The referenced it is not a one-night stand (though that phrase is used) rather it is allowing a vampire to bite and turn her. Shane thought they had something real but, when he suggests she bite him she is clearly not ok with that and there is a very real reason…

fangs

This was a neat little short, nothing wildly new in it but there was an earnestness to the performances, and it scratches a little vampire itch.

The imdb page is here.

Avengers Vol. 3: Blood Hunt – review

Writer: Jed MacKay

Artists: Francesco Mortarino & C.F. Villa

First published: 2024 (tpb)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Writer Jed Mackay puts the Avengers at the heart of two of Marvel's biggest events! From the FALL OF X to BLOOD HUNT! The Avengers have hung in space over Earth, a sword of Damocles over mutantkind's enemy Orchis, for too long. But knowing they had only one chance to strike, they waited while Iron Man prepared. Now, on his signal, it is time - and the Avengers only know one way to strike: hard! But as the true extent of Orchis' Stark Sentinel program is revealed, will Earth's Mightiest Heroes fall against the metal onslaught? Then, with the Avengers under siege as vampires sink their teeth into the Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers must assemble a new roster to join the BLOOD HUNT! Quicksilver, Hawkeye, Hercules and Hazmat answer the call - but when they encounter an organized army of vampires in uniform led by a surprise villain, it gets personal!

The review: A volume of two parts with two avenger rosters – the first half (Fall of X) is not related to Blood Hunt in any way and is the end of a series. It was interesting but a tad like dipping your toe in as the tide’s going out.

On the other hand, the Blood Hunt storyline was magnificent. Captain America with a roster of Quicksilver, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hercules and Hazmat, they are faced with a force of organised vampires taking advantage of Blade’s actions but not part of his plan.

Led by Baron Blood they are Nazi vampires (leading Captain America to declare, “I’ve known good vampires. People who never asked for this curse, who don’t inflict their pain and hunger on others. But I’ve never known a good Nazi.” Words to live by, of course, and the real-world simile is underscored later when Baron Blood admits he manipulates his followers and they are disposable “credulous fools”.

This may have had a helicarrier and vampires, but this was old school Marvel adventure with Cap kicking Nazi butt. One of my favourite Blood Hunt sub-stories. 8 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Donors: Upgrade Your Lifestyle – review

Director: Omegia Keeys

Release date:2025

Contains spoilers

I wanted to like this, I really did. Based on a novel, written by R K Watts and edited by the director, and with the director creating a previous (55-minute) film in 2015 and a 2025 web series also (which this film seems to have been edited from), clearly they believe in their artistic vision. The basic photography was fine but, it just failed to make me care, plus it cut narrative corners and left whole swathes of narrative questions (which might be explained better in the web serial, given there is more running time), but this film edit should be able to stand on its own merits).

Donte Walker as Octavian

It starts with TV snippets based round Octavian (Donte Walker) vampire prince and heir to the Korvich coven. Octavian is the creator of the donor system – for around 100-years the vampires have been concerned about the self-destructive tendency of humanity and then, in 2005, there was a pandemic that threatened to wipe out humanity. There is a scene of a man dying, turning and then attacking his family, dusting when sunlight hits him – this suggests that the pandemic was turning people but what is clear is that the vampire population was (and still is) growing and they were known to humanity.

Tinesha Lynn as Nyla

The donor system, on the surface, feels a tad like Tinder for vampires. People go on the system to be introduced to vampires but it is inferred that the vampires chose their donors (not vice-versa) and the relationship is transactional (it is mentioned that vampires need blood and humans need money) and so perhaps less Tinder and closer to a prostitution data base. We meet Nyla (Tinesha Lynn) who has been on the system for some time without being picked (she is both a blood and sexual virgin it transpires). She is a disappointment to her family.

someone is spineless

She is picked by none other than Octavian, though she doesn’t know who he is, and they become very quickly romantically attached – the speed noted by characters in film. As such he goes too far and marks her (by passing some of his energy during feeding) as his – making the whole thing feels less than consensual. The main thrust of the film would seem to be their romance but is dealt with in short hand and at an undignified speed. This is so the film can look at politics and upheaval. Terrorist attacks against the donor system (an attack at a donor event, where there is a slaughter), hacking the computer system, flooding the streets with newborn vampires etc.

back in 1200AD

The primary problem was twofold. The film’s narrative failed to build this story and, I think unwittingly, expected you to immediately know who the players were without explaining them (at least not skilfully). The other problem was, because of the first issue: I didn’t care. I hate to say it, but the film was a chore to get through. They weren’t the only issues, however. For some reason, given that some of the players have more credits as stunt people than actors, the fight scenes were lack lustre. Also, if you are going to have a flashback to 1200 AD, in a dungeon, don’t have the stonework clearly wallpaper (a green screen probably was a better solution),

Phedra Syndelle as Six

Having mention the flashback, that was to create the armigers – 7 warriors (the main we meet is Six (Phedra Syndelle) who is shown as a kick ass, stoic warrior) – but we are told that they were genetically manipulated (and we are not told how that was achieved over 800-years ago) and so can daywalk, at least a little. But the cool warrior wasn’t enough to get me to invest in what I watched and, though I feel rotten for doing it, I can only give this 2.5 out of 10. It just wasn’t for me, perhaps it might be your cup of tea more.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

The Kiss of a Vampire – review

Director: Richard Douglas Jensen

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

This came up on Tubi and it seemed to have potential with the blurb talking about a new bride who discovers that her husband is a vampire. There seemed to be scope for some tense thriller moments coupled with horror. Unfortunately, the film really didn’t move me.

It starts with the bride, Carol (Saporah Bonnette), and Groom Frederick Wessex (Philip Hulford), preparing for their service. Note the bright sunlight – vampires in this are not impacted by the sun. The priest (Jeff Lapidus) at the service seems to be having moments and actually asks for forgiveness under his breath when he announces them as married – indicating that he knows something is off. A couple of gossipy women joke that they hope he knows what he’s getting in to during the service.

preparing for marriage

They drive to the small Appalachian town (population 100) where Frederick is the town doctor. It is in the middle of nowhere with no cell service and, when he lights candles at their cabin, he jokes that they have electricity except for… and lists a plethora of weather conditions. However, when she explored the town it seems, overall, like a much less rural location repurposed by the filmmakers. Later we see the brothel but it is a bar, by the looks of things, where the actors pretend the exterior matches the interior. They are making do with what they have but it requires a suspension of disbelief (especially with the industrial units that appear in a background of a river shot).

matted eyes (enlarge to see)

She seems to have moments and we see aspects like her walking and eyes floating nearby – that could be him watching her psychically, or a representation of her delusions; but to me it looked like a tad-ham-fisted matting. The reason it might be delusion is because she is bipolar and schizophrenic and has been in institutions most of her young life. The question then of the romance, and how he wooed her hangs over the narrative but isn’t really answered. He has wooed her to breed her, we know that much – and suggests it was due to her virginity. He is pretty sure he impregnates her first time round. He wants a child (and later we hear that the child will be cursed to be Nosferatu if he is not killed during the first full moon after conception).

Emma Hayley Jensen as the hunter

That said, he claims to be in love with her and wants to make her eternal like him (he is 1200 years old). The townsfolk are his vassals and he rules over them and no one seems to bat an eyelid when prostitutes leave the brothel in body bags. Then throw into the mix vampire hunters – one who is a priest (Richard Douglas Jensen), barred from the vampire hunter secret society when he let his wife, who had been turned, escape. The other a nun (Emma Hayley Jensen) who was excommunicated due to her Sapphic exploits. How he tolerated the two in his town, especially as one seemed to live there, is not explained. Some late on rabble-rousing by another priest (Michael V. Jordan) also seemed off-kilter given Federick’s apparent control.

vampiric imagery

The film did have some good vampiric images (mostly fangs on show and blood/bite effects) but the story dragged. The performances were mixed; Saporah Bonnette’s distanced performance worked given the character’s mental health and Richard Douglas Jensen was great as the Russian priest/hunter. I was much less taken with Philip Hulford’s Wessex. There is also something jarring about an Anglo-Saxon warrior with very modern tattoos (some in modern English and one in binary). This vampire’s back was scarred, true, but would undead flesh maintain the scar of a post-turning tattoo? Perhaps that’s just me. I struggled with this one 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Brief Hiatus

It is Rebellion Festival starting tomorrow, but the fun and frolics start today; getting my wristband, catching up with friends and some pre-festival fringe music and general shenanigans.

I’ve taken the decision to put the blog on a very brief hiatus, rather than continuing to post over the weekend.

Normal service resumes 11th August.

Use of Tropes: Sleep Stalker

This is a 2025 feature from directors Justin Shilton and Rob Zazzali, and I previously looked at their feature Shark Girl. Rob Zazzali contacted me to see if I would look at this new film and maybe feature it here on TMtV.

Now, had I watched this cold I would probably not have done a “Use of Tropes”, the tropes are, to be fair, sparse indeed – though I was reminded to a degree of one of the 19th Century great vampire stories, Guy de Maupassant’s The Horla (1887) but Rob had already suggested that “I realize this may be even further outside your Vampire sphere…but perhaps fits well in your “Use of Tropes” bucket.” Though the tropes might be sparse, that sort of message suggests the filmmakers knew what they were doing with them.

video channel

The film was, Rob confessed, filmed on a budget and so the filmmakers used the found footage genre to allow the film room to breathe within the financial constraints and the primary two characters are content creators/influencers. They are Abby (Gabrielle Montes de Oca, Shark Girl) and Shane (Josh Gilmer), and the opening shots of the film are the titles to their video channel. An intertitle tells us that what we are about to see was made up of socials and personal videos made before their channel went dark, We meet them proper going into a property at night that they have bought sight unseen.

sonambulist

In the morning, they start to assess the house, the work that needs doing to it, the furniture left in the house and the potential decorating. The idea is that they will chart their progress as content for the channel. The house isn’t too bad for being bought sight unseen. However, it isn't long before Abby catches Shane sleepwalking. Though not a staple of the genre, sleepwalking is a major plot point in Dracula and suggests a psychic disturbance at the very least. One thing the audience sees, which Abby misses, is when Shane tried to open the front door and she leads him back to bed, the chain being opened by a presence unseen.

happier moment

The film relies on both Josh Gilmer’s performance and small-scale strange phenomena (such as doors opening) to build an unheimlich feeling. It also concentrates on the impact on the couple, him becoming more and more exhausted and obsessed with the idea that there is something occult happening, her dismissive of that theory, wanting to get their content down and becoming scared of him and what he might do in his sleep. Her fears escalate to the point where it is inferred she has deleted footage, probably because there was unexplainable elements to it. They go to a sleep institute who give them cameras to monitor his sleepwalking, but he refuses to be medicated. Eventually Shane puts a call out for a psychic.

Yvans Jourdain as Gabriel

The psychic is Gabriel (Yvans Jourdain), who arrives when Shane is out and feels nothing but warmth and good energy in the house. However, his demeanour changes when Shane returns to the house and he suggests that the young man’s aura is off and that something non-human has attached itself to him. This then is where the film reminded me of the Horla. Rather than a demonic or spirit possession, the 19th century story has a separate, invisible species attach to ordinary folk and they are energy vampires.

Gabrielle Montes de Oca as Abby

In truth, in this, we never get to know what this actually is; spirit, demon or unknown species – there is some suggestion that it might be the previous owner, John. It could also be that John himself was targeted by the presence and the sleepwalking/possession is either John reliving his events or trying to communicate and, with this reading, the “attached thing” may not directly causing the sleepwalking. The film keeps this as broad as it can so the viewer can interpret but there is nothing to indicate that Shane is being fed upon.

feeding blood

The only other thing to mention is Abby finding him chopping (something not particularly seen but may be some lamb, or meat of some describe), pouring blood into a glass and forcing her to drink “the blood of the lamb”. Although not vampiric it was a moment of blood drinking. All in all, whilst some might want a more definitive answer as to what was occurring, the filmmakers make an off-kilter little mystery, overcoming budget by keeping things simple, relying on actors and focusing on the realm of influencers to allow a found footage aesthetic where the rolling cameras make sense.

The imdb page is here.

DC vs. Vampires: World War V Vol. 1 - review

Author: Matthew Rosenberg

Illustrator: Otto Schmidt

First Published: 2025 (THB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: The smash-hit Elseworlds series returns, as the fight between heroes-turned-vampires and what’s left of humanity goes global!

DC vs. Vampires was just the beginning! The sequel has arrived, and the team of writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Otto Schmidt return as a new Ice Age dawns.

It’s the dead of winter, and any hope for a fragile truce between the Green Arrow-led human heroes and vampire queen Barbara Gordon’s army has been dashed by Damian Wayne and his guerrilla fighters. He’s the only one fighting back against the bloodthirsty hordes, leaving Green Arrow with a choice: Does he stand and fight, or sacrifice the boy in the name of peace?

This volume collects DC vs. Vampires: World War V #1-6, the first half of the bloody battle.

The review: Time to take a quick break from Marvel’s Blood Hunt event, with the next volume in DC’s vampire event (which started with DC Vs Vampires). There is often a lot of fan rivalry between the two comic book giants, rivalry that seems less apparent in the properties themselves and which, for me, is unnecessary as they both have their positive points and if I have a preference for one of them it does not mean that I can't enjoy the other. When it comes to the two events, however, one thing I prefer about the DC series is the long-term impact of the uprising. Where Blood War came and went in one volume and the other volumes showed events tied to a variety of heroes (and villains) during that point, the DC property, being an Elseworlds and therefore out of main continuity, has long lasting and far-reaching impacts.

By this volume humanity is scattered and endangered, the vampires are looking to create quantities of synthetic blood (though not used exclusively, it seems and so humans may still be farmed) and a fragile truce has been entered into, However the vampiric Damian Wayne refuses to bow the knee to the Vampire Queen – Barbara Gordon – and is attacking with impunity and has the audacity to try and assassinate the Queen. Elsewhere a baby is born of two vampires and the volume follows the father, Mr Miracle, trying to keep her alive, whilst a prophecy seems to surround her. Batman (killed early on in the vampire uprising) seems to return, though it is not who you might think in the cowl. Alfred has become a Green Lantern, but he is in desperate need of training and confidence and Darkseid makes his appearance.

It was the utter despair, the inherent attempt to make this a dark, gritty story that is unlikely to have any bright conclusion, which makes this for me. By the end of the first volume of Blood War, the danger had passed and whilst there were continuity ramifications, for the main things returned to normal. We got the destination in a volume, the other volumes represent the journey. With DC the destination is far off and unknown. 8 out of 10.

In Hardback @ Amazon US

In Hardback @ Amazon UK

Sinners – review

Director: Ryan Coogler

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Regular readers will hopefully recall that I offered my first impression of this film following a cinema viewing. Now that it has moved onto physical media I wanted to offer my more considered thoughts. However, on going in, I have to say that this was a film that absolutely captured my attention in the cinema and was a film whose soundtrack I bought as I travelled home that evening. The soundtrack in the film is a key element of not only the setting, and the film’s structure but also the cornerstone of the film’s plot.

opening sequence

That is explained in the opening where we are given information about musicians “born with the gift of making music so true, it can pierce the veil between life and death. Conjuring spirits from the past... and the future. In Ancient Ireland, they were called Fili. In Choctaw land, they call them Firekeepers. And in West Africa, they're called griots. This gift can bring healing to their communities but it also attracts evil.” The listing of the three cultures is important as the film is set amongst people of the African diaspora on the Mississippi Delta, has an Irish antagonist and we get a brief appearance of the Choctow.

Sammie, worst for wear

The film’s structure does remind me, to a degree, of From Dusk Till Dawn, in that it structures as perhaps two halves, with us immersed in a crime facing drama for the first half, which then explodes into a vampire action film in the second half. However, unlike the former this does offer vampire related moments in the first half. The film starts proper with Sammie Moore (Miles Caton) pulling a car up in front of his father’s church. His clothes are ripped and bloodied, he has raw, fresh claw marks across his cheek and he clings to the neck of a broken guitar. In the church his father (Saul Williams) wants him to turn from sin before allowing him the comfort he seeks, he wants him to drop the guitar. In his mind’s eye he sees flashes of the things he has just faced…

Smoke and Stack

The film cuts back 1 day. Sammie is working the cotton fields alone, trying to achieve his quota before the day has started properly. He is leaving as other workers start to appear. One asks where he’ll be playing – he doesn’t answer (he doesn’t yet know). Elsewhere Sammie’s cousins the SmokeStack Twins (both played by Michael B. Jordan) are waiting to do business with Hogwood (David Maldonado, From Dusk Till Dawn the series). Just returned to the Delta, they were soldiers through the First World War and have been running with gangsters in Chicago. They are looking to buy an old sawmill but there is no love lost – the deal concluded, they warn Hogwood that if the see him or his Klan brothers on their property they’ll shoot them. For his part Hogwood claims the Klan is gone.

travelin'

Sammie has to go to the church to retrieve his guitar (taken there by his father) and it is clear that his father doesn’t approve of his musical choices (style or those he plays for). The twins pick him up, however. They have a truck stowed that is stuffed with Italian wine and Irish beer (it is mentioned later that they have clearly played the Irish gangs and mafia against each other and stolen from both) and plan to turn the sawmill into a juke joint. When they get to the truck there is a moment with a rattlesnake that illustrates how the twins work best as one, but they split up to speed the preparations. Smoke heads with the truck to arrange food and a sign for the joint (and meets his estranged wife and hoodoo practitioner Annie ((Wunmi Mosaku, Citadel, Lovecraft Country & Deadpool & Wolverine)) and Sammie and Stack go to recruit bluesman Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) and doorman Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller). This leads to a chance meeting with Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) who was in love with Stack. It is suggested that Stack found her white husband for her as she passes white.

Choctaw hunter

“Vampires?” you may ask, The first look proper is through this sequence when we see Remmick (Jack O'Connell) running under the sun, his flesh charring as he flees Choctaw who are hunting him. He gets to the farmstead and meets a gun aimed at his face and so says that 'Indians' are after him (he also notices the Klan gear neatly folded on a stool inside the homestead). They relent and let him in just before the Choctaw arrive – and invitations are important in this, having to be renewed every visit. The Choctaw arrive and, whether these are vampire hunters in an official sense is unknown, but they certainly know what he is. They beat a retreat as the sun is setting – and this is all we see of them. Rightly so, more would have overburdened the plot but there is a prequel begging to be made of the Choctaw and Remmick. It is interesting that Remmick, who is Irish, and the Choctaw have this antagonism, given the history of the Choctaw people helping the Irish (donating, despite having little themselves, aid during the Irish Potato Famine). When Joan (Lola Kirke), the wife, finds her husband, Bert (Peter Dreimanis), Remmick is covered in blood and he is dead on the floor. Very soon Bert stands up and he is hungry…

Lola Kirke as Joan

The Juke is popping, and Sammie is introduced to play. As the song develops on screen we see a flashback of Delta Slim explaining to Sammie that the blues was not forced on the African Americans, like (Christian) religion was, but that they brought it from home. We also hear a repeat of the opening narration about griots. Figures appear from past and future, playing with Sammie. A DJ is scratching, electric guitars wail as traditional drums pound, all building into his song. Ancestors and those to come, for anyone there (and thus we see some Chinese spirits for instance). It is a stunning and evocative scene, honestly worth the entrance fee to the film in its own right. Unfortunately, Remmick hears the song too and is drawn to the Juke along with Joan and Bert.

bloodied

They aren’t granted entry – due to them being white. Despite presenting as musicians and claiming to believe in equality, the fear of what would happen if a drink was spilled or someone looked too long at Joan causes caution. They do play, to try and gain entry – we discover that the vampires are all connected in a hive mind and so can assume that Remmick has the musical talent and shares it. When their nature is uncovered, Annie compares haints and vampires. A haint is a spirit that possesses a dead body, but vampires have their souls trapped inside and cannot move on. Remmick wants Sammie as he can allow him to see those lost over the years of being a vampire. They turn one core person and use them to try and gain entrance and soon there is a handful of survivors and a whole lot of vampires.

vampire in the dawn

The hive mind leads to another aspect of the film that is very interesting. The vampires singing and dancing in a choreographed way, all stemming from Remmick, which almost gives parts of the film the feel of a musical. The vampires, as mentioned, must be invited in, are very fast and drool when in vamp mode and when hungry. Garlic burns – leading to a scene where the protagonists try and find if one of their number is a vampire, which was an oral variant of the famous scene from The Thing – and sunlight or a stake through the heart kills. Christian iconography does little (we hear Remmick say and take comfort in the Lord’s Prayer) but a mojo bag does hold a vampire off.

Michael B. Jordan as the twins

This is a cracking film, it is incredibly well shot, has a dynamite (and plot central) soundtrack and fantastic acting throughout. Shout out to Michael B. Jordan who, through a brilliant powerhouse performance, imbues the twins with enough personality that we can easily tell them apart. I do have a friend that felt a coda section where the Klan are dealt with was unnecessary to the wider film – but for me, who wouldn’t applaud murderous racists being decisively dealt with. Given the social regression being experienced in the US, the very blunt messaging about the Jim Crow era and the treatment of African Americans was timeous, to say the least. However the film may be set within that era and among that community but it was a nuanced story that will stand the test of time. 9 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Around Midnight – review

Directors: Laura Giglio, Christopher Kahler & Andrew N. Shearer

Release date: 2004

Contains spoilers

A shot on and straight to video effort, If you are able to track down this anthology film it is going to look just that – with the fuzz one expects from such a film.

The wraparound is hosted by Suzi Lorraine (The Last Revenants & Drakul), speaking directly to camera and identifying as a vampire (though she does nothing vampiric). There are three announced segments (the feature runs for an hour) but only one is vampire related. That said there is an additional segment tagged onto the end of the third that is vampire (and I’ll cover that, of course).

attack

The first segment is entitled Vampire’s Kiss and, in the introduction, Suzi Lorraine suggests it is about a woman who wants to be a vampire (presumably that is the first of the two women we meet). The two women are played by Debbie D (Vampyre Tales, Deep Undead & Requiem for a Vampire) and Barbara Joyce, the end credits does not suggest which roles they play. The first we meet is in the bathroom brushing her hair, not seeing the man (Dean Paul) who enters her room until she turns round as, being a vampire, he doesn’t reflect. He mesmerises her with hand movements, has her strip and bites her but something startles him and he skedaddles.

bound

We move to the second woman, see her get ready for bed, the vampire enter her room, wake her and mojo her also. He takes her to his lair and chains her up, rips her nightie (because, boobs) and feeds from her. Eventually the first woman enters the lair whilst he is absent, with a stake through her belt. She goes to rescue the victim but, once free, she reveals fangs, and the new slayer kills her and awaits the male vampire. Not a lot else to report from this one.

fangs

The other two primary segments feature an encounter with death and, in the second, a woman having a psychotic break (which is by far the longest segment and is paced really poorly) – in fact the vampire segment mentioned is probably the best, though it has little story and is very short. After the third one, as mentioned, we get a mini-segment which has a guy (Christopher Kahler, Dracula’s Orgy of the Damned, From Dusk Till Dawn – the series & Preacher) on a couch watching TV. We het a news report about the Anubis Syndrome – a phenomena causing the dead to rise. He goes for a shower (and it was a nice reverse for a video of this pedigree to have the man do a shower scene) and a woman appears in his home. He goes to his bedroom and she follows, his reaction on seeing her is appropriately sleazy for this kind of straight to video fare and she bears fangs and attacks – that’s it.

staking

So it looks terrible – we expect that (though the staking of the victim turned vampire looked ok – probably because the poor print papered over the cracks) but the issue is that the segments aren’t great. Nevertheless, it does technically have three vampire spots. I think 2.5 out of 10 is overly generous but that’s what it can have.

The imdb page is here.