The Reluctant Vampire – review

Director: Emily McDonald

First aired: 2026

Contains spoilers

For those of us in the UK, above a certain age, the name Eric Morecambe is revered as the genius comedian he was. Less well known is the fact that he wrote a series of vampire books. I actually have one of the series, bought some time ago when they were fiendishly difficult to find (I suspect on the back of this, they are now easier to acquire) but had never got round to reading it; languishing as it is in my ‘to read’ pile.

Tom Davis as Viktor

This series is based on the first two books and has been drawn as a predominantly children's series (and, as such, has a slight feel of the BBC’s Young Dracula) with a deliberate undertone for adult watchers. It also has that very BBC tonal quality, which can often undermine a series. Nevertheless, it was a fair watch and a quick one too – 6 episodes at the 30-minute mark each).

Lenny Rush as Val

The series follows Val (Lenny Rush) the elder son of Victor (Tom Davis) and Valeeta (Sian Clifford) and elder brother of Vernon (Gabriel Nagy). Victor is the vampire king and they live in a castle not far from a small English village – this castle on the verge of suburbia was a main point in Young Dracula, though the village feels much less suburbia and the locals are very aware of vampires. The show starts with Victor and Val on the hunt, a hunt Val manages to mess up.

Ellie-May Sheridan as Gertie

As the first episode progresses, we discover that Val, heir to the throne, is a late bloomer. His fangs have not emerged, he dislikes blood, and he can’t fly or transform. An accidental fall sees his flight kick in and Victor declares that Val is ready for his initiation – a major milestone in a vampire’s life (or undeath?). To prove his worth Val tries to finish the previous hunt, ends up pursued by a mob and meets human girl Gertie (Ellie-May Sheridan). When he tries to convince her that he isn’t a vampire she takes no convincing, after all he has a reflection in the lake.

Sian Clifford as Valeeta

We then discover that Val is human. Found by Valeeta when rescued by her from a burning building, whilst Victor was away, he was to be a snack but she fell in love with the baby and has raised him as a vampire – this leads to a commentary on nature vs nurture as she expected the baby brought up vampire to develop vampire traits. His earlier flight was simply the castle’s invisible woman (Ada Player) saving him. He now has the problem of passing an initiation that involves biting a human and drinking their blood, the machinations of Vernon who is jealous of Val’s position as heir to the crown and discovering his human side – the vampires are generally ignorant of human culture and tech.

Gabriel Nagy as Vernon

There are some aspects the series glosses over – for example what has Val subsisted on for fifteen years? Valeeta mentions swapping out blood for beetroot juice but that alone is not enough to nurture a growing child. However, aspects such of this can be ignored for the pay-off of the fish out of water element. There is a tendency for some of the supporting performances to veer into that stagey BBC style, however Lenny Rush charms the audience as Val and Ellie-May Sheridan offers a strong, nuanced performance. A special shout out to Gabriel Nagy as Vernon – he was a neat foil to Val, though the Machiavellian aspect would have benefitted from a more adult orientated script.

Joe Wilkinson as Wilf the werewolf

Looking at Victor and Valeeta, Tom Davis offers a bombastic performance that can’t help but summon Matt Berry’s Laszlo to mind and Sian Clifford’s Valeeta feels like an English version of Natasia Demetriou’s Nadja – however there isn’t the sharp adult humour to match those blueprints and any adult undertow in the script for this series does not come near. The inclusion of Asim Chaudhry as a put upon vampire butler, Joe Wilkinson as a werewolf, and Bill Bailey and Ross Noble as Gargoyles should have been a home run but I felt they were all held back in supporting roles - though had they been allowed full range they’d have likely dominated the production.

a raven in disguise

The vampire lore is pretty standard with vampires hunting for blood, avoiding sunlight, not reflecting, can transform into bats and made ill for days by exposure to garlic. We discover there is a lost power that allows a vampire to control humans. I did like the idea of Vernon having a raven spy on Val but dressing it as a bat. The production value is excellent throughout. What this needed was perhaps to veer away from the BBC house style of acting, however the choice of adding an adult element to the children aimed production did make it palatable for a full family viewing – it may have been more amusing had they leaned heavily into adult humour but, equally, they were not aiming in that direction. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon UK

The Teenage Vampire – review

Director: Frank Mora

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Vampires and teens often come together and some vehicles with them together provide great vampire movies (a perfect example being The Lost Boys). However, as a rule of thumb, putting the word teen or teenage in the title seems to indicate a lack of quality (for reference see Teen Vamp, Teenage Space Vampires or Teenage Vampire). I had hoped that this film would break that trend, alas it does not though it is slightly better than some of those exampled.

Jazlyn Nicolette Sward as Sandra

We start at a house, at night, and a girl comes out in a robe, disrobes to a bikini and, having sat on a lounger, goes swimming. We see feet approach and eventually she sees the owner and we see a mouth and fangs in close up… Footage follows that looks shot on 8mm, and shows woods and Sandra (Jazlyn Nicolette Sward, Night Carnage) seems pursued, we see the same mouth as the previous scene flashing fangs. It’s a dream, she wakes up…

party gang

There is some texting about a party, but Sandra’s mom (Fallon Shaya) won’t let 18-years-old Sandra attend; her house, her rules. This is despite (or because of) the fact that Sandra's sister (Courtney Akbar) moved out at 18. Sandra declares that she will move out and mom suggests good look with that as a part-time waitress in LA. She meets up with best friend (and partyer) Beth (Kelly Lynn Reiter). Whilst they talk, Sandra finds a listing for a backhouse in the Hollywood Hills for $300 a month – despite being ridiculously cheap (and the obvious red flags) she emails.

James Chalke as Viktor

We get a side moment with a homeless person dumpster diving and then being attacked by an unseen vampire. Meanwhile Sandra gets an offer to view the house. Waiting to be picked up by Beth she meets old school chum Jordan (Luke Gregory Crosby), who works at his dad’s antique store and is now quite hot – they exchange numbers. Her friends have nowhere to party that weekend and, despite not even viewing yet, Sandra suggests they can have a party at hers… Then going to view the place, she finds a brilliant rental and gets it. She moves in with Beth’s help.

Isabelle and Viktor

So, she soon meets Viktor (James Chalke) who only comes out at night and literally vanishes after they have spoken, and who owns the main house with his wife Isabelle (Spice Williams-Crosby, From Dusk Till Dawn, Buffy the Vampire Slayer¸ Angel, Revamped, The Dead Undead & Death Valley). Beth finds an old picture and Sandra recognises Viktor but they also recognise Jordan (or there is someone who looks like him) and the girl in it looks like Sandra. The vampires are going to use Sandra's party to feed…

lots of hissing and fangs on show

Jordan is the identity concealed vampire from the head of the film, but his vampire status is a shock to no-one when revealed. What is never answered is how and why, his dialogue indicates that Sandra is the (reincarnation of the?) girl in the photo. How he went to school with them is not answered (was it an oversight in the plot, was he a reincarnation also, was he a creepy ancient vampire posing as a high school student?). The vampires really do little more than growl and there isn’t a plot. Girl moves into apartment, may be a reincarnation, vampires eat people… that’s it. It is the lack of plot, motivation and wider narrative that provide the first hurdles. Next is the pacing, with a scene having Sandra’s sister trying to talk her our of moving, immediately followed by her mother doing the same, sucking the pace out if the film more effectively than the vampires suck blood.

Sandra

The next problem was within performance. The scene with the mother I mentioned is not helped by the fact that Fallon Shaya’s performance feels stagy, the vampires have nothing really to do (as mentioned) and, along with them, most other characters have so little depth that the actors had nothing to work with. It has to be mentioned that Jazlyn Nicolette Sward made Sandra personable and felt very naturalistic in the role. As for the vampires, there is very little lore other than coming out at night, being able to appear as other people and able to vanish. I can’t realistically give this more than 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

PSA: Richian Studios Present Dracula

I was approached by Richian Studios regarding their ongoing version of Dracula. Though the AI aspects are controversial I felt that at least highlighting it to blog readers will allow you to decide whether you wish to listen to this version or not.

The project is described, in their words, as:

In 1897, Bram Stoker told Dracula through letters, diaries, telegrams and a ship's log, written by people who didn't understand what they were part of until it was too late.

 

Richian Presents: Dracula is the whole novel as a full-cast audio drama, in the first-person voices Stoker wrote it in. Every character gets their own voice. New chapters twice a week through October, then every Monday until the novel is finished.

 

The voices are AI. Casting, direction and the cut are by Rich and Adrian.

The AI generated audio might be a deal breaker for some of you but, if you are interested in checking this out, you can find chapter 1 here and the releases so far on their YouTube Channel.

Short Film: Fame da Vampira

From directors Roger A. Fratter and Davide Pesca, coming in around 25 minutes, and released in 2017, this is on the same DVD as Seta da Vampira and achieves more (albeit simple) narrative integrity than Fratter’s earlier feature.

It starts with Super 8 footage and a voiceover by Elga (Beata Walewska), she is addressing us through her boyfriend (Davide Pesca), saying that this was footage shot by her father and drawing attention to the mysterious black robed figure that apparently was not there when it was shot. She says that, after his death, she discovered her father was an occultist.

in the woods

Her boyfriend and his friend (Stephan H. Asler) are out and about, and the boyfriend is complaining about her obsession with a vampire woman she dreams of, who wanders the woods half naked. It is likely he is more bothered by the frisson of sexual excitement revealed in her voice when she speaks about her.

the photos

Elga awakens after dreaming of the vampire (Mery Rubes) and, whilst sat at the kitchen table, reveals her father’s footage is gone but she has some stills of the vampire and that proves her reality. Her acquaintance Ratlof (Roger A. Fratter) comes round and suggests that the pictures are from a photoshoot and the woman in them is a model – he has a photo from her career too. His doubting makes Elga react angrily to him.

a kiss before...

Her boyfriend also doesn’t believe in the vampire and Elga says she will go to the woods to find her – the boyfriend suggesting if she doesn’t come back he won’t go looking for her. In the woods she, of course, finds the vampire. Is she real or a figment of Elga’s imagination? What will she do to Elga? How will that impact the boyfriend? All is kind of revealed in the denouement.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

A Hellish Fury – review

Author: Eva Vertrice

First Published: 2016

Contains spoilers

The blurb: In the second book of The Fury Trilogy, A Hellish Fury, Rachel and Lilith continue the search for the key to unlock the power of the ring. From New York, to New Orleans, to Hell itself, they’ll follow leads to uncover the mastermind behind the heavenly plot to kill them. But, is there just one person behind it all, or are they sacrificial pawns of an even larger game?

The review: The sequel to A Fury, this continues the adventures of Rachel – a vampire, who we now know is the reincarnation of an angel – and Lilith, who is *that* Lilith…

The book carries on from the first and if it felt that the relationship between the two had become tense it is down to that and, on Rachel’s side, a series of changes she is going through tied potentially to the new knowledge that she was the angel Nuriel and having part of that life reawakened within her, or perhaps to the ring she now wears, which was tied to that and is capable of killing an angel. These changes include not wanting to sleep during the day and the ability to daywalk without consuming Lilith’s blood (in the previous book, the companions had used this method for Rachel to withstand the sun). The daywalking aspect also seems to be intermittent.

Although the series is moving Rachel away from her vampirism to some degree with things like this, I like the fact that, as a vampire character, she is at ease with herself, “It’s who I am, and from my very first breath as a vampire, I’ve embraced it.” Indeed, she has a moment of a game in an airport deciding who she would drain dry and who she would spare – the likening of this in the character’s first person narrative to a serial killer, by wondering if they do the same, shows both that ease I mentioned and her honesty about what she is.

The urban fantasy vibe remains strong with this, and as well as vampires and Lilith, we meet demons, fates and angels within the journey. The first person works for this, and whilst the attitude and power of the character perhaps dulls the tension a tad, given that she is a confident, strong character and also honked off enough to walk into Hell, literally, the same qualities make her fun to follow and means the pace remains strong. 7.5 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I'm Out for Revenge! – Season 1 – review

Directors: Musashi Sakai and Katsushi Sakurabi

First aired: 2025

Contains spoilers

If you think that the title of this anime series is a mouthful, it is, though it is wonderfully descriptive of the plot and is a breeze next to the title of the light novel series it is based on: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, but Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out for Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World!

the Concord of the Tribes

It is set in a fantasy realm with nine tribes and main character Light (Nina Tamaki (Japanese)/Shannon Emerick (English)) is a human who gained an innate gift of an Unlimited Gacha – a power that allows him to summon unlimited cards that become real and offer support to him and his comrades. Unfortunately, every card seemed to be a dud. After being mugged by Beast Men he was offered a place in a party called the Concord of the Tribes whose stated aim was to work together across the nine races – as an adventuring party – in order to fight inter-tribe discrimination.

Light betrayed

This discrimination is, to be fair, mostly aimed at humans, who find it difficult to level up particularly highly (each character and card has a level, much like a RPG/video game, humans max at around 100) and are treated as slaves in many kingdoms. However, in one of the most dangerous dungeons (known as the Abyss and, given its danger calling it a backwater seems off), Light’s companions betrayed him and tried to kill him. They had been tasked to see if he was a Maestro (a predicted, powerful being) and after deciding he was no threat they look to kill him.

Mai rescues Light

Luckily, Light accidentally triggered a teleportation trap during the attack and ended up in the lowest part of the abyss. About to be killed by a Hell Hound he released a card and gained the Level 9999 support character Mai (Ikumi Hasegawa (Japanese)/Molly Searcy (English)), a super ultra rare card. It turns out that the gacha uses ambient mana to summon and there is little on the surface but, in the lowest abyss, it is abundant. Mai kills the Hell Hound and then spends three years training Light to level 9999 – he uses magic to suspend aging to remain as he was when betrayed. The aim is to get revenge on the party. He uses the unlimited gacha to create a whole kingdom in the abyss and it is here the vampire element comes in.

Nazuna and her card

Including Mai, Light has four level 9999 allies (allies may be the wrong word, every summoned person has fierce loyalty to Light) and this includes Nazuna (Hana Hishikawa (Japanese)/ Chaney Moore (English)) a true vampire knight. She is ridiculously strong and – if the anime character follows the novel version – a half vampire and so does not need to drink blood. We certainly never see her do so. She is displayed as a little bit slow-witted, light-hearted but, like the others, fiercely loyal. She is not used overly much in season 1 but she is very much there.

sacer arbor and victim

I also need to mention that another of the four, the witch Ellie (Ayumi Mano (Japanese)/Ginger Sue (English)) summons a sacer arbor – blood sucking trees that feed off her enemies and the more they are fed the further they can grow. The show has a touch of harem to it, with the summoned female characters all focused, sometime romantically or sexually, at Light - that said it is not nearly as obsessed with sex as some vehicles. There is a large undercurrent that discusses racism openly and a lot of characters are drawn negatively. The most negative thing around Light is his single-minded aim at revenge both at the party (he gets two of them in season one) and the world but, by the end, he gets a redemption narrative aiming at ending discrimination.

Nazuna shows fang

The UK Blu-Ray hasn’t much in the line of extras (just clean opening and ending title animations) but does have both English and Japanese audio. The English audio was actually excellently done – special mention to level 5000 character Gold (Katsuya Miyamoto (Japanese)/John Gremillion (English)) whose English dialogue was excellent, funnily written and great to see British colloquialisms like chuffed and twat creeping into the dialogue. The series really held my attention, indeed I absolutely binged it, the animation was as good as one would expect from a modern anime and this was definitely worth a watch. 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Sete da Vampira – review

Director: Roger A. Fratter

Release date: 1998

Contains spoilers

An Italian very low-budget film, this had pretentions of arthouse and reminded me as I watched it of Chris Alexander’s more auteur output – though Alexander came later and his output is much more solid. I think perhaps it was in the scenes of walking, dreamlike, through the film – though the more deliberate attachment of a narrative in this vehicle (which was perhaps not as successful as it might be) undermined the more dreamlike quality that Alexander engenders. This also had a character, and a specific moment for that character, which felt like Jess Franco was being invoked.

wandering

It starts with a man walking through a snowy landscape, a voiceover suggests he had received a letter from artist Marco Spaccesi (Carlo Girelli) who is missing. The film then moves to a woman in bed, she gets up and searches a building until she opens a door and sees a female vampire, later revealed to be Carmilla (Elisabetta Principe), feeding on a man. The woman is grabbed by an unseen man who slits her throat with a knife.

Carlo Girelli as Marco

The film then has quite long ponderous moments of Carmilla wandering around, victims running (the first through a wood being followed by Carmilla’s limping manservant Samuel (Mirko Riva)). We also get Marco wandering around, having dreamed of Carmilla. He goes to Virginia Thompson (Marta Bordino) to try and locate Carmilla – at the end of the film we discover the vampire is Carmilla Thompson, so not Karnstein. He even gets involved with a séance.

Elisabetta Principe as Carmilla

There isn’t much narrative, so the dialogue struggles to express it. We get an odd moment of Carmilla whipping Virginia but they are clearly shot in different rooms, likely even different buildings. It gave the impression that it was a psychic attack, especially as Virginia seemed unmarked – though in a scene after we see they have applied some very faint makeup weals. Equally Virginia later stabs at Carmilla, in an inversion of the scene. Samuel is abused by Carmilla, who speaks disdainfully of him and at one point makes him don a hat and dance for her pleasure – and it was the treatment of Samuel that reminded me of Jess Franco’s work.

licking

There isn’t much more to say about this – though the vampire can be temporarily killed, she will return and the idea is that this is a curse for the ages, I think. She is a little sloppy, getting a bowl of blood and pouring it down her naked torso rather than drinking it and then rubbing blood on her lips after the fact. The photography wasn’t great but there was at least a dreamlike quality to the affair. The version I watched is apparently the director’s cut but that didn’t stop it dragging in parts. However, it is definitely a curiosity. 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK