Vamp or Not? Sinister Visions

Sinister Visions is an anthology film from 2013 and the segment that is the subject of this ‘Vamp or Not?’ was directed by Kim Sønderholm and was entitled Succubus.

Now the succubus and vampire myths go hand in hand, along with the sexual aspect the succubus tends to drain life (making her a type of energy vampire). In this case an Amazon review also suggested that she had “a taste for blood of men”. I will mention that the film has five primary stories (Succubus being the first) as well as a couple of spoof moments that introduce the best of the five stories – the zombie orientated My Undead Girlfriend.

the egg

As Succubus starts we see Emma (Kat Herlo), her makeup smeared by tears as she drinks from a bottle. We flash back in time and we see her at an archaeological dig where she finds an egg like object. She takes it back to a tent when gunfire starts and she drops it, breaking it open and releasing a black smoke. Her eyes roll up and she collapses, then a colleague enters and warns her that she has to move – the rebels are getting close to their camp.

Kay Herlo as Emma

Back home and she goes to a library where she researches the myth of Lilith and Samael. Now, of course, Lilith does crop up over and over again, tied into vampire lore. She hears a voice whispering her name and, when she leaves the library, she sees a couple. “Take him,” the voice says. She manages to walk on.

in club

Eventually the voices are too strong and she is compelled to go out, wearing a little black dress. However she is still fighting and finds herself wracked in pain, the pain seems to give way to something more orgasmic. She enters a club and spots her victim, a man with a woman. She gets between them, distracts him with her mouth when his attention wanders and then drags him out of the club. Her innocent, human self watches her exit from the dance floor and then vanishes.

succubus

They end up in (what looks like) a basement and she is sexually aggressive, riding him (as she should with the Lilith connection) and then she transforms becoming a winged demon – the makeup and prosthetics are rather good – though the wings wobble a little. She has her hand at his throat until he dies… however, whilst strangulation would actually fit in with the folklore vampire is it enough to call this vamp?

veins on victim

Well, I am not too sure that it is strangulation that is actually going on. We see no flash sfx that suggests she is draining his lifeforce but, when we see him dead it is notable that he has a vein effect over his face. Can we assume that is because she is an energy vampire? It is difficult to say; at the end the film cuts back to the opening scene and we see a different victim behind her, but he is bloodied – scratched and bleeding, so that doesn’t tell us much. All in all, whilst she might be an energy vampire, we do not have conclusive proof and I think I’ll have to go Not Vamp, but the presence of a succubus and the mention of Lilith certainly offers a slight genre interest.

The imdb page is here.