Tuesday, February 11, 2025

The Damned – review


Director: Thordur Palsson

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

I thought long and hard on whether to review this supernatural tale set in Iceland. The main thrust of the tale surround draugr, which are a type of Scandinavian revenant. If you fancy an in-depth exploration of them then I can highly recommend the section on them in Keyworth’s Troublesome Corpses. When relaying the saga of Grettir in a volume (in 1876), Sabine Baring-Gould translated draugr as vampire. Depending on the legend they sometimes do drink blood but in others they are more obsessed with guarding their tomb and grave treasure or seeking revenge. They can be split into land and sea draugr. In the case of this film, one might say it is seeking revenge but any classic vampiric activity is unseen. As such I considered having this as being of genre interest but ultimately settled on reviewing. I accept that many might disagree with the provenance.

Odessa Young as Eva

As I mentioned, the film is in Iceland in 1871 at a fishing station. A small outpost, fishing through the winter while the routes back to settlements are blocked. The outpost is owned and run by Eva (Odessa Young), whose husband had owned it and who died the year before. Also in the outpost is cook Helga (Siobhan Finneran) and a group of fishermen. The helmsman of Eva’s boat is Ragnar (Rory McCann), who clearly is the leader of the men. The year is proving particularly hard and the start sees Eva outside at night, checking a ledger. When she returns Ragnar questions her and she admits he was right – there are only a couple of winters that seemed as harsh and he points out they made it through those winters. Her concern is lack of food and the fact that men died during those particular lean years.

the shipwreck

The next day, as they prepare their boat, they spot a ship wrecked on rocks called the teeth. There is a call to rescue the sailors, but Ragnar opposes it. The men turn to Eva, as it is her boat but she, after clearly pained deliberation, agrees with Ragnar – they potentially do not have enough food to last the winter as it is and more mouths will surely lead to the loss of some of the fishermen. They don’t fish that day out of respect. The next day Eva finds a rope on the beach and, following it, finds a barrel from the ship. Ragnar checks the contents and it is a preserved meat and is still good. Eva suggests checking the other beaches, but he suggests it is unlikely anything else will wash up, given the tides. They decide to take the boat out to see if they can find any floating flotsam and jetsam.

Siobhan Finneran as Helga

They have to go out quickly and it is dark by the time they get out. They find one small crate when they hear cries – some of the crew of the lost ship have climbed on the rocks. In desperation many jump in the water, trying to swim to the boat. The boat is full as is and they are pushing the sailors back violently, Ragnar is pulled overboard and lost and when one sailor grabs Eva then a hand, Danny (Joe Cole), – who had been vocal about saving them – kills the sailor with an axe. When back on shore there are arguments – they got very little in the form of supplies and lost Ragnar. Danny stops the argument and Eva names him the new helmsman.

seeing the draugr

Ragnar was proven to be wrong about the tides, when the bodies of several sailors wash up (not including his corpse). After a scene of one stomach moving and, when slit open, an eel emerging from the torso they put the sailors in coffins. It is at this point that Helga starts mentioning draugr, with a worry that they will return as the revenants. She has rope and Eva is told that the dead can’t break free if their arms are bound by knotted rope, they lose direction if the coffin is turned three times and they can’t walk in a person’s dreams if iron nails are hammered in to their feet. None of these apotropaic things are done. However, it does seem that a draugr walks among them.

driven mad

Eva sees a figure in the dark, dreams are invaded and division breaks out amongst the men. At first it seems that it could be a combination of fear, superstition and guilt, with Helga suggesting it will get in their heads and drive them mad. Eva is dismissive of the actual idea of a draugr at first but as things continue to occur, with Helga going missing, their food stocks being stolen and a coffin being found to be empty, she becomes more convinced. They do the three methods mentioned earlier to the other corpses but the disasters continue.

the ward

Other lore we get is that the draugr will stay close to its grave during the day, that a runic ward (carved from the wood of the shipwreck) should prevent it entering the communal building and fire is the only way to destroy it. The film works well in its own folkloric space and the performance by Odessa Young is strong, with her character being believable and evoking empathy from the viewer. If I have an issue – and I do – it is in the very ending of the film, which I disliked intensely but I will not spoil. However I can divorce the rest of the experience from that and am not allowing it to spoil my overall impression. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Sunday, February 09, 2025

Handbook of the Vampire: Carmilla and the Daughters of Darkness



Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Brigid Cherry the Chapter Page can be found here.

This was a HotV chapter looking at Le Fanu’s Carmilla through its adaptations and intertextual connections, concentrating on key themes. It looks first at the African-American Gothic as portrayed within the Antebellum location and narrative themes in Carmilla (1990) and I found this part of the chapter both inciteful and worth the entry alone. Comparative to this, and equally worth exploration, was the move of the story to a British heritage drama in the adaptation Carmilla (2019).

The chapter touches on predatory masculinity, as some adaptations explore – looking at both the Unwanted and Styria (reviewed as the Curse of Styria – and the forcible return to heteronormality (which, arguably, was a theme emerging from the original story). Self-harm is looked at, and it is worth remembering that the creative forces behind the film Styria were interested in the phenomena of “suicide clusters”.

I was really pleased to see the author looking at metatextual examples of Carmilla related texts, especially the obscure Carmilla Hyde. Overall, a really worthwhile chapter.

Friday, February 07, 2025

Honourable Mention: Captain Amazingly Incredible and the Space Vampires from the Evil Planet!!!


You may think I’ve gone mad giving this 2010 New Zealand flick, directed by Karl Burnett, an honourable mention rather than a review, especially given the title but, whilst we do get the vampires in this, we actually only get fleeting visitations of them and mostly this green screen driven film apes such serials as the early Flash Gordin series whilst concentrating on Captain Amazingly Incredible (Roy Snow).

It starts, however, with Detective Jack Spartan (Karl Burnett, My Grandpa is a Vampire) who is in the city looking to get smokes and a newspaper. Unfortunately, the news seller (Tarun Mohanbhai) doesn’t seem to understand him, Spartan notes that he is speaking in an Indian accent also. Suddenly he hears a scream and finds Tallulah Diamond (Katherine Hubbard) who says she has something in her eye.

Captain, Spartan and Tallulah

They fish out a tennis ball (yes, it is that surreal) when the news seller appears, and he has fangs. Spartan’s garlic breath causes him to vanish and, realising that there may be thousands of vampires, the pair run to Spartan’s HQ. Spartan wonders what could be turning folk into Punjabi vampires and calls in Captain Amazingly Incredible. He realises that the evil doctor called The Evil Doctor (Nicko Vella), from The Evil Planet is behind this dastardly plot and they head into space to stop him.

Nicko Vella as The Evil Doctor

Later we discover that The Evil Doctor created a virus from alien vampire bats to turn people but his son Brogor (Grant Roa) is somewhat clumsy and spilt a curry into the virus vat hence the victims turned becoming Punjabi vampires. It is all surreal and we only see another couple of vampires briefly. The method of filming gives the film a graphic novel feel and the delivery is deliberately camp but we do get a fleeting vampire visitation.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Alien Siege – review


Director: Robert Stadd

Release date: 2005

Contains spoilers

Oh lawdy. This came on my radar as an alien vampire film and it is (in a very loose definition of vampire sense). It is also a film that was made specifically for the sci-fi channel. It really struggles therefore with script, narrative, acting and any level of budget to make this look as good as it should want to look.

It is set on an Earth in which we have been visited by the Kulku, an advanced alien race. Later we hear they pride themselves on their intergalactic philanthropic works but that is not the case with us. You see, there is a pandemic on their home planet, a virus that threatens to make the race extinct and the cure is… human blood. So they have essentially invaded, using advance tech that we can’t fight against. The film is six weeks later…

alien lander launches

So, the Kulku have demanded we hand over 8 million people. It is up to each nation to do their bit, and it is suggested that many nations handed over their prison populations. America have to hand over 800,000 people and rather than use prisoners (which, in reality, I recon would be America’s go to policy) they have decided to do a random lottery and if your name comes up you are detained by human military and sent for processing by the space vamps. There is a basic maths issue here as the film suggests that 650,000 Americans had been handed over but there are 300,000 to go…. Something doesn’t add up.

nozzle delivery

The other issue that the invaders have is that the Kulku travelled via a wormhole and… well the explanation was a bit odd but it got them to Earth (and it is a one way trip) but they can send things back through – just not living things so the aliens are stuck but the blood apparently can be sent back (they don’t just suck the blood out, but liquidise the person apparently, and then three shower nozzles spray the blood into a pod, yeah really – and the idea of asking for planet wide donations is not touched on). This ignores the fact that blood is essentially living tissue – what property they need to make a cure and why it works when inert is not answered.

Erin Ross as Heather

So, the film is essentially an intergalactic version of the Trolley Problem. Of course, it needs a human interest side and this is found through Dr Stephen Chase (Brad Johnson) who discovers that his daughter, Heather (Erin Ross), has been chosen and so tries to hide her. That doesn’t go very well and she is taken for processing. He tries to swap himself for her but it appears she has a blood anomaly that the Kulku have been looking for and her blood can produce many more cures, so they won’t let him stand in for her. However, there is a resistance who attack the facility and Chase manages to get to the leaders with a proposition – save Heather and he’ll give them special tech.

Brad Johnson as Chase

Now, one might question why (and how) a race living so far from Earth that they need a wormhole and cannot travel back by conventional means would know that human blood would cure the virus? Well, apparently, they’ve been here before and Roswell was a crash of one of their scout ships. Chase has been a lead researcher trying to backwards engineer their tech. Issues, issues. One, we have no idea how they got to and from Earth that time, did they abduct humans – if so they may know what our blood is like, I guess, but its still a stretch to think that it would be, and they would know it would be, the cure for their illness. And then there are the coincidences – the daughter of an alien tech researcher is chosen in lottery (and somehow he knows, we don’t hear how), she just happens to have anomalous blood, and she happens to be taken to a processing centre that the resistance happens to attack (for the most part humanity seem to be sleepwalking into this).

a Kulku

As for the Kulku… well they look remarkably like us, save having dyed blonde eyebrows, a black mark at the neck (which, when we see the black marks of the virus, I assumed was a viral lesion, but that doesn’t vanish when someone is cured whereas the lesions over the torso do vanish) and a grey dot on the cheek – which turns out to be a comms device. The spaceships and lasers are cgi generated. The acting is wooden throughout. The dialogue is awful (and the docile lottery people feel outstandingly unrealistic… go over there… ok… in reality, surely they would try and overpower the small number of army guards and not a one seems to cry, despite knowing they are going to be liquidised to make alien medicine – there is a touch on more realistic reactions when a hunted “winner” jumps from a high building rather than surrender). Really quite poor but the taking of human blood to prolong life (by staving of a deadly virus) puts it onto our radar. 2 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Monday, February 03, 2025

How to Make a Werewolf – review


Directors: Omar Reid & Steph Henderson

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

I won’t lie, after picking up on the title and checking IMDb to see if there were vampire characters in (there were, credited as such), I settled down to watch this and, in the first few minutes, my heart sank. A low budget, urban fantasy I have seen too many of these. Inexperienced filmmakers, without budget, trying to crowbar a supernatural world in (often with very confused narratives that leave the viewer bewildered). But…

Jace A. Edwards as Xen

The but is that this is actually well done. The running length is perhaps a tad long – though it gave the filmmakers space to build their world and lay out their narrative – and the acting quality varies considerably through the running length. But, despite some pacing issues, I found myself rather invested into both the world and the primary characters.

waking up to a head

It starts with a head, and blood and then Xen (Jace A. Edwards) waking by the head, covered in blood. His exclamation of shock and horror perhaps an understatement. We are in Atlanta and the film jumps back a little while. Xen is a volunteer at, what appears to be, a church foodbank (actually it is run by a coven of witches). He asks to speak to Aana (Melahnie Bagley), a volunteer with a clear chip on her shoulder. They meet outside and he wants to see Xia (Deshawna Boswell) again – his sister who was killed. Aana had previously made him a potion to achieve that. It isn’t what he wants, she says, rather he wants revenge and should come to her when vengeance is settled in his heart.

Olga Petrovic as Jessica

So we start meeting many of the main movers and shakers. Xen works at a publisher and his tardiness has put him on boss Jessica’s (Olga Petrovic) radar. Unbeknown to him, as we don’t get the impression that he was particularly steeped in the supernatural world behind the scenes bar knowing Aana, she is a vampire. We meet Sandeep (Cofo Ofotokun), daughter of the coven leader and Aana’s sister. We discover that Aana is both barren and without magic and also banned from the coven due to her experimentation on children – hence her previously mentioned shoulder chip.

Miles Nelson as Rainn

There has been warfare in the past between the vampires, the witches and the humans’ Midnight Society (a quasi-religious hunting order). Currently there is a truce between the three. To protect themselves the witches have bred daywalking dhampirs, such as Sandeep’s son Rainn Water (Miles Nelson). The dhampirs are created by injecting the placenta with vampire blood. Rainn is dating a mortal girl called Ashanti (Yve) and has told her about his nature. She hasn’t told him that she is a lieutenant in the Midnight Society.

the werewolf (lycan)

Aana has a plan to unleash a Lycan, a wolf demon, and needs a vessel to possess – she has chosen Xen. These demons are uncontrollable and will wreak her vengeance against all those she thinks have wronged her and cause a war between the three factions. As for the demon itself, whilst it is suggested it burns out its host, we see it transform and take over Xen at the full moon, but as the moon wanes Xen gets some control back. The vampires, when we meet them, have a club where they are openly themselves, feeding on humans supplied by the witches (four a month), who have drugged the victims with a potion. This is a condition of the peace treaty.

blood on tap at the vampire bar

There is a lot of story going on and, in honesty, the filmmakers were able to build a narrative where the viewer could take in both the story and background details. This makes this a cut above many other low budget urban fantasy films. I mentioned hit and miss acting and some of the actors did not seem comfortable or confident. However others worked well – the scenes between Yve and Miles Nelson felt particularly natural. Beyond some tatty looking faction badges, you could honestly tell what faction a particular character came from, which was excellent. The werewolf transformation scenes were, rightly, fudged but the finished werewolf/demon looked pretty good. There was some fat that could have been trimmed away, helping the pacing and cutting down the running time. That said, all in all, I rather enjoyed this outing and whilst it was obviously the first part of a larger saga, the personal journey that sits at the centre came to a conclusion. 5.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Saturday, February 01, 2025

Immortal Gifts – review


Author: Katherine Villyard

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

The blurb: He lied about his identity. Two hundred years later, he’s still paying the price…

Prussia, 1841. Abraham only ever wanted to play violin. Hiding his Jewish status so he can study at the prestigious Berlin Academy of Music, the eager young man is delighted to find a patron who believes in him. But he’s mortified when his new friend turns him into a vampire… and Abraham earns the fury of an ancient antisemite who vows to see him permanently dead.

Fleeing the hate-mongering fiend across the decades, the sensitive violinist at last settles in twenty-first-century New Jersey with a mortal woman. But when he discovers his relentless tormentor has tracked him down yet again, Abraham despairs he’ll never find true happiness.

With everyone he’s ever loved at risk, can he escape the rage of a ruthless bigot?

In a complex tale woven through history, Katherine Villyard delivers a fresh and insightful twist on the vampire novel. Infusing the narrative with profound themes of love, betrayal, and the nature of monsters, she crafts an unforgettable saga of surviving prejudice that will keep readers turning pages deep into the night.

The review: Abraham is a Jewish vampire married to a wiccan mortal in this first-person narrative novel, which moves both through time periods and between narrators. Of course, one of the issues for a Jew turned is the fact that drinking blood is expressly forbidden in the Torah and one thing I did like about this was Abraham struggling, despite his long life, with reconciling his vampirism (and undead status – if he is indeed undead) with his faith. As a mortal he lied about his faith to get a place in the Berlin Academy of Music and gained a patron in the form of Ludwig – a vampire. When he contracted consumption Ludwig turned him, without permission, so that the world would not lose his gift. Unfortunately, Ludwig’s maker, Thomas, is fervently antisemitic who was a part of the Inquisition and later would become a Nazi (the evil of the Shoah is explored, with Thomas and Ludwig able to, at least, get some young relatives of Abraham to America) and later still a popularist right-wing rabble rouser in the USA.

Destiny, Abraham’s mortal wife is a veterinarian and vegetarian but does know about her husband’s condition – after all standard tropes such as sunlight hold true here. She has expressly stated she doesn’t want to turn. Abraham also seems to have some degree of impulse control – a lover of cats, he manages to end up with vampire pets as he can’t let them go. Of course, Thomas will enter their lives again.

I mentioned the sunlight trope and a vampire can also control those they turn. This gives Abraham some assurance with the vampire pets and the turning seems to have made them more intelligent also. There is an interesting meeting of science and vampire physiology when it comes to the ability to reproduce through IVF. There is a great bit around the gifts that vampirism bestows that I won’t spoil as it is integral to the climax.

The characters were given distinct voices, and, on occasion, the author would revisit scenes through another perception that worked well. The story paced well and the Jewish lens brought an interesting direction to the prose and narrative. I did enjoy this. 7.5 out of 10.

On Kindle @ Amazon US

On Kindle @ Amazon UK

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Short film: Helsing


At 29-minutes this is a Ryan Henry Johnston short film from 2014 and follows the continuing adventures of Van Helsing (Patrick Morrison) in the modern day (one assumes).

in church

It starts with a priest, Luke (Anthony Napodano), approaching a church and, as a minor moan, the outside shots were too dark. He enters and sees a girl (Liana O'Boyle) leaving and asks whether she has seen a tall man who comes into the church.

holding the cross

Walking past the man drinking straight from a bottle he sits next to a man who is confessing an inappropriate liaison. Luke, thinking he is Van Helsing, tells him the church has sent him to assist him and that he has an address where the creature is thought to be. The man, called Dave (John Viliott), is nonplussed and leaves. The drinker is Van Helsing… Outside, as they head to the location, the camera pans and shows Dave being fed upon.

Desiree Srinivas as Moira

They enter the house. A voice over has told us that Van Helsing is somehow immortal, cursed to hunt his enemy (Dracula, obviously) but not how he became so cursed. In a trap door they find the body of Dave and they are attacked by Jade (credited as Jing Song but listed on IMDB as Aria Song). It becomes apparent, however, that the tip was a lure and Moria (Desiree Srinivas), an ancient vampire and lieutenant of Dracula is also there…

vamp

This was fun, minor gripe about the outdoor night photography aside. There is some world building that certainly could have been expanded on in a longer vehicle. There was perhaps a feel more of Vampire$ with the derelict house, the surly (drunk) vampire hunter and the naïve priest, than a more traditional Dracula vehicle, but that was not necessarily a bad thing.

The imdb page is here.