Vamp or Not? Animals

This 2009 film directed by Doug Aarniokoski had been on my radar but I had assumed it to be a werewolf film and, whilst I do enjoy a bit of the hirsute shapeshifters from time to time, I just hadn’t got around to watching it. However, I picked up a Blu-ray set of films from Germany, entitled Vampires, and this film was on it under the title Wolves. The title change underlined that previous assumption but it was on a set named for the V word and the other two films (The Last Sect & Temptation) are definitely vampire flicks. It was beholden on me then to have a look and see if a random supernatural film had been added or, well, could it be a vampire film?

almost invisible

The creatures within the film are never named, though mention is made of them being people more centred on their animal side. The opening narration explains that “Each of us caries, buried deep within, the seed of our animal nature. Evolution, civilisation, have domesticated our impulse to feed, bite and breed, without conscience or reason. But there still lurks a rare kind, that can change at will. Some follow the natural order and live in peace. Others, who have been corrupted by the taste of human blood and hunt for flesh and pleasure, they are predators lurking amidst the human herds and they lure us across the line that few can cross and fewer survive. The line between man and animals.”

Marc Blucas as Jarrett

So, these are our creatures and the taste of human blood is mentioned. The film follows Jarrett (Marc Blucas, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a man who had escaped small town life with a football scholarship but an injury had sent him back and he makes a meagre living as a labourer. At the head he is driving when his car hits a deer and he steps into the treeline to find it. When he does, the deer has a lump ripped out of it and he feels like he is being watched and gets out of there. We see a semi-transparent, translucent women watching him (she comes into the film, of course, and, when revealed, she is one of the good animals).

Vic bloodied

Elsewhere, Vic (Naveen Andrews) is driving a car with Nora (Nicki Aycox) in the passenger seat. Nora says she can’t do *it* anymore, though Vic is having none of it and makes her don a wig. *It* is luring two men back to where she and Vic live. After some teasing, and making one of them strip, Vic emerges, fanged and mad, and attacks one. The guy in his tidy whites runs and Nora lets him go, much to Vic’s chagrin, and he has to get the car, drive after him and knock him down. Angered, Vic says he is leaving and may not be back. Nora retorts that she may not be there when he returns. To that he suggests that he’ll find her, like always, and kill whoever she is with. In the exchange we get the idea that Vic turned her into the monster she feels she is, we also see their relationship as totally toxic.

Nicki Aycox as Nora

Anyway, she blows into Jarrett’s town (she says her bloodline are from there, it is not clear if she is talking about her human heritage or animal heritage) and they start a torid affair, during which he loses his job, is bitten by her, turned and fed (cooked) human flesh. This all comes abruptly to an end when Vic tracks her down and takes her back. Though he is fast healing, Jarrett has not had the animal state explained and has not gone far enough in the process to become his inner animal at that point. The aftermath sees Jarrett’s friend and local innkeeper Jules (Andy Comeau) dead and a relationship blossom between Jarrett and Jane (Eva Amurri), another friend and barmaid. Any normality ends when Nora flees Vic again and returns to town with him hot on her heels.

animal fight

So, what we see is some face morphing, fanged teeth and them becoming almost mist-like and transparent (or semi, at least) however they can fully transform into some form of translucent beast, drawn in bad cgi (yes, I know this is a good few years old now, but it will have been poor at the time of release). The beast kind of looks like an anthropomorphic dog, rather than a wolf. However there is a definite blood drinking aspect to this when Jarrett is told “they survive on human blood”. They are durable and fast healing – even without being fully turned Jarrett survives being inside a burning and exploding car. Severe wounding by one of their kind requires eating the heart of one of their kind to survive/heal. They seem to hunt using sex and one assumes they exude pheromones but this isn’t actually confirmed. But is it Vamp? It straddles with aspects of werewolf (with no lunar side to it) and vampire (surviving on blood) but all told, yes, it’s vamp. This then fits with Stoker who, in Lady of the Shroud, declared “The Wehr-Wolf is but a variant of the Vampire.” 

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Short film: Nightshift of the Vampire

This 2011 Aussie short film is just under 11 minutes and was directed by William Justin Crooks. It takes the standard sexy Euro-vampire trope and swaps him from being rich and elite to being a store clerk.

fang fans

However, it begins with vampire Edgar (James Deeth) being charming and talking about vampiric life to two young ladies. They are rapt, captivated by what he says (one is wearing a team Edward tee and the other a Tru Blood tee) and then ask him if he wants them to make out for him – they’re lesbians. It’s a daydream and the two before him are not so glamorous and want ciggies – though they have neglected to bring their ID.

werewolf hunter

There follows a series of moments from the nightshift, with a parade of odd customers and calls from both his boss and his partner. His boss is wanting him to cover the morning shift – an impossibility of course (or is it?) Of the various vignettes, I think my favourite was the delivery guy who has a hatred of werewolves, who tells him the tale of his dad taking him werewolf hunting.

I found the short over at vimeo. The imdb page is here.

Wild Swimmers – review

Director: Ric Rawlins

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

A UK film set around the Bath area, this film suffers from some poor sfx and, more notably, it being a bit meh in the storyline department. It’s a shame as a couple of the characters warranted some more in-depth exploration as they were interesting.

After some scenes of the river Avon and connecting canal we meet Deji (Valerie Kwok), a journalist student from China; the spectre of the difference in journalism between China and the UK is touched upon, seems to be a driving factor for her character but could have withstood some more exploration. It is the end of term and the lecturer (Kirris Riviere) sets them a task of finding and following a story with legs. As she leaves the uni she passes mature student Kim (Caroline Murray), though they don’t know each other.

Valerie Kwok as Deji

Deji’s family want her to return home to visit, something she doesn’t feel able to do. She has started a new relationship with Mark (Harry Mason) and has a meeting set up with a retired detective who tells her about a case that haunted her, a wild swimmer, found dead with bite wounds consistent with a cottonmouth snake – lets gloss over the fact that they are absolutely not native to the UK (that isn’t mentioned in dialogue). There have been other strange deaths.

Kim and Deji

So, whilst Deji starts looking into the river, we discover that Kim has been booted of her photography course. Eventually the two meet and she offers to do photography for Deji. The relationship with Mark seems off also, he seems to be controlling (wanting her to carry a tracker for instance) and jealous of her time. These are the two characters that warranted more exploration. Kim is interesting and yet we discover so little about the character and that could have beefed up the film’s narrative and characterisation. Mark is possessive but so little is done with it and he is more a deus ex machina by giving Deji the tracker (which is a Chekov’s Gun) and being 'got' in front of her, when he coincidentally comes across her on the river.

blood effect

That second part regarding Mark leads us to the biggest issue – sfx. When he is attacked on the river the blood is a lurid, unnatural red. It stands out and not in a good way. When we see a vampire (Robin Bailes) caught in reflected sunlight a front shot has his face covered in gunk, profile shots the gunk is gone and the angles move back and forth with the sfx vanishing each profile shot. Finally, when we see him in the middle of a waterway, disguised as a scarecrow (which seemed oddly placed to the viewer and the characters that see it) it is clear that it simply is a scarecrow, being too thin to have a person swaddled (from the sun) within the clothing.

confrontation

With regards the vampirism itself, the only thing to mention is that by staying submerged in the silty water he avoids sunlight. There is little else to be said about the plot – the vampire has been preying on users of the waterway since the 17th century (the last part of the film is actually his story and tells us little more than he was bitten by a vampire and committed suicide). The fact that the police are so far behind the plucky journalism student is less than credible, her chasing him (yes, he runs) through the dark is shot too darkly to be meaningful and is mind-numbingly too long a scene. The filmmakers did try and do something a bit unusual by tying the vampire to the waterways but the final verdict is that it missed more than hit. 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Mary from the Prayer Ward – review

Director: Andrew Neighill

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

I’m not altogether sure about the phrase Prayer Ward, and a google didn’t help, but this is a modern set film that reaches into a Western mentality. This is no more apparent than in the music, whilst some of the soundtrack clearly reaches into a religious theme, it feels like saloon music.

It starts, however, with Dana (Kacy Wheeler), in bed and sobbing. We discover later it is the anniversary of her brother Clay’s death, when he was a child. A death she blames herself over it seems. She thinks she hears movement and looks round the house and then spots a figure outside. She goes out and it seems like someone is speaking to her – though it is only her side of the conversation we hear. She wants Clay and will do anything to see him again and surrenders to the presence, which possesses her. She spits out her teeth, replaced with a browned set.

Mary (Mandy Jones) wakes, a bourbon by the bed. Her routine in the morning sees her donning a dog collar (later it is suggested she has wanted to be a nun, though the dog collar suggests a reverend or vicar – at one point she is referred to with the honorific Sister), hat and boots, and strapping a pistol and sawn-off to herself. She gets (very basic) food ready probably for Uncle Hughes (Glenn Polk) – again it wasn’t clear if she lived with her blind uncle or if their houses were adjacent. She set off to do her rounds,

Mary on patrol

People will leave notes and money in her letterbox, for her help with the supernatural. This day, however, she comes across a young lad chased by… well I wasn’t sure during the scene, it was later referred to as a galdern (Shawn Fulkerson), but it was apparently some kind of Lycan (which had become resistant to silver). In truth, it just seemed to be some dude chasing him. Mary shoots him, but the body vanishes as she checks on the lad and then, eventually, she shoots him several times and chops him up.

cops

Elsewhere, Local Sheriff, Chief Peaks (Andrew Neighill), and his deputy, Mitchel (Michael Williams), are at the scene of a murder, where the heart and kidneys of the victim have been surgically removed. Then we have Father Reggie (Chip Polk), who visits a parishioner. He finds the man stupefied, repeating a phrase he has heard before and with puncture wounds on the neck. Realising what has happened he goes to the kitchen, cuts up garlic, mixes it in oil and uses it in a turkey baster, forcing it down the throat of the turning vampire and causing him to expire.

Christopher Thom Smith as Velkir

Reggie goes to Mary – though there is no love lost after he kicked her out of the orphanage for making up stories about vampires. In truth, her parents, along with Uncle Hughes, were monster hunters and had wiped out almost all the vampires when Velkir the Butcher (Christopher Thom Smith) came for them and murdered them. Mary fought him off, using a rosary, believed him dead and now, it is clear, he’s back. So we have the vampires in league with Dana, who is possessed by the spirit of a cult leader whose intent is to summon Hecate. Though there is actually little love lost between the cult and the vampires.

possession

So the story was fairly interesting, a tad convoluted but missed some key exposition in places. The worst thing about the film was that lighting is, apparently, something that happens to other people. It left the photography dim, at best. I need to mention the cultists (who really only appear in the finale), whose weapon of choice seems to be a blowgun and who are about as accurate as a Star Wars Stormtrooper. It did lead to a sound effect that was almost a novelty bird call. Some of the cultists appear to have been turned, but without prior explanation that I noticed, and there is a smattering of CGI effects that feel false.

puncture wounds

It’s a shame, because there was a good character in Mary – I should mention the holy spit (rather than holy water) where she spits on a weapon, blesses the spit and it proves effective. Other characters, such as Velkir are way too under-explored. The filmmaking seems earnest but the faults are off putting, most problematic being the lighting/photography. As such I can’t offer this more than 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: AI: Crushing a Female Vampires Heart

out of the dark

I’ve had another couple of contacts from Adijyx with  details of AI generated films they have created, and I have decided to share this one with y’all. I mentioned last time that the creation process they have described feels much more involved than simply hitting an AI with a prompt and this one looks really good.

seduction

Following a hunter who disturbs a female vampire, is stalked, seduced, stakes her and finally pulls her heart out. This is worth a look – though NSFW due to some nudity. The debate around AI will rage on, of course, but I was really impressed with the visuals with this one, indeed this is better looking than some studio cgi. You can watch it over at DeviantArt or Vimeo.

Short Film: 100 Bodies

This 19-minute short film from 2020 was directed by Felicia Rivers and feels more like a proof of concept for a longer piece than a standalone short.

It starts with a woman hanging round a corridor, the man she was waiting for comes out and they start to flirt, when her two brothers approach. She stabs the man and they steal his phone and cash. However, this was no simple robbery with murder – the siblings are on a killing spree, looking to get a total of 100 bodies.

Abraham and his wife

Meanwhile three ladies get ready for a costume party and, elsewhere, Abraham (Will Love) and his wife walk their dog. They are approached by a sycophant who is preparing for “the sacrifice” – the couple have fangs. The vampires (with several others) descend on the house party (with a $5 cover) as do the killers…

vampires

We don’t get a tremendous amount of lore – the vampires cast no reflection and can cause mortals to go into a stupor. What the sacrifice is for, is not revealed. Why the siblings are trying to amass 100 Bodies is equally as obfuscated. I am sure that this would be revealed if the filmmakers ever do a feature version.

The imdb page is here.

Patience: Vampire – review

Director: Maarten Moerkerke

First Aired: 2026

Contains spoilers

I think it true to say that, generally, vampires get everywhere and so it wasn’t a shock when Ian contacted me to say that the first season 2 episode of crime drama Patience was entitled Vampire. I was unaware of the show but quickly found out that it is a crime drama, set in York, where the main character Patience (Ella Maisy Purvis) is an autistic woman, working in criminal records, but embroiled in police cases as the detective inspector has discovered how sharp her investigative mind is. I later discovered that this is a remake of a French series, Astrid et Raphaëlle, which is in its sixth season (at time of posting).

Ella Maisy Purvis as Patience

Being unaware of the series, coming in cold as it were, can make it difficult as you are unaware of some of the goings on, the character traits and interactions etc. It is just the hope that the vampire tale is strong enough to carry a genre interest – unfortunately the vampire aspect was not played on as much as it might. It was, I discovered, a time of flux for main character Patience as the DI who drew her in has moved on and the new DI, Frankie Monroe (Jessica Hynes), doesn’t understand why a non-copper is in her meetings and has even less knowledge and understanding of autism.

moody shots of York 

The episode starts with moody shots of York – a perfect setting for Gothic Horror that isn’t exploited really – and then we see a woman, Marina Murray (Jeany Spark) – obviously a riff on Mina Murray – enter a dimly lit photography exhibition. She is looking for artist Jonathan Starper (Julian De Backer) – again a riff, this time on Jonathan Harker – and finds him, with a wooden stake through the chest. She screams.

bites?

When the police are at the crime scene it begins to look like he has been drained of blood and Patience spots the two incisions in his neck – as an aside, these seem to be there and not be there in different shots, I can’t make my mind up whether it was an unfortunate angle thing or just poor continuity. There is commentary around this point around needing garlic. Later the medical examiner ascertains that the wounds were created posthumously and that the blood (which is completely drained) was taken through ankle incisions as he was strung up. It is also discovered that he was blood type Rh-null – the incredibly rare, so-called Golden Blood. This then directs the investigation and there is no further mention of vampires. We do get Patience carrying and returning to the library a copy of Dracula and a medical company, where blood is procured for a sickle cell patient, called Helsing. When the case is cracked, they don’t even return to the posthumous fang marks.

staked

And that is disappointing. There are plenty of vampire related episodes of shows set in the real world that exploit a willingness to believe in vampires – this did not. The vampiric aspect is window dressing and flimsy at that. I actually did enjoy the depiction of Patience, an altercation with a motor bike (its presence unnoticed until a near miss partly because of her noise cancelling headphones) and the nicely done panic attack, showed an insight to autistic reaction. I loved the neurodivergent self-help group we briefly see as they try and navigate a neurotypical world. But the vampire aspect left me disappointed (and that’s impacting the score as I am looking at it from a vampire genre point of view). This is based on a season 3 episode of Astrid et Raphaëlle, which I intend to watch to compare and contrast. 4 out of 10 reflects a lack lustre use of vampires within an otherwise interesting episode.

The imdb page is here.