Accumulator 1 – review

Director: Jan Svěrák

Release date: 1994

Contains spoilers

That the concept of vampirism stretched well beyond that of troublesome corpses with a taste for blood is not only no bad thing but is something we have seen through the media genre from the 19th century onwards. The concept of the energy vampire was a figure clearly seen in early literature forms.

As such this makes this Czech fantasy film, with a romantic comedy heart, most definitely a vampire film but a very unusual vampire at that.

awkward interview

The film starts with surveyors Olda (Petr Forman) and Slezák (Bolek Polívka) on a dam, taking readings and discussing nearby colleague Jitka (Tereza Pergnerová). Slezák wonders if Olda has slept with her yet, and when he says no the other man indicates his intention to do so. They go back to an inn, where they know the TV will show a pop-vox interview with Olda. On TV he is questioned about his thoughts on brothels but struggles to respond or express a view. Slezák takes Jitka to his room.

saved by the emergency services

Olda feels like he has no energy left and, on getting home, vegetates in front of the TV. He actually falls into unconsciousness for three days and is rescued by emergency services who take him to hospital, but the doctors cannot work out what is wrong with him. A man Fišarek (Zdeněk Svěrák) visits his hospital neighbour Mikulík (Jiří Kodet). Olda hears Mikulík suggesting that he doesn’t want to go on and suggests Fišarek visits the young man. Fišarek is a natural healer and infuses Olda with energy – making him come around properly again.

died holding a remote

Fišarek then works with the young man to control his energy as it is at an extreme low, which has caused his condition. He teaches him to draw energy from wood (never from people, especially children, he says – citing the dangers of karma). When Mikulík dies they go to see the body, which Fišarek declares is devoid of any residual energy and seems to be pointing – until they discover he had been holding a TV remote. Mikulík’s daughter Anna (Edita Brychta), arrives just then, and clearly does not like Fišarek – thinking him a charlatan.

the TV Dimension

So, as the film develops Anna, a dentist by trade, and Olda will eventually start a relationship but it is complicated by the danger Olda finds himself in. We discover what that is as the film moves forward. After a scene where Fišarek sends Olda a long-distance energy boost, we see the younger man bouncing around his apartment brimming with energy – until he bounces before the TV set and the glow of the cathode ray touches him and he is immediately drained. Eventually we enter the “TV dimension” and discover what is actually going on (though Olda just knows that the TVs are to blame).

living death

There is a whole world inside the TV and some of it is populated by doppelgangers, including ones of Olda and Mikulík, who seem to live partying through their dimension. The insinuation is that they are created when someone is filmed and fails to fully express themselves (perhaps leaving part of their expression in that dimension, as there is a suggestion later that they truly are a part of the original somehow lost and become independent). They then use TVs to feed from their real-world counterparts. With Mikulík having died, his doppelganger cannot feed and is now becoming energy devoid himself – eventually he is laid to rest (over the side of the Titanic) where he lies, not dead but unmoving (and covered in cobwebs eventually). It is a type of living death.

drained by the cathode ray

In the real world Olda starts having to avoid TVs, carrying a stack of remotes to turn them off (there is a commentary about there not being a universal remote control, probably right for the time this was made) and hording wood to use as an energy source. He is able to see the reach of the cathode ray and manipulate energy enough to energise a lightbulb in his hand or cause a cop to fall asleep. He starts to develop a solution after reading a story to Anna’s daughter about a witch who became younger by forcing a Prince to relinquish his breath (stealing breath can be seen as a euphemism for energy vampirism).

Anna and Olda

This was wonderfully surreal, with a quirky humour running through it. The romance aspect worked well with Petr Forman and Edita Brychta displaying a realistic chemistry – but the romance never overwhelmed the fantasy aspect (or the social commentary about television). The TV dimension had some nice touches, like a cowboy (David Koller) who spoke English and so Czech subtitles appeared in front of him. The film stands out as a fantasy piece but for the genre fan it needs to be tracked down as an unusual energy vampire film that uses a very unusual medium for the energy theft. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

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