La Stirpe di Orazio – review

Directors: Riccardo Bernasconi & Francesca Reverdito

Release date: 2016*

Contains spoilers

*the studio asparagus page suggests a 2015 date but the copyright on the episodes’ states 2016

Following a post on Facebook I discovered this wonderfully quirky web serial and, normally, it’d have an Honourable Mention as it is free to watch. However, it was so fun I decided on a review. The series is in Italian but there are English subs built into the episodes.

Toni Pandolfo as Orazio

La Stirpe di Orazio translates to Orazio’s Clan and follows three vampires Orazio (Toni Pandolfo), his partner Tacito (Paolo Vercelloni) and their vampiric son Nerio (Marco Brinzi). In a later episode we discover that Orazio and Tacito attacked Nerio in a movie theatre but, struck by guilt, Orazio gave him some of his blood, raising him as a vampire. From that day Orazio swore off human blood and Tacito followed suit out of love, the lack of human blood having a physical impact on him to the point that he uses a wheelchair and sticks. This is also why, when we meet them in the first episode, the hungry vampires are planning a heist to steal some chickens.

rescuing Sarah

As the story develops we meet Annica (Anahì Traversi), a vampire obsessed Goth who has fallen for Nerio, though he is less than committed – leaving her hypnotised in a graveyard rather than turning her and being with her forever. They also find an unconscious girl, Sarah (Valentina Violo), who turns out to be an Australian backpacker. They take her back to their caravan and Nerio ends up falling for her. She quickly picks up on them being vampires. She had a boyfriend, sort of, in the form of Dragan (Antonin Schopfer) and there is a small yappy dog hanging around.

members of Clan Vlad

Lore-wise we quickly discover that there are many (partial) myths around the vampires. They like garlic, can go out in the sun, reflect and can be photographed and are not warded by religious artefacts. I say partial because it is indicated that such things will affect members of Clan Vlad (a clan hated by Orazio). Vampires have hypnotic abilities and Tacito is adept at séances – he uses this power to contact the mind of the unconscious Sarah but soon is tuned into a football match. They can subsist on chicken blood and blood sausages, and there is a vampires anonymous organisation, but there is also a blood-pusher (Carlo Sortino) in the area and human blood is needed to be in peak condition.

Anahì Traversi as Annica

The series is well shot, with little tutorials embedded in episode (these can be viewed independently on the website). The cast are all great fun and, in short, I’d like to see a feature be made around these characters. Definitely one to look out for, you can watch it yourself at the serial’s homepage. 7.5 out of 10.

The IMDb page is here.