Short Film: Undercover Vampire Policeman

This was a 2016 short film by Juan Luis Martínez and comes in at 9-minutes.

It opens with a bloodied hand against a fence as we are given a list of vampire lore that simply isn’t true – garlic, silver, sunlight… all the way to stakes in the heart, we are told to forget them all. Vampires are amongst us and they drink blood rather than coke.

As all this goes on, we see the man (Oscar Ricq de Haro) pick a policeman’s hat up and get his shadow silhouette… He is Undercover Vampire Policeman and he is… the brainchild of Thèo (Lucas Chavaree), the subject of an underground comic series. His friend Ava (Nesta Gassama) is encouraging him to continue writing the series.

bloodied hand

Unfortunately, they are not the cool kids in school. Rather, they are epitomised by Colt (Gonzalo Muratel), the jock, and Jacqueline (Madeleine Rotha Legoe), the cheerleader. Jacqueline expresses the philosophy of ‘being cruel is cool’. As they leave the halls Ava notices that they have thrown Thèo‘s belongings out of his locker. After he gets homes he decides on revenge – we do get a montage including the solving of a Rubik’s cube and Ava playing Tetris – perhaps meant to represent plans coming together, of course puzzles and vampires have a connection. The revenge – to put glitter in Colt’s gear.

Unfortunately, their tormentors seem to know about this but could an artistic creation become real? The answer is embedded below and the imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Rome Against Rome

This Giuseppe Vari directed film from 1964, titled domestically Roma Contro Roma but also titled War of the Zombies, came into view due to being mentioned in the Vampires in Italian Cinema, 1956-1975 (in which the analysis of the film’s socio-political messaging is worth reading). In it the film is said to have “a plot centred on political conspirators worshipping a vampire goddess.” Sounds pretty up our street and the Blackhorse Entertainment DVD blurb also says, “A zombified soldier rising from his coffin, Nosferatu style, is one of the macabre highlights.” The use of zombie might give us pause for thought, but mention of Nosferatu is always good. As this is a ‘Vamp or Not?’ you can tell that this isn’t so simple.

the crone

After starting with a raid on Roman legions, in order to steal a treasure, we see a crone leading a group of deformed peasants on to the battlefield to steal the Roman bodies. The film then turns to the Roman Senate, who are more concerned with the missing treasure, it seems. They decide against sending reinforcements and instead send a single centurion to investigate, his name – Gaius (Ettore Manni). He is warned about their worship of a Goddess – when we see her depicted, she is modelled as a cyclops.

John Drew Barrymore as Aderbad

Meanwhile we have met the leader of the cult of the Goddess, Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore). He is a mage and it is to him that the bodies of the Romans are brought – this is the crux of the ‘Vamp or Not?’ and so I’ll return to what he does with them in a second. Essentially Gaius gets there, falls for a slave girl named Rhama (Evelyn Stewart, Hercules in the Haunted World), is betrayed by the Roman governor (and his scheming, string pulling wife) who are working with Aderbad, finds that he is immune to being turned by the Goddess and ultimately saves the day.

rising like Nosferatu

So, what is this ritual being done with the dead. It isn’t all that clear but it does seem like Aderbad conducts a blood ritual – sipping the corpses’ blood – and having the Goddess raise them as undead. But are they vampire? Well there is absolutely no indication that they are vampires. We see some frozen, awaiting activation. Others are in their graves. When called forth they fight with the skills they had as mortal men and they cannot die (as they have died once before). What is strange is that some seem spectral (though they can still hit their opponents). The one rising like Nosferatu is the one we see being turned, rising stiff bodied from the sarcophagus he was placed in. However, there is no other connection and no suggestion that they consume blood/flesh/energy.

the statue in the cave

I said they cannot be killed – this isn’t entirely true. They cannot be killed in combat but Gaius could destroy them if he could destroy the jewelled eye of the Goddess statue that is able to cast a gaze around the cave it rests in and connects the spiritual force of the Goddess with the raised dead. Sever the connection the puppets fall and so the blood consumption by her priest is to link the puppet to her and not a sustenance issue. We also, just to mention, get a voodoo moment with a doll of Gaius that, if stabbed, will kill him. However, when used it incapacitates him but doesn’t end his life.

spectral army

The print I watched wasn’t the best and it was, unfortunately, the dubbed version and so there is always the chance that the cut missed some aspects around the Goddess that are relevant to a ‘Vamp or Not?’ and still in an Italian print of the film. However, as the film stands, despite the use of blood in the raising ritual this is not a vampire film. We have restless dead who are puppets of the Goddess – but neither they, not the Goddess show overt vampiric tendencies and the raised soldiers are essentially more zombie-like despite their spectral appearance at times. Not Vamp.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Caltiki, the Immortal Monster – review

Directors: Riccardo Freda (as Robert Hamton), Mario Bava (uncredited)

Release date: 1959

Contains spoilers

Ok, let us get the directors out of the way first. Officially this is a Freda film, though he was credited as Robert Hamton to make domestic Italian audiences think it was an American film – this was especially after the cool reception that I Vampiri received. The great Mario Bava did cinematography and special effects but it is believed he also did uncredited direction (as he did with I Vampiri). In fact there is some thought that he was, actually, the primary director (though the Bava like flourishes you’ll see in I Vampiri are not apparent here).

Didi Sullivan as Ellen

So, what is it? Well it is an Italian creature feature – a horror sci-fi that has overtones of both The Blob (1958) and the Quatermass Xperiment. It is within the creature(s) that I was moved to class this as a vampire/vampiric movie. However, in Quatermass it was the injured/altered astronaut that was vampiric – the equivalent victim in this is not the vampire, rather the blob like entity is.

John Merivale as Fielding

So we get information about the Mayans, and the scientific/historical mystery of why they simply upped and left a city at the height of its power in year 607. This city is our opening scene – with a scientific expedition examining it. A volcano, in the distance, erupts as Neito (Arturo Dominici, Black Sunday & Castle of Blood) staggers out of a cave and back to camp, half delirious and clutching a revolver. He is put into a tent, suffering shock and repeating 'Ulmer' – his missing companion – and 'the Mummy' and 'Caltiki'.

the cavern

The other expedition guys, biologist Prof. John Fielding (John Merivale), Max (Gérard Herter) and Bob (Daniele Vargas) – along with their local helpers – head to the caves. There is no sign of Ulmer but then they see a new opening (probably opened due to the eruption) with steps heading down. The chamber it leads to has a statue of the Goddess Caltiki. Max is using a Giger counter and there is a low-level radiation coming from (what they surmise to be a) sacrificial pool. They find Ulmer’s cine camera but no body (we see a mummified body across the pool) and they resolve to come back the next day with diving gear.

Mummy in the cavern

Back at the camp is Fielding’s wife, Ellen (Didi Sullivan), and Max’s squeeze Linda (Daniela Rocca). They all watch Ulmer’s film and the mystery deepens as it looks like Neito opened fire on his friend – or something near him. Later, Max overhears Ellen and Fielding arguing and immediately overrates it and tries to woo Ellen, failing. Linda witnesses this and is scathing but strangely forgiving – in his turn, Max is dismissive of the woman, and racist to boot, mocking her and denigrating her for being mixed race (and yet fully prepared to sleep with her). Bob watches a ritualistic dance by the locals, which he is an unwelcome intruder upon.

Bob killed

So, the next day they go back and Bob dives into the pool – finding skeletons and jewellery. He repeats the dive to get a bag of treasure but something goes wrong and they pull him up. Removing his mask, his face has melted. Suddenly they are set upon by a blob like creature. They run for the stairs but Max goes back for the loot and the blob envelopes his arm. Fielding manages to chop at the blob with an axe, freeing Max (whose arm is still encased)…

Max's arm eaten away

Back in civilisation and they remove the blob from Max’s arms but it reveals skeleton, the flesh destroyed. Poison has entered his blood stream and the doctor fears that – unless they find an antidote – he’ll go mad. Testing the blob remnants, they realise that it is a giant single celled organism that is millions of years old. If they bombard it with radiation it becomes active and starts to grow. It is what the Mayans named Caltiki and their prophecy talks about a heavenly bridegroom who will cause her to destroy the world. It just so happens that an irradiated comet is due to return – the last time it came past Earth was when the Mayans abandoned their city.

cell division

So why vampire? Beyond its immortal status, we are told in respect of Max that “An unknown being has entered the tissues and absorbed his vital fluids”. Later Fielding, studying a fragment of Caltiki, asks, “And what guides it unerringly towards the organisms it drains of life?” It is this draining of life and fluids, as it is described, and the fact that it feeds off radiation energy to grow and multiply, which makes it vampiric. What is interesting is the fact that it clearly wants animal life – ignoring plant life all around it (or so it seems). The description of mummification didn’t necessarily match the skeleton visuals, bar the mummy (presumably Ulmer) in the cave, but in the dialogue there is mention of skin becoming like parchment. Its Achilles' heel is fire.

Max has gone mad

This is such good fun with Bava’s effects for the creature working so really well. The toy tanks that the army sends in perhaps not so good but amusing in a 50s sort of way. It is the sort of film that will amuse those who like creature features generally and fans of things like the blob. Nowhere near as serious as Quatermass, of course, this deserves a cheesy 50s 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray/DVD @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray/DVD @ Amazon UK

Vampires in Italian Cinema, 1956-1975 – review

Author: Michael Guarneri

First published: 2020

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Demonstrates how and why the transnational figure of the vampire was appropriated by Italian genre filmmakers between 1956 and 1975

Actively engages in the ongoing academic debate about the cultural legitimacy of Italian genre cinema

Covers unpublished film production data (from the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome), original screenplays (from the Biblioteca Luigi Chiarini in Rome), cinematic paratexts and vampire-themed paraliterature (from libraries all over Italy) Outlines the 1945-1985 historical and industrial context of Italian cinema

Positioning itself at the intersection of Italian film history, horror studies and cultural studies, this fascinating book asks why, and how, was the protean, transnational and transmedial figure of the vampire appropriated by Italian cinema practitioners between 1956 and 1975? The book outlines both the 1945-85 industrial context of Italian cinema and the political, economic and sociocultural context of the Italian Republic, from post-war reconstruction to the austerity of the mid-1970s. Using case studies of films by directors such as Mario Bava and Riccardo Freda, it also delves into lesser-known gems of Italian psychotronic cinema from the 1960s and 1970s, like L'amante del vampiro (The Vampire and the Ballerina) and Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel Trecento . . . (The Reincarnation of Isabel).

With original research into hitherto unpublished film production data, censorship data, original screenplays, trade papers, film magazines and vampire-themed paraliterature, the book strongly argues for the cultural legitimacy of Italian film genres like horror, adventure, comedy and erotica, whose study has so far been neglected in favour of the Italian auteur cinema of the 1940s neorealists and their later followers.

The Review: The Italian vampire films count amongst their number some of the great vampire films, looking particularly to Bava’s Black Sunday and Black Sabbath, and so the concept of this monograph, which concentrates on the films during, what might be termed, the Golden Age of Italian cinema was rather exciting to me. It didn’t disappoint.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a vampire reference work without some controversy on the exclusions and inclusions. So I was befuddled with the choice to leave out Fangs of the Living Dead on the basis that, on the domestic release, the vampirism was reduced to a vampire hoax (they are still vampires in the international release) and the Last Man on Earth. However the author did, at least, set out why they were missed – though the reasoning could have been used equally on covered films Ercole contro Moloch and Rome Against Rome, neither of which are vampire films (in my opinion) and the latter of which will be subject to a ‘Vamp or Not?’ article at a later date.

Controversial picks aside, this was most definitely a welcome book. The author guides us through the unique State input into the film industry and the surrounding socio-political positioning and, using this, guides us through the films chosen so that their inception and content and more readily understood. This included the strong grip of Catholicism, the heritage of the fascist period, the breakdown of traditional class positions and the impact of industrialisation/capitalism. There was plenty I was unaware of and it gave a rounded picture of the productions and, in the case of a film like Il cav. Costante Nicosia demoniaco, ovvero: Dracula in Brianza offered context for some of the humour in the film that may have otherwise been lost on a non-Italian viewer (though much still has not aged well).

I was probably most taken by the look at Hanno Cambiato Faccia, a favourite of mine anyway, the author’s exploration added to the film further. I was also glad to discover some films that I hadn’t come across before, particularly Short Night of Glass Dolls.The first Appendix was a nice touch, offering synopsis of three vampire films that had their scripts submitted but were never made.

This did everything I would seek in a reference work; it educated (and cited source, importantly), it enhanced, it caused inner debate and it led to new areas for me to look into. Being an academic tome, it is pricey. However, it is also a necessary book for the shelves of the connoisseur of Italian vampire films. 8 out of 10.

In Hardback @ Amazon US

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Honourable Mention: M (1951)

I looked at the classic Fritz Lang film M (1931), which is by no means a vampire film, because the film was produced whilst the crimes of Peter Kürten, the so called Vampire of Düsseldorf, were in the public mind – it seems likely that the killer of the film was partially based on Kürten, though it was denied. The film dialogue also mentions another serial killer who was dubbed vampire, Fritz Haarmann (not mentioned in this remake).

The original film was stunning and there was an English language version released. It was not, however, planned as a dual language project and Lang never acknowledged the English version – produced in 1932. The film is on the M Blu-Ray, is shortened (90 minutes against 110) and whilst it had some scenes reshot with new actors is mostly a dub. Interestingly Peter Lorre was dubbed by himself – making M (technically) his first English language film. The film immediately hit me with an inherent racism – the children’s song that opens the original shoot of the film about a murderous man in black, sung by the kids in response to the ongoing murders, becomes a song about a murderous “Chinaman” – racially othering the killer. This article is not about that film, however.

David Wayne as Harrow

M was remade and moved to America in 1951 and directed by Joseph Losey. Mostly a faithful rendition we get some differences – such as opening credit scenes where the murderer, Martin W. Harrow (David Wayne), is seen stalking several children. The whistling is still included but it is no longer the Hall of the Mountain King and this murderer takes a trophy – the children’s shoes (which is instrumental in the police learning his identity, the letter to the press is removed from the plot). Very different is the fact that he seems to simply kill them (like the original, we do not actually see a murder) – we get the dialogue that the victims “were neither violated nor outraged” – whereas the suggestion was that the murders in the original film were bloodier. When the local hoods searching for him find him with his last abduction, the M on his coat seems large and is drawn on with billiard chalk rather than transferred across, and he takes that child into the hiding place with him.

struggling for control

This version of M is absolutely competent as a piece of cinema but it lacks the underlying brilliance of the original. That said, David Wayne is very good as Harrow – showing a man conflicted, pushed to commit devastating crimes and struggling to control himself. A scene as he watches a toy trainset, with a young girl by him, is a superb acting scene by him and we see him at another point find a grounded bird, pick it up, be on the verge of destroying it and managing to control the impulse long enough to release it. This is worth seeing, but it can’t escape the shadow of its progenitor.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: The August Club

The August Club comes in at 42 minutes and I considered classing it as a short feature, rather than simply a short film. It is the opening of a series, directed by Daniel Richardson, concerning “the Crimson Man”, but this is designed also to be a standalone.

I read the August Club it refers to as the coming together of our primary characters in August – traditionally the school summer break month in England. The film opens with a narration (by Alexiel De Ravenswood) about the Crimson Man. Before the credits we see a corridor and a room (interesting lighting is used) and a chained coffin.

Noah and Jack

After the credits we meet Jack (Lucas Byrne) and Noah (James Grainger) who are in detention. The two lads studiously ignore each other. When the headmaster (Wayne Thompson) comes in, he wants the situation resolved as quickly as possible as the school has broken up for summer. He forces Jack and Noah to shake hands and sends them on their way. Outside Noah’s mum (Michelle Plews) is waiting for her son and asks where he’s been. His excuse draws Jack in and mum assumes they’re friends and insists jack comes to tea.

Jacob Anderton as Varias

Having been forced together they have no choice but to hang out until the meal is over and done with. They head to the park but run into local bully Kyle (Ben Roberts) who is there with sidekick Stoogey (Jack Johnston) as well as a girl, Sarah (Victoria Monaghan). After some back and forwards (with mention of Jack’s alcoholic dad) the bully dares the pair to go to a house and get a cross. They tell them the tale of vampire Count Varias (in black and white sequence played by Jacob Anderton, in colour sequences played by David Lavery). He was a vampire ages past (like, maybe 50 years, the young bully opines) and we get a sequence where he terrorises the village (now the city). He fed on children every full moon until stopped by a priest with a special cross and placed in a coffin, that was chained with the cross upon it.

the coffin

So, they do go and get the cross but that, of course, releases the vampire who chases Stoogey that night. The bullies assume Jack and Noah have set someone dressed up after them and the two lads – rapidly becoming friends – realise they have to go back and trap the vampire again. Of course, vampires are not so easily trapped. Other bits of lore we get is that the vampire can’t go out into the sun, garlic bread is not an apotropaic and holy water from a super-soaker doesn’t seem to work either.

the vampire

This was fun – reliant mostly on the young actors; Lucas Byrne especially stood up to the plate. The vampire, being monstrous in visage, looked a tad rubbery but that was forgivable. The power dynamic absolutely didn’t work (the lads should have been dead in seconds) but again this is forgivable. There was some exceptionally nice lighting in the house. Worth catching as, at 42 minutes, it doesn’t outstay its welcome. At the time of writing there was no IMDb page.

On Demand @ Amazon US

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Honourable Mention: After School Lunch Special

A 2019 portmanteau film, directed by Andrew J Chambers this is a zero-budget affair that relied on gross out without the effects or acting to carry it through (born, of course, of the budget). Yet, despite this it did have the odd moment shining through – the concept of a performing zombie might not have been actualised well but the premise showed promise.

I did struggle with whether to include this, however, as the vampiric moment contains few of the tropes one would expect. However it does feature the tropes of lesbian vampires and bathing in blood (or showering, at least).

the vampires

So, this wasn’t a segment, as such, but a part that the film kept returning to – with the intent of titillation one feels – it really didn’t have a story. It literally, through the most, had two girls (Karla Force & Jennie Barney) kissing whilst being showered in blood – their skimpy costuming reducing as they went. So why vampires? Well, they’re being showered in blood but, mostly, because they are credited as vampire girl 1 & 2. Eventually the blood stops and we see them look at a victim (naked on a chair with his privates mutilated). He’s dead, they complain and decide to go out and get another. Fin.

So – no real story, low on (arguably without) definitive tropes but… a Fleeting visitation nonetheless. The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Vamp or Not? Short Night of Glass Dolls

This was the 1971 directorial debut for Aldo Lado, known here for his sci-fi flick the Humanoid, and is a gaillo styled film set in Prague. It came to my attention as I read Vampires in Italian Cinema, 1956-1975 when it was mentioned as 1 of 6 Italian films following Franco’s Count Dracula, which used (transnational) co-production agreements to cushion themselves financially but also “tapped into the vampire mythology”. Five of these have been previously covered here.

As you can tell – as this is a ‘Vamp or Not?’ - things are not as clear cut with this film. I may have been tempted to run with a ‘Use of Tropes’ article but I think that strays beyond the (knowing) use of tropes and flirts with that line.

Moore in the park

The film starts, after a sweeping city shot, in a park. A worker sweeps rubbish as a crow hops around. It eventually comes across a rather dead looking individual, who we’ll soon discover is American journalist Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel). He is taken to hospital and pronounced dead when examined on arrival. Yet we hear Moore’s thoughts, he is still alive but trapped in a catatonic state (and not producing normal life signs as he is later examined, though not cooling as expected and without rigor mortis). The film is then him trying to remember what has happened to him as his body tries to awaken before anything (such as an autopsy) occurs.

Jean Sorel as Moore

So, we get the tale of him and his girlfriend Mira (Barbara Bach, the Humanoid), who he meets at the train station. She brings him a gift of a display of butterflies (I’ll come back to them) and they spend a montage of time together. He is due to move to London in a few weeks and wants her to come with – but, of course, they are in the then Communist Czechoslovakia. He suggests he knows someone well connected who can ease her movement out of the country and takes her to a party of luminaries.

Mira's body

At the party he bumps into an old Doctor friend (Relja Basic), also his reporter colleagues Jacques (Mario Adorf) and Jessica (Ingrid Thulin, Hour of the Wolf) are there. Jacques is creeping around with a rich woman (Michaela Martin), who seems out of it, and Jessica and Moore may have had a past relationship, but she certainly is jealous of Mira now. Mira herself finds herself surrounded by creepy old blokes. Moore takes her home but gets a call from Jacques in the night, a story has broken. It is a false alarm but when he gets back to his apartment Mira is gone, though all her things and papers are there.

the 1%

So Moore and his friends are warned off investigating by the police, but he does anyway and starts looking into other young women who have vanished never to be seen again and here we go to some massive spoilers… The path leads him to a secret society of elite old people who are responsible for the girls disappearances – all of this coming out of a place called Klub99 (which we discover has branches across the world) This is a place developed to maintain the power of those in charge (in today’s parlance, the 1%) but it is the hint of how they do so that interests us.

the high priest

There is an occult element to this and we see a ritual, with a naked young woman on a table as the elderly elite rut around her in an orgy. The implication is they survive off their energy – we do not see an actual sacrifice, but assume that this does involve sacrificing both the young in these rituals and also on the field of battle – keeping those below them in their place. In many way these are Voltaire’s vampires, the “stock-jobbers, brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.” (1764). The high priest (Fabijan Sovagovic) wears a hat that could be said to have bat wings and declares, “We need the young to stay alive.”

grey like the dead

I mentioned the butterflies and Mira describes them as creatures that cannot fly, despite their beautiful wings, but hop from spot to spot. This is, of course, describing the beautiful youth pinned and controlled by the elite. However (although likely a coincidence) the connection between vampire and butterfly is a known trope, with the butterfly or moth being a physical manifestation of the vampire’s soul. What is clear is that when we see the elite watching a chamber orchestra in Klub99 the audience do look like the living dead, many with their faces deliberately greyed.

framing Moore

So… things like the greying of the faces may have just been playing with tropes and the question is… do the elite act as vampires, feeding on the young. Had we seen a blood sacrifice this would have been easier to call – we do not, but that there is one can be assumed to sit within the text. The fact that Mira is dead, might point to that, or it might be the murder of a trafficked young woman who would not play along – and her body later used to try and frame Moore. However it really does feel like Lado was hooking into the myth and portraying the vampires of Voltaire (with a touch of occult shenanigans for good measure).

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Vampire {2014}

With the description as an ‘Indonesia Comedy Short Film’, this is just over 12-minutes in length and was released in 2014. It was directed by Fitro Dizianto and whether it is actually a comedy is debatable – there is banter between the two main characters but little in comedic strokes, as it were.

Cap and Pli

It begins with Pli (Aryudha Fasha) watching a horror movie with headphones on. His friend Cap (Eka Wahyu Primadani) sneaks up behind him and grabs his sides making him jump. Cap is hungry but it is late at night and the only place open is the Cak Iwan food hall. Pli isn’t too sure as the place is by the graveyard and, as he points out, it is Friday night (which I assume is a cultural/religious observation). He suggests that the foodhall (which is literally a street vendor under canvas) has a Toyol – the subs explaining that it is a ghost that brings wealth.

heading for food

Pli has a motorbike but suggests he is low on petrol. Cap insists that they use it and it conks out in front of the graveyard. There is movement through the graves and talk of kuntilanak and the Sundel Bolong (which is Javanese ghost similar to the kuntilanak). Suzanna is mentioned, which I assume was a reference to Indonesian horror movie icon Suzzanna. As they push the bike they see an orb flying over the street – Cap mentions UFOs but Pli suggests it is witchcraft.

other customers

As it is they reach the foodhall safely and order food. When it arrives a man (Rizky Ades) and woman (Senja Karisma) come in. The lads’ banter moves to her being attractive and then Pli jokingly suggesting she might be a vampire – in a hijab, retorts Cap. This leads to discussion about a Muslim version of Twilight and the thought of Bella Swan wearing a hijab. Then the conversation steers to her biting a neck and cap states that he’d put a talisman to her forehead – a reference to the Chinese kyonsi, and (what I assume to be) a disparaging joke about the Javanese and their form of vampire apotropaic.

fangs

What I will have to do, however, is spoil the ending. The lads simply leave but then the foodhall cook (Mirza) turns to see the fanged woman feeding off her companion. It cuts to silhouette through the canvas and we see her long tongue shoot out and take the man’s head off. It is quite an amusing piece because the two lads seem to be having genuine fun. We get a broad swath of Indonesian lore mentioned as well as touching on some Chinese and Javanese things and, of course, we see the pervasiveness of the Twilight franchise.

At the time of posting there is no IMDb page.

Scare Me – review

Director: Conrad Glover (segment)

Release date: 2020 

Contains spoilers

This is a portmanteau movie, sort of, and was primarily directed by Mark Stephens, who directed a short called Scare Me, in 2016, and the cast listed on IMDb suggests that it is now the prologue of this film. The film consists of a group of friends going to a festival and stopping at a camp site where they have a scary story competition, which are the anthology aspects, but soon the anthology aspect ends and the group are fighting for their lives against… well given the eye effect in one of the shorts it might be demon possession.

The first three stories in the campfire competition are interesting takes on the werewolf, vampire and zombie genres. The vampire short is called Unnatural Born Killers and is credited to Conrad Glover as ‘Guest Director’.

Telling the tale

Officer Summers (Anthony Avery) is with his sergeant, Beck (Roland Matthews). Summers and his partner Miller (Stu Chaiken) were sent to a domestic disturbance and, now, there is a dead cop (Miller) and a video already on YouTube of him shooting both an unarmed black man, Dante (Morlon Greenwood), and his girlfriend, Michelle (Bri Ana Wagner). One of the strange conceits of this is that whilst we see the YouTube video, its not clear how it might have been shot (ie there are too many angles) and then later, with the body cam footage we subsequently see, it is clear not all came from the body cam.

The footage shows Dante and Michelle arguing quite heatedly, whilst on a forecourt. The cop car rolls in and Michelle makes it clear she called the cops. Miller and Summer exit their vehicle but, after a brief verbal exchange, Dante walks away. Miller goes after him, unholstering his gun. Dante is sat in his vehicle and Miller yells about a gun and shoots him. When Michelle runs towards the scene he shoots her too, claiming she was attacking him.

bodycam footage

The Sergeant has already suggested that the bodies of Dante and Michelle have vanished and he gets the body cam footage from Summers. We re-watch the scene from his point of view. After the couple have been shot, he and Miller argue and it is clear that Miller is going to plant a gun – however Dante’s body has vanished from the car. We see movement and black swirls on the motel roof and then Dante jumps down at Miller. Michelle is up too and they feed from him. But how will Summer extricate himself from the situation?

Summer and the Sergeant

The fact that it is a white cop shooting an unarmed black guy is deliberately used, though this came out prior to the tragic events in the US that triggered the worldwide BLM protests, and is referenced in the main feature dialogue. The short is possibly the shortest in the film and doesn’t outstay its welcome. Indeed, the first three (werewolf, vampire and zombie) stories are great. I was less sure when the film went into its main story. It felt loose, plot-wise, and not thought through. However, I don’t score the full film – rather just the vampire segment. Despite the oddity round the camera footage (which had to be deliberate) this was short, sweet and to the point but nicely done. 6 out of 10.

The IMDb page is here. 

On Demand @ Amazon US

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Short Film: Jezebel

A film recommended by Billy, this short film was directed by Nick Phillips, released in 2017 and comes in at just over 10 minutes and is a very nice little short that plays on a couple of genre tropes in very subtle ways.

It starts off with Jezebel (Claire Dellamar) sat before her mirror (note she has a reflection) musing on why she does what she does – does it give her pleasure or only pain. She could well be talking about her career as a prostitute, or something more, but she recognises that – for a moment – she gets pleasure, she is not so alone.

We see three clients. The first is Rufus (Tyler Johnson) a large, gruff man who does not actually give his name, takes a drink and threatens to show her *what she really is*. Off screen we hear a sound like a bite. Next is Samuel (Brian Flaccus), a rich man – more willing to converse but a cynic when it comes to love – something for fools and women. Again, his fate is implied rather than shown explicitly.

blood at the mouth

Henry (Dylan Rourke) is a nervous young man. He bursts in to her apartment and immediately apologises – she confesses she was going to invite him in, a nice touch on the invitation trope that has been inverted. They actually talk and, in the conversation, Jezebel suggests it is better to not know who you are – if you know you can’t escape, “it looks back at you with your eyes and speaks to you with your voice.” This, again, was a nice take on reflections – making it a more psychological concern than a physical lack of reflection and fits with her scratched out eyes on the short's poster.

What will be the fate of the two? The short is embedded below and the imdb page is here.

Blood Widow – review

Director: Brendan Guy Murphy

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers

At the heart of this movie, which shouldn’t be confused with the 2014 slasher of the same name, is a very interesting premise. It isn’t around the hokum of the vampires being an endangered species and why, rather it is this: what happens if a serial killer is turned into a vampire.

However great ideas do not necessarily a great film make – this one suffers in some key areas as we will see.

Valentine and Stokes

This starts strongly. We see serial killer Keller (Brendan Guy Murphy) stabbing a victim and then taking a photograph of her corpse. The film then shows a variety of stills of kills and they are well done with realistic blood and posing of corpses (and religious paraphernalia) nicely done. We then see Keller drop evidence and money with a janitor (Ian Whittaker, Strange Blood) who disposes of such things for him. Outside the police station, cops Valentine (James Craven) and Stokes (Dallas Thomas) are being grilled by the press and we see Valentine has a temper and no time for reporters.

aftermath

We then see Keller in a bar. He makes eye contact with Lilith (Melissa Aguirre Fernandez) who leaves with a flicker of a smile in his direction. They meet outside and kiss, he is dropping a knife from his sleeve when she bites him. He awakens at home with blood at his neck, fang wounds, and confused. He goes to work but his mind is not on the meeting he is in, rather he fantasises about killing a female co-worker and all the others laugh – even her corpse laughs – but he laughs loudest – which he does in reality though no-one else is laughing.

attack

We get a background flashback of him as an abused (physically, psychologically and potentially sexually) child (Caleb Malis) who is involved in killing his father (Michael Martinez), encouraged to do so by his mother (Sara Jackson) and later we hear it was taken as a murder/suicide but he actually killed both. Then we get a view of an acrobat (Monica Boccio). Now this is one of the things the film does wrong. Her silk dance is impressive but as it took longer than it will take for her to die shortly; it was too much (a scene in a nightclub is interminably long as an establishing shot later). He gets her in the car park but after stabbing he uses his teeth on her neck. He asks himself what is wrong with him but it is Lilith’s voice in his head that replies nothing.

the ancient vampire

So, she takes him and fully turns him but the question is why? The vampires, it appears, have a genetic marker that leads to a heme issue. The lore wasn’t greatly explained but it sounded like the only people who could turn had that marker. She has selected Keller for his marker (and an ancient vampire she works with confirms it and changes Keller’s appearance – shaves his head and beard) and this has allowed her to turn him. She then gets pregnant by him to continue the race (so they might be mutated humans, supernatural beings or a separate race – its not well worked through) and then wishes to get rid of him, so chains him up but he escapes.

the expert

This means he is now hunting women, using the powers of a vampire, hunting the vampires (for shits and giggles) and hunting the cops who are hunting him. The cops get a break as they find blood that reveals the heme issue and have knowledge of the murder/suicide and his strange (heme) condition as a kid. Valentine is having dreams that connects him to Keller (even before he was a vampire) and also dreams of Lilith and so becomes convinced that there’s a vampire involved. As a result he rings a professor who knows about such things.

staked

This leads to a story of vampires in 1919 Mexico being dealt with by angry townsfolk – the staking is fairly well done as a sfx. Lilith was there, but not dragged out with the others and was rescued by the elder vampire who suggested she would one day be a “sovereign queen” of a “hive” of vampires. Clearly sunlight isn’t an issue and at one point the elder remembers being in control of vampire armies and ruling over humans.

fangs out

So, ponderous moments of establishing scenes (the club and the silk dancer) that needed cutting right back. Some pretty poor acting, if I’m going to be honest, not helped by poor dialogue and confused/deliberately obfuscated narrative. That said, Brendan Guy Murphy was clearly having a ball as Keller. There is a nice play with the idea of vampires and religious paraphernalia – with the iconography he displays with victims and the killer’s trophy room – but it was not explored in any meaningful way. The idea of a vampire being created from a psychotic human predator was neat but the film’s failings didn’t support the idea. 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US