Short Film: IvY

This is a short film that was directed by Rubén Abarca in 2017 and comes in at 14 minutes. For me this plays interestingly with the relationship between the vampire and their Renfield and, whilst it does little more than hint, there is an intertextual link with the grooming aspect explored in Let Me In.

In the opening scenes we get a montage featuring Claudia (Elisabeth Vila) and we see her eat and also cleaning a blood-spattered bathroom. One scene is sexual, but she seems to be alone (actually we are looking in a mirror) and when we see Alicia (Sara Castro), the vampire, it is in the bathroom with the corpse of a victim there.

with knife

Now in that scene Claudia holds a knife. In another scene, where we see the kill and feed, it is Claudia who cuts the victim’s throat and, once the vampire attacks, Alicia screams for her familiar to get out – she is forbidden to watch the feeding. Though there is a sexual relationship and an overtone of romance there is certainly a power dynamic with a definite aspect of abuse to it.

feed

Claudia is missing from bed one morning – something that displeases Alicia who likes her there when she awakens. Claudia has ventured outside and struck up a conversation with a little girl, Ivy (Martina Fernandez). Alicia recognises that she resembles Claudia’s sister (with the implication that the sister is dead and also suggesting that Claudia may have been with the vampire for some time). The appearance of a young girl shouldn’t impact the power dynamic, should it?

Elisabeth Vila as Claudia

This was interesting, probably more for what it didn’t say than what it did and it is a film where there are intertextual connections into the wider genre that can be made. Please be careful if watching as there are scenes of an adult nature, so it is not safe for work. The short can be found here.

The imdb page is here.