Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins – review

Directors: Joey De Guzman, Ian Loreños and Shugo Praico

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

I enjoy the Shake, Rattle and Roll franchise, for the most part, and this is the 17th instalment in the series. A Philippines export, the franchise normally consists of three unrelated horror segments in an anthology that can run anywhere upward of 2.5 hours. This bucks the trend in that the three parts are related and whilst the styles change – 1775 is a nunsploitation segment, with what seems to be a demon, 2025 is at its heart a slasher and 2050 is an apocalyptic action/horror – the stories connect.

shipwrecking

It is in segment 2, 2025, that aswang are first mentioned but it became clear that central entity Malum (played in segment 1 & 2 by Jerome Philip Canseco and in segment 3 by Carlo Tarobal) comes across as a demon at first he is also coded as a vampire. He is described, in the first segment, as “A creature of darkness, born into this world, from a distant land as old as time.”

delivering the chest

Turning attention to the first segment and, as suggested by the title, it is set in 1775. Central to the story is a nun named Clara (Carla Abellana) who, it becomes apparent, is blessed with second sight. However, she seems to go mad as she begins to predict the coming of an entity, as we see a ship in trouble at sea and a chest float off – a chest which later is taken to the convent.. Around this time, 4 novices arrive at the convent. One of the novices is Clara’s sister Flor (Loisa Andalio), sent by their father when he caught her trying to elope. Disobedient, she is concerned that she cannot find her sister (who has been locked away) and is also pregnant.

her soul consumed

The chest contains Malum and Clara’s family seem to have had something to do with his imprisonment. At one point Flor seems to see him as a shadow – though he has not been physically released then, his spirit is described as free. One of the nuns, Piedad (Ara Mina), opens the chest. This doesn’t release him – physical release comes through more mystical means than opening a latch – but she sees rich clothes and jewels and tries them on, but it is all an illusion that leads her to kill herself. It is this that starts to weaken the bonds of the containment and, in fact, when her body is found she is desiccated, suggesting her lifeforce has been used to loosen the bond. Indeed, the dialogue tells us that “With every drop of blood, and every soul consumed, it gains the strength to be freed”

Malum made physical

The nuns are then hunted psychically by Malum, who uses the motif of the seven deadly sins. Clara knows how to stop him, once he is released, and though he looked like a demon at that point, it did involve a wooden stake to the chest. The pregnancy of Flor is important because of the involvement of their family, meaning the line continues into the future and, as such, into the further segments.

Sky and Fay

The second segment is 2025 and involves a Halloween party taking place in a bunker. To it go Fay (Francine Diaz) and Sky (Sassa Gurl); incidentally, Sassa Gurl is in a role that would, in Philippine film, be bakla but I understand she identifies female. She has a costume (as it is a Halloween disco) that represents a tiyanak, There is also a costume of a traditionally Western cinema vampire. Fay’s parents are part of catering for the event (it seems) and her job is to steal from partygoers and get it to her parents. However, the plans are interrupted when robed and masked individuals begins carving their way through the partygoers and then the electricity is cut, preventing escape through the lift.

a cultist

So, this is very much slasher and, with the bunker as the location, it is effectively done. However, towards the end we discover that they are members of a cult of Malum, they have the chest and the deaths are designed to free him. The cult suggest that “Blood and soul will give him strength!” and once freed they “will be his new aswang”. It should be noted that Fay’s family are descended from Flor (or at least Flor’s wider family but the fact she was pregnant suggests Flor directly). That does not give her any particular mystic edge – she is trying to survive against human cult members – but feeds into a destiny aspect that runs through the film.

aswang

The final segment is 2050 and the Philippines are overrun with Malum’s aswangs who hunt humans in a post-apocalyptic landscape. It is implied that the apocalypse is just in the Philippines as they suggest that the world has turned its back on them and no help is coming. The aswang are, at first glance, quite zombie-ish but they actively hunt, showing intelligence in the hunt by stalking at times, and traditional aswang tropes are included, such as jars/vials of oil boiling as they come close.

Ivana Alawi as Edris

The segment sees Edris (Ivana Alawi) searching for Aunty Malena (Manilyn Reynes, Shake Rattle & Roll V, Shake Rattle & Roll IV & Aswang) as her family hold the key to defeating Malum – indeed she is Fay’s mum who survived the second segment of the film. She is living with a small group of survivors, which includes her two grandsons (or sons, it isn’t clear) Rosdan (Richard Gutierrez) and Riel (Dustin Yu, Shake Rattle & Roll Extreme). The nature of their blood comes into play in this as we see that if sliced or bitten by aswang their blood burns them.

Malum in 2050

If they can kill Malum it will kill the aswang. If, in part 1, he looked demon-ish, or simply a creature, and he did not really make much of an appearance in part 2, in this he looks full on Nosferatu style vampire and can project illusions and move a lightning speed. There isn’t a lot more to give lore wise and it is the look of Malum that codes vampire, alongside being freed by blood and souls, being staked to contain and the creation of aswang. The film itself does not feel like it lasts the best part of 2.5 hours, the pace works well and the difference in style for the segments works as does having them interconnect. The effects aren’t bad and all in all I think this is a solid 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

The Death of Snow White – review

Director: Jason Brooks

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

The linking of Snow White and vampirism is a sometimes used trope. There was Snow, Glass, Apples that has the character of Snow White as a vampire and Snow White and the Huntsman sees the wicked stepmother cast as an energy vampire who steals youth.

In the Death of Snow White it is the stepmother/evil queen (Chelsea Edmundson, Midnight Texas & Bloodsucka Jones) cast as the vampire but in the mode of Erzsébet Báthory – though clearly not with that name.

Meredith Binder as the evil witch

The film starts with the Evil Witch (Meredith Binder) breaking in to the castle – noting that witch and (future) queen are one and the same but played by different actresses – with the entry aided by Huntsman Kaiser (Jonathan Holbrook). She is certainly not above killing any in her path (often through magic). She gets to the bedchamber of the heavily pregnant Queen (Kelly Tappan) and stabs her with a poisoned dagger. To save the child they have to perform a caesarean but the poison, not enough to kill the Queen, was enough to kill the baby. The poison has a magical element, a kiss must be given to draw the poison, it must be a kiss of love and be a sacrifice – thus the Queen sacrifices herself.

Sanae Loutsis as Snow White

Cutting forward and the Evil Queen rules the kingdom, having married and then murdered the King (Tyler McKenna). Ignorant of the murder, Princess Snow White (Sanae Loutsis) is beloved of the people and known as the People’s Princess. The Queen is forced to keep her alive to keep the kingdom – though she ultimately wants to take another kingdom, at which point she will eat Snow White’s heart as it will ensure beauty and immortality. As things stand she is jealous and does whatever she can to maintain her beauty. The magic mirror in this is mocking and filled with demon ladies.

The Prince and Snow

Snow is pursued, in a good way, by a charming Prince (Tristan Nokes) but the bitter queen orders the Huntsmen to take Snow’s friends prisoner (in order to use them for beauty treatments). During this attack Snow accidentally sees Kaiser’s face, who tries to kill her despite the standing orders of keeping her alive. Desperate she flees into the Haunted Forest and eventually meets the dwarves – cut very differently to the Disney version, these are the surviving dwarves after the Queen ordered their friends and families murdered and banished them with a magic that gave them dominion over the forest (one of their number, Tiny (Eric Pope), is not a dwarf, incidentally).

blood bathing

The vampirism comes into this when we see a rather visceral blood bathing. The Queen, in the first instance, looks to be sharing the bath with another woman – however the body if lifted out revealing upper torso only. The blood and viscera look thick and she dunks herself wholly beneath the surface. In terms of a blood bathing scene it is well done. The film itself is obviously at a lower budget end but clearly has had some finance thrown at it, but not enough to make it as slick as it might. The acting tends to be stagey, verging into pantomime. The notable exception is Chelsea Edmundson who, whilst deliciously chewing up the scenery, is having a whale of a time and nails the Evil Queen role.

magic mirror

The film should not work as well as it does, though adding in the horror aspect (including some body horror) serves the story well. We get the Brothers Grimm (Christopher Burnside & Milo Mechem-Miller) thrown in as companions of the Prince but acting more like a comic relief version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they were probably unnecessary or a missed opportunity. Overall I feared, as the film started, that I would be unable to stay the distance but was surprisingly taken with the film. 5 out of 10 seems fair, though the blood bathing scene rates higher.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Honourable Mention: The Final Curtain

Edward D. Wood Jr. created this 22-minute pilot episode for a TV series that never happened in 1957, it was considered lost and then found, and released at Slamdance Festival in 2012.

It follows an actor (Duke Moore, Plan 9 from Outer Space), who was starring in a vampire play, exploring the empty theatre at night. There is an object, he doesn’t know what, that is calling for him to find it. He, essentially, is someone who acts like a vampire in the play we do not see.

Jeannie Stevens as the vampire

In one of the rooms there is a fright as he sees a woman and then realises it is a dummy that is used as a prop vampire in the play. However, the dummy seems to come to life and the character is called the Vampire (Jeannie Stevens). She beckons him but he leaves the room and slams the door. And that’s it, vampire wise, a fleeting visitation that might be fever dream. The whole thing is without character dialogue and rather it has an inner monologue narrated by Dudley Manlove (also Plan 9 From Outer Space) whose camp delivery does the episode no favours. A curiosity, certainly.

The imdb page is here.

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

Babanba BanBan Vampire – season 1 – review

Director: Itsurô Kawasaki

First Aired: 2025

Contain spoilers

I previously reviewed the live action version of this and this time it is the turn of the anime series. A note about the name, the construction of the name varies dependent on source and the name is not actually words in Japanese, more sounds playing against the word vampire. I have used the title as per the box of the Malaysian DVD set.

I should also say that the live action had an aspect that made me uncomfortable – the relationship between vampire Ranmaru Mori (Daisuke Namikawa) and fifteen-years old protagonist Rihito Tatsuno (Yûsuke Kobayashi) felt not unlike grooming. The vampire finds virgin blood of an eighteen-year-old boy tastes the best and has been working at the Tatsuno family’s bathhouse for a decade, after the boy helped him when close to death, with the intention of drinking from him when he turns eighteen.

Yûsuke Kobayashi as Rihito

From this derives the main plot, with Ranmaru trying to ensure Rihito remains pure and misreading those around them (so he decides that Rihito’s crush, Aoi Shinozuka (Mayuko Kazama), has a mutual crush on Rihito when she actually has fallen for the vampire, for instance). Whilst it was uncomfortable in the live action it was centred on blood. In this he repeatedly has a visceral sexual reaction when considering that moment, making this feel seedy and unsavoury in places. The making a joke of this reaction felt off as well, and served to undermine the general humour that worked well within it.

Akira Sekine as Kaoru

The basic storyline is virtually identical to the live action but it is enhanced with additional situations – though the gags through the series run very much at one level, Ranmaru’s misreading of situations and the impact on relationships. It also has an additional main character in the form of Kaoru Yamaba (Akira Sekine), a gyaru girl who seems generally aggressively misandrist (understandable given the portrayal of her father) who seems, to Ranmaru, to be bullying Rihito but actually is crushing on him and doesn’t know how to express it.

vampire fight

Towards the end the series brings in Nagayoshi (Yuichi Nakamura) – Ranmaru’s brother and fellow vampire, who is a violent, bloodthirsty vampire who hates his sibling. Though this is quickly resolved the additional lore aspects outlined are worth mentioning. Nagayoshi looks the same age as Rihito but he is the elder brother – abstaining from blood has caused Ranmaru to age to his early twenties appearance. The main lore aspects we get early on are the impact of direct sunlight, the need for invitation (breaking this to pull someone through a window causes Ranmaru’s arm to burn), a special poison that vampire hunters carry and a stake through the heart killing. Nagayoshi has consulted the internet and is repelled by garlic and crosses, having read that online, despite them not affecting Ranmaru – indeed Ranmaru holding his arms out to form an effective cross actually happens.

the euro-vampire

The only other lore to mention is, as in the live action, Ranmaru looses his arms in battle and they are able to act independently before reattaching. The animation style feels retro (kindly, some might say dated). Some of it is strangely “less anime” than the live action – when we meet Franken (Taku Yashiro) the imagery is much more normal than the very anime moment in the live action film. The end of the series has the European vampire who originally turned Ranmaru arrive in Japan again, indicating the direction for a second season. What pushes this down for me is the very sexual grooming element, which is simply uncomfortable and not really a suitable joke matter. I could get past it in the live action but the visceral character reaction made this less palatable. 5.5 out of 10 reflects that, despite this, there is still a watchable anime at the heart of the series.

The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mention: Futurama: Our Flag Means Medical Coverage

2026 saw the return of Futurama and the third episode of the season, directed by Peter Avanzino, Dwayne Carey-Hill and Ira Sherak, had vampires – at least in a Fleeting Visitation,

It starts at the DOOP headquarters and President Glab (Tress MacNeille, Tiny Toon Adventures – Stuff that goes Bump in the Night) is looking to encourage the Vampire Empire to join DOOP by gifting their Emperor (Maurice LaMarche) a fabulous jewel encrusted piano and, to get it to their planet, she entrusts Fry (Billy West, Futurama: I Dated a Robot, Futurama: Fry Am the Egg Man & Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island), Bender (John DiMaggio), Zapp Brannigan (also Billy West) and Kiff (also Maurice LaMarche) to deliver it (using a Doop vessel, rather than the Planet Express ship).

Admirella wields the cross

From there the episode becomes one of piracy and piano heist, that is until they return to DOOP Headquarters to outwit President Glab, who is using the Vampire Empire to sway the vote to allow her an unconstitutional third term in office. Before the Empire can join DOOP they must have their National Anthem played – on the piano, retrieved from the pirates and brought with them, which it transpires doubles as a weapon of mass destruction. As Bender starts the boogie-woogie anthem, two vampires emerge from their coffins and remove stakes from their chests to then flank the Emperor. They are chased off by Admirella (also Tress MacNeille) using a cross. And that’s it, a fleeting visitation by vampires from the Vampire Empire. Thanks to Jez who mentioned this one to me.

The episode's imdb page is here.

The House That Drinks – review

Author: Alex Alicea

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

The blurb: Marrow’s Point has a house everyone avoids and one ambitious investor is determined to monetize it anyway. When restoration consultant Evelyn Hart steps onto the fog-choked property, the mansion seems to notice her. Doors lock themselves. Sound dies in the halls. Blood does not spill, it sinks into marble and wood like the building is thirsty.

This is Gothic Horror with teeth: a living Victorian mansion that behaves like an organism, studying people, learning what they fear, and deciding what they’re worth. Locals warn that even if you leave, “part of you becomes a room,” and the house is patient enough to make that prophecy feel inevitable.

Evelyn is hired by Lila Voss, a desperate dealmaker who refuses to slow down even as the house’s “charm” turns predatory. When Evelyn pushes back on hosting guests, Lila’s answer is blunt: “Whatever it takes.” The house seems to like that.

Then Detective Mark Calder gets pulled into the nightmare as the mansion’s history snaps into focus and the town’s “luck” starts looking like a bargain paid in blood. The house whispers offers of protection in exchange for feeding, and Mark realizes the missing-persons story may include his own family.

As the mansion tightens control, Lila accelerates a preview event, funneling dozens of guests into a structure that herds them like prey. To survive, Evelyn and Mark are forced into an uneasy alliance with Silas Crowe, a contractor who knows too much about what’s under the house, and Rowan, an unnervingly calm figure who feels far older than he should.

If you want a Vampire Horror Mystery where the monster is the building, the secrets are structural, and every locked door is a decision the house is making, step inside The House That Drinks… and try not to give it anything it can keep.

The review: Some people are very traditionalist when it comes to vampire stories, they are looking for a member of the undead, they expect certain tropes. Others like a wider view of what constitutes a vampire and I am of the second camp, as regular readers will likely attest. I particularly like the idea of a vampiric building and indeed wrote a chapter on just that subject for the Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. I was therefore really excited when I spotted this book and there are conceptual aspects that I really enjoyed but other facets that are worryingly poor.

The book follows Evelyn Hart, a house restorer employed to assess the Varrick House (a building that had many names and uses over the years, but was built by immortality obsessed Elias Varrick in the nineteenth century). The house, however, is a living being and, as the book goes on, we find out about the predatory creature sealed in a foundation stone that acts almost as heart and brain, are told of the living wood used in construction and are introduced to a design that was meant to allow immortality and does, kind of. The house not only drinks blood but drinks in the person, taking the memories and personality, trapping the essence within its walls as it slowly grows and changes. This then feels like a culmination of certain vampiric house traits, whilst the stealing of memory and personality makes the house a repository of undead memory. In that sense it was a conceptually exciting read.

What went wrong was in the writing. There is inconsistency throughout the book and, as I read it, I gave that the benefit of the doubt as some of the inconsistencies, certainly around the passage of time, may have been deliberate to give the whole thing an Unheimlich essence. That might be true in places but, for instance, the time setting jumps between January in one place and October in another, which seems it might be a change in concept by the author and the editing of a redraft was poor…

However the errors in names were pretty bad, Evelyn Hart becomes Evelyn Thorne at one point. At the same time in the book Detective Mark Calder temporarily becomes Mark Chen. Chen, incidentally, is a name used for several background characters in the narrative. At the end of chapter 17 they are held in the house, with it locking them in place, at the start of chapter 18 Evelyn is outside in the nearby town – charitably, this could be nonlinear, though there is no indication of this, or deliberate but the author neglected to put anything in that would indicate that to the reader, likely it was just sloppy. On a positive note, it does jar the reader, and so inadvertently it does add to the uncanny.

Characters repeat plot points they have already established as though new – though perhaps this was meant to be the impact of memory being drunk and the characters losing their minds (literally) but if so the author never let the reader know this was what they were doing. Attitudes regress with characters resigning to the truth of the house and then deciding that can’t be the case despite seeing absolute proof. The house’s custodian, Rowan Hale, is met for the first time in the nearby town but later we are told his binding to the house is so strong he cannot cross beyond the house’s property line. He tells how his family were bound to the house, suggesting the responsibilities were inherited, and he has seen its actions by observing past family members but also that he is the one that made the original deal, was bound and has aged extremely slowly since. This might be an untrustworthy narrator, an error in drafting or an inability to keep motivations and backstories straight.

Another thing I noticed was the house using Evelyn to draft blueprints to allow it to reproduce, there are seventeen of them. However, at the end suddenly the house itself is blueprint 11 and it is strongly suggested that there were ten house before and likely out there (an idea that didn’t fit with the backstory and a single captured predator at the heart of the house) and seemed a fudge to open the pathway for a sequel.

I think all this could be one of three things: 

One, that the author deliberately made unreliable narrators and had things change or aspects repeat to build in that Unheimlich element and make the narration itself a liminal space between facts and falsehoods. If this is true, then the failing is on the author for not making this clear to the reader. I managed to convince myself this was true so as to stay with the narrative and finish the volume, and this was because I loved the central idea of the vampiric house, but I don’t truly think that was the case.

Secondly it might conceivably be errors created because the author used AI, to a greater or lesser extent, in the writing process. The inconsistencies and errors would then likely be AI hallucinations. I sincerely hope that isn’t the case, though I also note the, apparently, AI illustrations on the Amazon product page. A worse scenario is that the author is a pseudonym/invention that entirely AI generated books are being attached to – there is very little about the author online and he seems to have published a large number of books in an incredibly narrow space of time.

Lastly it is simply sloppy writing and redrafting, with ideas shifting, rushed changes, and very poor subsequent editing (or none at all).

As stands, if you like the idea of vampiric buildings and can overlook the issues with the narrative it may be worth a go, and that bolsters the score to 3 out of 10, which is generous given the issues but a tragedy given the concept.

On Kindle @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK