You and the Night – review

Director: Yann Gonzalez 

 Release Date: 2013 

 Contains spoilers 

I considered looking at this French arthouse film under the “Use of Tropes” heading but, ultimately, it is a vampire film, albeit sexual vampirism and I will look directly at that phenomena as I review the film. It is a film I was unaware of until noticing it recently on Shudder, which seems an odd home as I really didn’t read this as horror at all – though there is an overt supernatural aspect. Rather it is a film ostensibly about an orgy but truthfully more a character examination against that backdrop. 

riding into the night

It starts in the rain and Ali (Kate Moran, Vampires) sits on the back of a motorcycle, imploring the rider to wait as *he* said he would come, and calling out for Matthias (Niels Schneider). When his figure is seen running towards the bike, the rider sets off leaving him behind. Ali asks the rider who he is but gets no response and so feels his face (the helmet is a 3/4s one with no chin guard), touching round and in his mouth. Her ultimate reaction makes the viewer think she finds him somehow familiar… Ali wakes, suggesting the previous scene was a dream (or premonition), and she sits in snow with Matthias dead or dying in her lap. Udo (Nicolas Maury, Paris je T’aime) comes to them and Ali and Udo kiss, as they masturbate Matthias, this revives him.

Nicolas Maury as Udo

A note about Udo, who is described in things I have looked at as a transvestite, and certainly wears a maid outfit and tiara through the majority of the film but also referred to with a masculine pronoun in the film. As such there appears to be a fluidity of gender and so I am using they/them pronouns for the character. Matthias suggests that he had gone to the land of the dead, a place ruled by children violently killed, robbed of their potential and hatred had made them monstrous. Udo reminds them that their guests are due to arrive soon for the planned orgy. I wondered as I watched this as to how the guests were invited, as it wasn’t revealed. They all carry and use stereotyped names, and, to some degree, it almost appears that fate drew them to the event.

the Stud and the Star

The first to arrive is the Slut (Julie Brémond), or so she is called in the English subs, in the French she is called La Chienne or the Bitch. She is ready to party, but she is told to wait for all the guests and is introduced to the jukebox – a device that reads the person through their palm and plays music based on their mood. Next to arrive, coincidentally together, are the Stud (Éric Cantona) – in French L'Étalon or the Stallion – and the Teen (Alain-Fabien Delon) – in French L'Adolescent. The final guest to arrive is the Star (Fabienne Babe). She demands the lights are turned off, and remain off, before she enters and kisses each guest passionately in the dark until the Slut turns the lights on, out of curiosity, which freaks the Star but the earnestness of the Teen causes her to stay.

Ali widowed

The film explores their stories, often presented to the viewer in a surreal style, but from our point of view it is Ali, Matthias and Udo’s story that is important, which they are open about when the guests enquire. Ali and Matthias were young lovers who married – this is suggested to be centuries before. Unfortunately, there was a war and Matthias had to go, writing home for two months until the letters stopped and then Ali was informed that he was killed. Ali then spent her nights in widow’s black at his grave. She was approached there by Udo, a gypsy who claimed that Matthias’ spirit had implored their help and they could bring Matthias back for her. Before Udo appears, mist curls around the gravestone and Ali, reminiscent of a mist from which a vampire emerges.

Matthias returns

That night Matthias visited Ali, the side of his face wounded with maggots writhing in the wound (modern Matthias wears an eye patch on that side). He tells Ali that she can trust Udo – and his visitation immediately brought the idea of Death and the Maiden to mind as well as the ballad Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger, which supplied the line "Denn die Todten reiten schnell!" as used by Bram Stoker in Dracula. Reassured by Matthias she allows Udo to perform their ritual, which invokes Lucifer and sexual deviancy to enable Matthias’ return. They go to the graveyard and dig him up and when lifted from the grave he does revive. On that revival his wounded face is mostly healed through Ali’s kisses, bar his eye – death always claims a souvenir.

Matthias and Ali

Udo had levelled a price for their service. They had observed Ali and Matthias as the most passionate of couples and the price is the couple allow them to remain with them to observe and indulge in their passion. Udo suggests they are immortal and, like them, Ali will be immortal also but Matthias’ life depends on Ali’s desire, he has to feel it vibrating and pulsating, whether stimulated by him or others. They state categorically that vitality is the important part and also warn that sadness cannot take over. So, it is implied that the orgy will stimulate Ali’s desire and she will impart that vitality to maintain Matthias’ undead state but he has seemed melancholy throughout and this maybe why he seems to be edging towards the land of the dead. Though on the surface this makes Ali seem like a succubus, there is no suggestion that the orgy will harm any of the guests in her doing so, and more so Matthias is an incubus feeding from the vitality of desire – though it is only his immortal lover that feeds him (and heals him, her kisses previously seen to heal his face). It also needs to be noted that the Teen comments on loving the night “where only vampires and lunatics lurk.”

Alain-Fabien Delon as the Teen

The film obviously has sexual themes throughout – it is the story of an orgy – but the characterisation and stories, the revealed flaws and acceptance of the characters, are the important narrative, and the sexuality takes a backseat (and is perhaps drawn a lot less passionately than it might have been). It is absolutely queer, not just through the gender fluidity of Udo but in the fact that the guests could all be described as pansexual and refreshingly matter of fact around that. One might criticise the fact that flaws are highlighted underpinning their queerness, but the flaws are the underpinning of the narratives. There are also taboo subjects such as incest within the narrative. On the (understated and perhaps subverted) vampire side there was something (in both Ali and Matthias' characters and attitude) of Adam and Eve from Only Lovers Left Alive and interestingly they premiered at Cannes Film Festival within 5 days of each other. Only Lovers is more traditionally vampire but, overall, I preferred this as a film 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Monster House

For those who are unaware, I have a keen interest in the idea of the vampiric building and wrote a chapter, Vampiric Buildings: Life Soaked into Mortar and Blood into Earth for Palgrave’s Handbook of the Vampire. I was aware of the 2006, Gil Kenan directed, Monster House and think I did see it back in the day. However, I decided to take a look with pretty fresh eyes (I remembered next to nothing about the content) and a view to see whether we could call the house of the title a vampiric building.

The film starts the day before Halloween in US suburbia, within a nostalgia dictated timeframe. It starts with a very young girl riding her trike and greeting inanimate objects. Suddenly the speeding trike stops, the animation follows a leaf but the inference is that she has flown off the bike. She hasn’t, but she is stuck on the verge of a lawn, for some reason unable to move (I’ll return to why later). Suddenly the door flies open and house owner Mr Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi, Paris Je T’aime, Hotel Transylvania 1, 2 & 3) comes screeching out of the house, yelling at the girl and in the tirade asks if she wants to be eaten alive – she runs off crying and he breaks and takes the trike.

Steve Buscemi voices Nebbercracker

This is watched from over the road by DJ (Mitchel Musso), a young boy who has been observing the antics of Nebbercracker and logging them. His parents are going away for the weekend and have arranged for Zee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) to babysit. Meanwhile, his friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) arrives but his ball ends up on Nebbercracker’s lawn. DJ notices that he hasn’t reacted and goes to retrieve it but the old man emerges and, in the tussle, collapses – DJ thinks dead. Paramedics come and pick him up – the viewer notices that grass seems to grow and grasp one of the gurney wheels, which breaks off and is then consumed by the earth. That night DJ receives phone calls from the house – making him believe that the ghost of Nebbercracker is haunting him.

the house awake

Now, we have heard local rumour from Bones (Jason Lee), Zee’s boyfriend, who lost his kite, as a kid, to Nebbercracker, who suggests the old man had been married, fattened her up and ate her (bringing in a cannibal theme – though the story is gossip and not truth). Kicked out by Zee he taunts the absent old man (and by default the house) only for the front door to open and his kite be there. With a similar lure used later with Chowder’s ball it indicates an intelligence (and memory) at play. The house consumes Bones. The next day DJ and Chowder save a prep school student selling candy, Jenny (Spencer Locke, the Vampire Diaries), and the three realise they have to neutralise the house before trick or treaters arrive.

the gang

Getting some half-baked advice (that is accurate) they are told they have to “strike at the source of life – the heart”. This is, of course, a vampire trope. They decide that the heart must be the furnace and they have to douse it (the house chimney has been active despite being empty). We have also seen that the house can morph its physical self and the front door becomes a mouth, with teeth (and the veranda can widen the maw), it opens a gullet within the hallway and the hall carpet becomes a tongue. 

Constance's grave

When Nebbercracker is released from hospital (and the kids have just escaped from inside the house) DJ realises that the house is Nebbercracker’s wife Constance (Kathleen Turner). We get the story that she was an unwilling circus freak – the Giantess – and war veteran Nebbercracker helped her escape. He was building the house when trick or treaters caused her to fly into a rage, fall into the foundations and be buried in concrete – that has become a shrine/grave for her. He soon realised that her spirit had possessed the house, that she would attack those who approached and hated Halloween. Nebbercracker was actually protected the neighbourhood and had been essentially a prisoner of his own making for forty five years.

with legs

So – is the house a vampire. Well, possessed by Constance’s spirit it is certainly a monster and arguably (through Constance) undead. It is sentient, intelligent, remembers both what happened to Constance and those who have been near. It is polymorphic, able to change from a creepy house into an animated creature – at the end of the film it takes two trees as legs and becomes mobile. The idea of striking the heart was correct. The question is, does it feed on the victims? That isn’t clear. We do know that those it consumes in the course of the movie all survive but that does not mean to say that normally it would not digest them or drain their energy – the film is silent and probably deliberately so as it is a PG movie. Assuming it does, I think we can call this a vampiric building and one whose source (ie the possession) is communicated to the viewer – in other vehicles these things can be simply alive and bad.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Vampires Prefer Classical

Made by Nora Campbell, who also stars, this was a Best Film: 16-19 Nominee at the Into Film Awards 2026. It is a little over 5 minutes in length and drawn as a comedy.

It begins with a girl sleeping, when she is visited in her dreams by a wizard who suggests that a vampire is looking towards world domination and will replace rock music by orchestral domination as vampires prefer classical.

summoning the guitar

She wakes and a spell book has been left behind, so she calls her friend Florance to come over. She has everything set up for a ritual when she arrives and they summon an electric guitar that has a sign stuck to it that says, “Warning! Do not play. Threat of disintegration”. There is also a rather convoluted map to find the vampire. However, we have to ask whether she can play and where, on a quest, might it plug in…

the vampire

This was a neat piece of silliness, playing with the subject and not taking itself serious at any point. Congratulations to Nora Campbell for the nomination.

At the time of writing there is no IMDb page.

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Dracula in Space – review

Director: Gregory William Randolph Jr.

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Putting Dracula in space is not a new idea. We had, of course, Dracula 3000 before this film… but is putting Dracula in space a good idea? Honestly, going by this, no… but that has much to do with the cheapness of the props and sets/locations. Honestly, I guess if the story/script were better I might have been more forgiving of the DIY aesthetic but they weren’t, and so…

After hearing the voice of Dracula (Marcus Massey) intone that the blood is the life, we see a woman (name tag, Stoker (Jessie Vinning)) running through a corridor, green lighting offering an eerie glow. She passes a window, stars outside, and my suspension of belief faltered… that looks like a late 20th/early 21st Century house window… on a spaceship?!? To be fair, it is likely this was a colony/military outpost and not a spaceship but still we are clearly in a building which is trying to pass as futuristic. Dracula gets her and bites…

the Demeter

Captain Harker (Charlotte Reidie) is on the bridge of the Demeter. Her crew consists of Eli (Dominik Krajny), ships doctor Seward (Ashley O'Brien), security officer Morris (Paul Leon), IT person Juno (Kamahri May) and android Sol (Felipe Chavez). A note on names… we have a mix consisting of those from Stoker and new. Comment is made about the names later, by Dracula himself, with a view to synchronicity. Even more coincidental is Juno turns out to be a dead ringer for a specifically remembered victim of Dracula.

he's behind you

Anyway, they spot a derelict craft in space an are sent to investigate. The craft has a burned-out android, the same model as Sol, with the name badge Renfield and so download its memory (and core personality it seems) and find a pod that Harker elects to leave until reminded that it is a breach of space law. They take it aboard (without attempting to open it there). Of course, the pod is Dracula’s coffin and they now have him onboard. He is in a state of energy but can become matter – and must do so in order to feed. The first to be got is Eli, he then possesses another crew member and seems to be after Juno (due to her appearance). Renfield’s memories literally become the ghost in the machine.

a memory of sunlight

The lore is a bit sparse. Dracula is from earth (or Sol Prime) and his remains were transported within tons of soil sent to the colony. He can be destroyed by sunlight (or UV light specifically). He can eye mojo, seems to be able to enter VR scenarios, and can possess others. He is close to being fully solid again. The crew have not heard of Dracula (the records have his name and scant detail about a killer in 19th century England). Either Stoker’s book did not exist in this world or has been forgotten.

Seward in med bay

The biggest issue is with the poor sets/props. The sick bay, for instance, is a room with lots of bookcases and books – would they bother with paper volumes in space (in such number), would they have loads of book cases in a spaceship’s sick bay, would it be so dark in a lighting sense… or is this all a room they want you to imagine being on a spaceship despite your best instincts. The bridge is featureless, with a couple of gaming chairs, a joystick, a directional mic… like the room has been constructed with thrift find props. Later a navigational array is the button end of a cassette player. A clip of earth had a car in shot that was not of the future. It doesn’t help the viewers buy in. The orange jumpsuit uniforms have patches that say “astronaut”.

Marcus Massey as Dracula

The acting seems languid from most and the dialogue is pretty darn stereotyped and not as clever as it tries to be. Nevertheless, this is better than Dracula 3000. 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Night Carnage – review

Director: Thomas J. Churchill

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

At the end of Night Carnage I was left unsure as to whether its raison d'etre was a commentary on the influencer phenomena or just on dating. Whilst having vampires, werewolves and hunters, they seemed almost a secondary aspect, strangely.

After scenes in the city we see a man outside a door, he has an earpiece and breaks into the building. In his ear, Aiden (Mike Ferguson, Dracula Eternal), tells him to scout only. Inside he finds a coffin surrounded by candles. Instead of retreating he opens it and stakes the vampire within. A male vampire, Michael Connor (Christian Howard), drops from the ceiling behind the hunter and kills him (with rubbish CGI blood spatter – the film really had some of the worst I’ve seen). Aiden tells his boss (Sonny King, Ravenwolf Towers) that they’ve lost another knight.

Baker Powell as Marcus

The boss is bed-bound and his son, Marcus (Baker Powell, United States of Horror: Chapter 1), visits. Marcus is a bar owner with a taste for the macabre and dad tells him of his heritage. The Von Holsen’s are descended from Van Helsing, they are monster hunters, knights as they have it, and it is his birthright. VH was killed by Michael Connor and he should avenge him. Despite mentioning that Van Helsing is in horror novels, he takes this news in his stride it seems and is pretty darn calm when dad dies there and then, message delivered.

Logan Andrews as Tess

Elsewhere we see Tess (Logan Andrews) exercising on a beach, By trade she is a blogger who blogs about relationships and essentially goes on dates and then writes about them – this reminded me of the film The Night is Young but also, I guess, Sex and the City came to mind as she voice-overed a blog later. We see a disastrous date with SteveO (Nick Waters) and then SteveO being killed by a werewolf. The film distances (by silence) Tess and the werewolf for no adequately explored reason as we quickly discover it is her (and, to be fair, the werewolf practical costume looked pretty good). Also dating (and then killing dates) is Michael Connor but he is rather taken by Tess, who looks like a lost love whose portrait he has (yup, that old chesnut). Meanwhile Marcus has taken control of the knights.

vampire

Not a huge amount particularly happens. We see two dates each both ending in eating the date (Tess because her dates are dirtbags, Michael because they do not live up to his high expectations and are not his lost bride). All the dates are at a restaurant called Renfield’s – it is creditable that Marcus recognises the name as coming from a horror novel, less so that the primary source is never named. It is at the end where the three storylines converge and the film again uses pretty-darn poor cgi blood spatter – given the practical werewolf, one wonders why? Some of the photography is well done. There isn’t much to be said about the acting, it does what it needs to and there are some naturalistic moments, but this never grasps the key plot point nor makes a thriller/horror of it, and is not the greatest as a result. 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

Vamp or Not? Death Bed: The Bed That Eats

I love the idea of vampiric objects and Death Bed: The Bed That Eats could be deemed to feature just such a thing – which is what we will explore, of course. It was a film that was directed by George Barry but didn’t get distribution in 1977 when completed. Yet it managed to gain a cult following through bootleg releases and eventually was formally released in 2003.

The film concerns a bed that eats people, indeed that is described as always hungry, with the film narrated by an artist (Dave Marsh, voiced by Patrick Spence-Thomas). The artist was not consumed by the bed – possibly because he had tuberculosis – but imprisoned behind his own painting, probably in a state of undeath and likely in a liminal space. The style of the art has led to an assumption that the artist was in fact Aubrey Beardsley.

the first couple

Split into three parts – Lunch, Dinner and Just Desserts – in lunch we see a couple arrive on foot at the house. The bed, as well as hungry and sentient, displays its reach by closing and locking doors into the house except for one leading to the cellar where it sits. It eats the couple and the method of doing so includes a digestive fluid bubbling up around them, in a foam, and them being drawn into the bed and its digestive area – which is bigger than the spatial reality of our world. We also see that victims can be drawn up from under the bed into the same liminal stomach. Angered by the artist taunting it, it telekinetically destroys the house, leaving only the cellar.

flowers bloom

Next three women, Dianne (Demene Hall), Suzan (Julie Ritter) and Sharon (Rosa Luxemburg) arrive. Dianne needs to get away from the city and a friend who is liquidating the estate the house belonged to has allowed her to use the house – though its destruction is clearly unknown. The bed seems to fear Sharon and her presence injures it, though it eventually devours the other two. Its reach is shown when it kills Suzan as it mysteriously removes her bones from its liminal stomach so they are buried in the grounds and red flowers appear at the spot.

demon's eyes

The reason it fears Sharon is discovered when the artist explains how the bed came to be and to be alive. A demon resided in a tree and decided to float on the breeze until it saw a woman (Linda Bond). Invisibly it seduced her and then created the bed and took human form (bar his red eyes as a demon’s eyes are always filled with blood), calling the woman to him. They made love on the bed, but its unnatural nature killed her – more accurately put her in a state between life and death – and she was buried in the grounds. The demon was saddened by this, its eyes shattered and it cried tears of blood onto the bed. 

the bed

That blood brought the bed to life and gave it the hunger that defines it. Incidentally the events occurred in 1897 – the year Dracula was released. The demon fled to a tree again, though when it sleeps (every ten years) it finds the bed in its nightmares and the artist can briefly communicate with the living. For the bed to be destroyed the original woman needs to be resurrected and make love to destroy it; “a coupling began and a coupling will destroy”. It fears Sharon (and is injured by her presence) as her eyes remind it of the original woman whose death led to its birth.

a victim

So, the death methodology for the bed doesn’t fit into vampire tropes – though the resurrected woman could be said to be undead. The creation of the bed, as a sentient thing, through a demon fits in with some folklore, whilst using blood as a catalyst, and its hunger is clearly a trope that fits in with vampirism. We see it devour food, wine and hear it eat a fly, but it clearly wants human flesh and blood. So, is it vamp? Obviously not in the conventional sense but its uniquely demonic origins and supernatural powers, the fact that its hunger (and means of filling that void) sits within a liminal space, the devouring of flesh (and absorption of blood spilt on its sheets) suggest that if you have a broad view of what it means to be vampiric then I think you could class it.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Fortune Favors The Fantastic – review

Author: Ryan North

Art: Carlos Gomez & Ivan Fiorelli

First published: 2024

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Ryan North continues his ever-surprising FANTASTIC FOUR run! Franklin Richards has been an immortal, a god, an Omega-level mutant and more. He's created life and entire universes - and been worshipped for it. He's ended life and been cussed out with just as much sincerity. But there's something else about Franklin Richards nobody else in the universe knows about - until now! Then, things take a noirish turn, and the only one who can solve the mystery…is hard-boiled private detective Alicia Masters! Plus: Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm get part-time jobs to raise some cash! Surely these old friends can work together, side by side? But when the skies turn black with Darkforce energy and vampires swarm the Earth, the Fantastic Four join the Blood Hunt! Can the brilliant Reed Richards find a cure for vampirism before it's too late?

The review: Where the Venom sojourn into the Blood Hunt event felt like a bit of a tag on to the event, this Fantastic Four volume may have been standalone, not impacting the wider Blood Hunt moments, but somehow felt more substantive as part of the event. The first three stories in the volume are nothing to do with Blood Hunt but they all worked as individual shorts, with the 'Ben and Johnny getting a job' one being genuinely amusing and the Alicia Masters as a hardboiled detective in a noir story being both clever and really well put together.

The Blood Hunt story was longer than the others and sees Reed Richards and Alicia Masters on a trip to the city to an art installation when the skies blacken and the vampires attack. Reed’s rubber body is impervious to vampire attack and he is able to protect Alicia but finds his resources stretched (sorry, deliberate pun) when they rescue other survivors. The interesting part, to some degree, was his disbelief and him having to force himself to think differently when facing something supernatural and his science failing him – though he quickly refocuses and manages to develop something to disrupt the vampires (with peril added for himself as he stretches too quickly and opens wounds, which could let in infection). Meanwhile the rest of the team are facing vampires out in the country. The event’s ending also has a direct impact on Richards as it involves a power leap for his nemesis.

This was fun and whilst it had no in-event impact, it was certainly worth a read with the other stories being good too. 7.5 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK