Conjure X – review

Director: Tim Troemner (segment)

Release date: 2020

Contains spoilers

So, Conjure X is yet another anthology film created by stitching shorts together and, in this case, I certainly had seen the first one elsewhere before. However the rest of the film was unknown to me and the shorts were of a higher filmic quality than some, though some struggled to crescendo or pay-off, if I’m honest.

Not so the one that has caused me to review the film, entitled Pale Creatures of the Night, originally released in 2014. In some respects, this should have been looked at under ‘Use of Tropes’ but the use is so deliberate, so absolutely consuming, that it deserves to be a vampire film. I will struggle not to spoil the pay off.

Carolyn Fields as Carrie

Carrie (Carolyn Fields) has invited her friend Sam (Tim Troemner) around and they are watching a horror movie marathon. We actually start the segment with an excerpt from the black and white film they are watching – Pale Creatures of the Night and in the moment we see we get a gypsy woman (Margie Collins) trying to convince a sceptical fiancé that his darling Clara has been taken by such a creature. They are night monsters, known for killing livestock and draining them as they are blood sucking monsters.

the film

The viewers are playing a horror movie drinking game and much of this is to take Carrie’s mind off her now ex-boyfriend (whose calls she is ignoring and eventually has Sam hide her phone to prevent her answering and going back to him). Carrie is clearly a fan, she knows the script of the film word for word and when Sam suggests they next have something more realistic, like a zombie movie, she protests that these were the movies that shaped her love of horror. Little do they know that they are about to be visited by an actual pale creature of the night (Mike Paulin).

Cushing a cross

And that’s where I’ll leave it. I will tell you that they can turn victims – this seems to be through blood. I’ll also mention that there is the Cushing of a cross – ie, two sticks crossed (or an umbrella and a baseball bat in this case). That seems to work on the pale creature. So what is it… I ain’t gonna say. The pay-off is what the creature is and I am torn. It was either really silly or genius and I am still vacillating between the two. The opening works. The black and white film clips are fun and there is a real working chemistry between the two leads.

Sam & Carrie

As for a score. I’m stuck and am aiming for 5 out of 10 (as always, the vampire – or pale creature – segment only is scored). When I think it was genius, I think too low, but when I change my mind and say too silly it is about there or maybe even too generous. The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK