You and the Night – review

Director: Yann Gonzalez 

 Release Date: 2013 

 Contains spoilers 

I considered looking at this French arthouse film under the “Use of Tropes” heading but, ultimately, it is a vampire film, albeit sexual vampirism and I will look directly at that phenomena as I review the film. It is a film I was unaware of until noticing it recently on Shudder, which seems an odd home as I really didn’t read this as horror at all – though there is an overt supernatural aspect. Rather it is a film ostensibly about an orgy but truthfully more a character examination against that backdrop. 

riding into the night

It starts in the rain and Ali (Kate Moran, Vampires) sits on the back of a motorcycle, imploring the rider to wait as *he* said he would come, and calling out for Matthias (Niels Schneider). When his figure is seen running towards the bike, the rider sets off leaving him behind. Ali asks the rider who he is but gets no response and so feels his face (the helmet is a 3/4s one with no chin guard), touching round and in his mouth. Her ultimate reaction makes the viewer think she finds him somehow familiar… Ali wakes, suggesting the previous scene was a dream (or premonition), and she sits in snow with Matthias dead or dying in her lap. Udo (Nicolas Maury, Paris je T’aime) comes to them and Ali and Udo kiss, as they masturbate Matthias, this revives him.

Nicolas Maury as Udo

A note about Udo, who is described in things I have looked at as a transvestite, and certainly wears a maid outfit and tiara through the majority of the film but also referred to with a masculine pronoun in the film. As such there appears to be a fluidity of gender and so I am using they/them pronouns for the character. Matthias suggests that he had gone to the land of the dead, a place ruled by children violently killed, robbed of their potential and hatred had made them monstrous. Udo reminds them that their guests are due to arrive soon for the planned orgy. I wondered as I watched this as to how the guests were invited, as it wasn’t revealed. They all carry and use stereotyped names, and, to some degree, it almost appears that fate drew them to the event.

the Stud and the Star

The first to arrive is the Slut (Julie Brémond), or so she is called in the English subs, in the French she is called La Chienne or the Bitch. She is ready to party, but she is told to wait for all the guests and is introduced to the jukebox – a device that reads the person through their palm and plays music based on their mood. Next to arrive, coincidentally together, are the Stud (Éric Cantona) – in French L'Étalon or the Stallion – and the Teen (Alain-Fabien Delon) – in French L'Adolescent. The final guest to arrive is the Star (Fabienne Babe). She demands the lights are turned off, and remain off, before she enters and kisses each guest passionately in the dark until the Slut turns the lights on, out of curiosity, which freaks the Star but the earnestness of the Teen causes her to stay.

Ali widowed

The film explores their stories, often presented to the viewer in a surreal style, but from our point of view it is Ali, Matthias and Udo’s story that is important, which they are open about when the guests enquire. Ali and Matthias were young lovers who married – this is suggested to be centuries before. Unfortunately, there was a war and Matthias had to go, writing home for two months until the letters stopped and then Ali was informed that he was killed. Ali then spent her nights in widow’s black at his grave. She was approached there by Udo, a gypsy who claimed that Matthias’ spirit had implored their help and they could bring Matthias back for her. Before Udo appears, mist curls around the gravestone and Ali, reminiscent of a mist from which a vampire emerges.

Matthias returns

That night Matthias visited Ali, the side of his face wounded with maggots writhing in the wound (modern Matthias wears an eye patch on that side). He tells Ali that she can trust Udo – and his visitation immediately brought the idea of Death and the Maiden to mind as well as the ballad Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger, which supplied the line "Denn die Todten reiten schnell!" as used by Bram Stoker in Dracula. Reassured by Matthias she allows Udo to perform their ritual, which invokes Lucifer and sexual deviancy to enable Matthias’ return. They go to the graveyard and dig him up and when lifted from the grave he does revive. On that revival his wounded face is mostly healed through Ali’s kisses, bar his eye – death always claims a souvenir.

Matthias and Ali

Udo had levelled a price for their service. They had observed Ali and Matthias as the most passionate of couples and the price is the couple allow them to remain with them to observe and indulge in their passion. Udo suggests they are immortal and, like them, Ali will be immortal also but Matthias’ life depends on Ali’s desire, he has to feel it vibrating and pulsating, whether stimulated by him or others. They state categorically that vitality is the important part and also warn that sadness cannot take over. So, it is implied that the orgy will stimulate Ali’s desire and she will impart that vitality to maintain Matthias’ undead state but he has seemed melancholy throughout and this maybe why he seems to be edging towards the land of the dead. Though on the surface this makes Ali seem like a succubus, there is no suggestion that the orgy will harm any of the guests in her doing so, and more so Matthias is an incubus feeding from the vitality of desire – though it is only his immortal lover that feeds him (and heals him, her kisses previously seen to heal his face). It also needs to be noted that the Teen comments on loving the night “where only vampires and lunatics lurk.”

Alain-Fabien Delon as the Teen

The film obviously has sexual themes throughout – it is the story of an orgy – but the characterisation and stories, the revealed flaws and acceptance of the characters, are the important narrative, and the sexuality takes a backseat (and is perhaps drawn a lot less passionately than it might have been). It is absolutely queer, not just through the gender fluidity of Udo but in the fact that the guests could all be described as pansexual and refreshingly matter of fact around that. One might criticise the fact that flaws are highlighted underpinning their queerness, but the flaws are the underpinning of the narratives. There are also taboo subjects such as incest within the narrative. On the (understated and perhaps subverted) vampire side there was something (in both Ali and Matthias' characters and attitude) of Adam and Eve from Only Lovers Left Alive and interestingly they premiered at Cannes Film Festival within 5 days of each other. Only Lovers is more traditionally vampire but, overall, I preferred this as a film 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Diva Satänica – review

Words and Art: BRÄO

First published: 2025

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: She’s an urban legend. A whispered name.
Some call her Medusa. Others, The Queen of Evil. The Lady in Black.
Vampire? Witch? Demon? No one knows for sure.
But one thing is certain. No one leaves her mansion alive.


And yet, people still go searching for her.
Why? Because she promises you the greatest night of pleasure you’ve ever known… in exchange for your life.


In this haunting tale, we follow Jonathan, a lonely, aimless man consumed by addiction. A string of strange, possibly supernatural encounters leads him to the legend of Diva Satänica, and what begins as curiosity soon becomes obsession.

Rendered entirely in stunning, hand-painted watercolour across 68 full-colour pages, Diva Satänica is a seductive, violent, and deeply atmospheric exploration of desire, death, and dark myth.

The review: This was a comic book I backed via a kickstarter, in its digital form, and it is a great piece of comic art. Pretty simple in its storytelling – a predator who hunts lonely men via a darkweb adult site, there perhaps is a simile with the film Succubus in the idea that she uses an electronic medium to hunt (and seems to have a supernatural control over that medium). She lures the men to her, though that may involve stepping between worlds also, with the promise of a sexual encounter.

This is absolutely beautiful and the creature, known as the Lady in Black, is described in comic both as a vampire and as a succubus. It is apparent that she needs blood in order to climax. The story itself has some adult themes (obviously, given the story as outlined) and some adult illustrations – so take that into account – but beyond the story, the joy of this has to be the wonderful, atmospheric artwork. 7 out of 10. The comic is available from Afterlight comics.

Succubus {2024} – review

Director: R.J. Daniel Hanna

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

Seen on the big screen at Grimmfest 2024, this is (by its very title) about a succubus but the succubus is using both flesh and spirit of victims to strengthen herself and become a corporeal reality. In such a way her actions are vampiric. The film also does a neat line in using virtual relationships along with a commentary on our interconnected and camera filled world (the film could have veered down a found footage route but, thankfully, avoided it and instead does have some footage moments but is a narrative film.

Ron Perlman as Zephyr

That said the opening footage is a recording and it features Dr. Orion Zephyr (Ron Perlman) talking to his wife and saying if the footage is found then it means that he is dead. He talks of his controversies, which will have hurt her, but says that she must publish his research – even if it is just given away free on the net. He leaves his car (cutting to a narrative camera), gets an axe and then heads on foot, limping, to a farm house.

Chris and Sharon

Chris (Brendan Bradley, Death Valley) is at home with the baby, but it is not currently an ideal family life. His son has been dropped off, whilst his estranged wife Sharon (Olivia Grace Applegate, Blood Fest) attends a hen night – they have been separated for two weeks. The cracks in their marriage seem mostly down to him. He started an app business but overstretched and is in debt. The stress of the business saw him neglect her.

meeting Adra online

Sharon is out with Charlisse (Emily Kincaid), who is divorced from Chris’ best friend Eddie (Derek Smith). Eddie has persuaded Chris to go on a dating app (even though he actually does still love Sharon) and he matches, at first, with a mutual friend and then gets a match from a mysterious girl called Adra (Rachel Cook). At first he suspects a scam. She initiates a video chat but types as he speaks (she has lost her voice, she says) and has a filter over her face. However, he becomes convinced she is real (and she attempts to have him visit her). Faux pas with Sharon, such as her seeing him masturbating on the nanny cam in the nursery (to a video Adra sends) and reactions when she looks noticeably aged on a video call – manipulated we assume by Adra.

bio-mass

How? Well Adra is the succubus and has selected Chris. She wants his cells (as she puts it) and there is a possession aspect to this, in order to infect and use sperm to help bring her corporeally into reality (or so it is implied). Yet she is corporeal… sort of… we see a video of a goat birthing a deformity (described by Zephyr as her first attempt to enter our world)… we also see her physically as a bio-mass (whether there is more to it, we don’t see) that devours a victim whilst copulating with it. We also see her in devil form.

demon form

However it is clear she can manipulate the virtual – with her female form that flirts with Chris. She can also manipulate when people are in an altered state – be that during sex, through substance, hypnosis or dreams. She is able to do this through a digital interface too and trap a victim in the altered state and unable to return to their conscious body. All this is really clever but there are bits that seem frustratingly unanswered.

Brendan Bradley as Chris

Zephyr is described as having hurt her and one assumes that is tied to the opening, but what he was doing there is never answered beyond what we saw in the prologue. If he did damage her corporeal form then how did she get to the house she is currently based in? How did Zephyr know that Chris was in touch with her and how he might get hold of him? These are frustrations but they are not insurmountable. In truth they were more apparent when I watched for review than they were on first watch in the festival.

coming between them

Well-acted by the leads, a moment of body horror, and a really neat use of the virtual world meeting the supernatural. This is a good film that perhaps needed a little bit more in the aspects mentioned but nevertheless I think is worth a watch. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Swap – review

Director: Dallas King

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

With a tagline of “Fifty Shades of Red”, one knows what we’re going to get from this and, whilst it is not hardcore, folks going in need to realise what they’re going to get and make their viewing choice based on that. Now, overall, this was competent but what I was left with was a question as to “why vampires?” It is not as though the vampirism isn’t front and central, it is, and there is an aspect of the ending that relies on the genre but the same film could have been made as a sex/jealousy story without vampires and not really changed the broad direction. Part of the issue is that things were left unsaid.

Kayla and Rad

So, it starts with sex, touching and becoming more passionate as the scene goes on. The couple are Kayla (Jessica Lelia Greene) and Rad (James Eastwood). Towards the end she chokes him and he reacts badly to it, having to make her stop. This underlines an issue in their relationship, one that is doubled down on when she talks about exploring, not getting stale, threesomes and another couple. He makes it very clear he does not want that (and considers it cheating).

Rad and Kayla

What we discover later is that he is a cop – there is mention of an investigation and so we get the idea that there is something going on with his career but the film does not expand or follow up on this. His reaction sours things and he goes for a shower, when he gets out she is doing naked yoga, but although his mood improves, she reminds him they are leaving in 30 minutes… Leaving is to go and visit her best friend Glory (Erin Anne Gray) and her new fiancé (3rd one) Angelo (Dallas King). When they get there, there is no answer at the front door.

shadow of wings

They go round the back, find an open sliding door and go in. There is sex noise, and they spy Glory and Angelo having vigorous sex at a pool table. At times she calls him “Daddy” at others she says “no”. They move away, though Rad is slow to (playing into the accusation of him being a voyeur later and though he suggests he nearly intervened at hearing her objections, dismissed by her as role play, it does seem he merely watches). We notice that Angelo (at least) has noticed but ignored them and, when out of Rad’s view, his shadow sprouts wings (there isn’t much done with shadows through the remaining film). So, what’s going on…

turning Kayla

Glory and Kayla used to be wild together and have been lovers as well as friends. Glory met Angelo at a swinger’s party and he has turned her. They want to turn the couple – but vampirism is not mentioned at first, just sex. Rad is not into that scene. Indeed after dinner the first night, in the pool as things becomes heated, he ends up punching Angelo. The ensuing argument between Rad and Kayla does not include him reminding her that he explicitly stated, that very morning, that he was not willing to contemplate group sex. That night Glory turns Kayla (consensually, though one questions just how much she understood what she consented to) this involves drinking Angelo’s blood from a bottle and a very well-done bite scene.

sunlight is no issue

So, vampires. They can go out in daylight and say they rarely drain but do, occasionally, drink blood. They actually feed on pleasure and Angelo states that they are not vampires, rather the source of the legend, and calls their “race” hedons – as in hedonists. Now here is where things needed expanded on – a bite turns (draining kills) but it is apparent that drinking a hedon’s blood is needed too. It is also apparent that the intention is that Angelo will die, passing on his knowledge and memories to Rad (or if the gift is refused he’ll drain Rad and get another 100 years of life, suggesting a direct need for blood as well as energy derived from hedonistic pleasure). The blurb suggests that Angelo is 500 but the dialogue suggests 4000. Why does he want to die? The dialogue doesn’t tell us and this is where the film fails…

hedon's eyes

I was left not knowing why Angelo wishes to pass the gift on and die and his manner does not suggest anything. He admits to having watched Rad and Kayla for two months and Glory is unsure of Rad’s suitability. Angelo says his relative innocence means the gift will mean more (ropey reasoning) but I find it difficult to see why Angelo thinks this uptight cop would want to turn/change his sexual preferences. I find it even more difficult to see why a 4000-year-old being would think 2-months observation and a couple of day’s interaction would be enough to deem him suitable. Overall the vampire story needed way much more expansion – the paper thin detail makes it feel tacked on even though the ending relies on it. There are style over substance moments, such as the rippling glass of a touched mirror once Angelo’s blood has been drunk, with no reason why but panache.

fangs

The photography worked, the performances were ok (though as writer/director/performer it appears as much fantasy fulfilment as film making on King’s part) but we needed more depth and that includes character depth as well as vampirism backstory depth. Why, for instance, was Rad so nonchalant at Angelo using cocaine (yes cops might turn a blind eye, but would he – we don’t know but his uptight nature suggests he wouldn't). Overall the vampirism could have been stripped out and a semi-erotic flick about sexual experimentation would have been much the same film. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

The Curious Dr. Humpp – review

Directors: Emilio Vieyra & Jerald Intrator

Release date: 1969

Contains spoilers

I had, of course, heard of this Argentinean exploitation film but I had never got around to watching it. But then Simon Bacon contacted me and let me know that it is, in fact, a vampire film. A sex vampire, but a vampire nonetheless. Normally I’d thank folks for putting me on the trail of a new-to-me old vampire film, but this time – with the greatest love and respect – we can blame Simon for this one.

Aldo Barbero as Dr Zoid

Co-director Emilio Vieyra actually helmed the earlier, and more traditional, vampire film Blood of the Virgins - a sexploitation film. This film failed the sexploitation test when distributed to America as the US distributors felt the need to add 17-minutes of additional “sexy” footage – mostly around the lesbian couple and the orgiastic hippies.

Gloria Prat as the stripper

The intro is odd in and of itself. We see feet, a couple kissing, chloroform in a monstrous hand and the couple grabbed by uniformed people (faces unseen) and put in a hearse-like ambulance. Then we have a montage of a lesbian couple, a drunk guy, an onanistic woman, orgiastic hippies and a club stripper (Gloria Prat, Blood of the Virgins). They are all got by a monster (or perhaps a man in a mask, as it looks just like a mask). The club stripper scene is the strangest as the creature enters the club, sits and watches at first, with apparently no shock from the rest of the clientele.

the monster

There have been 10 kidnappings in ten days we discover, as reporter Horacio Funes (Ricardo Bauleo, also Blood of the Virgins) meets with Inspector Benedict (Héctor Biuchet). Benedict is not happy with the coverage the reporter has given his investigation (and yet works with him all the way through). Funes is associating the disappearances with a case 30 years before in Italy. Their first proper clue comes from a barman (Justin Martin, also Blood of the Virgins) who remembers the strange looking fellow in the club.

Susana Beltrán as nurse Enfermera

Meanwhile we meet Dr Zoide (Aldo Barbero) or Humpp. He has created the monster (in fact he has a veritable army of them, and is experimenting with sexuality by giving the kidnap victims aphrodisiacs and having them have sex. This process leads to him extracting an essence and he needs that essence to survive. In fact, we see his hand having corrupted and then restored by the essence. This then is the vampiric element – the extracted essence created through extreme sexual activity literally keeps him alive he says. In fact nurse Enfermera (Susana Beltrán, also Blood of the Virgins), who has a thing for him, says “Oh, please...use my body to keep you alive!” Enquiring about one couple she suggests that she can be used again but he has no more essence and is spent – his body is disposed of in a furnace suggesting death is the final consequence of the extraction.

free-range kidnappees

Beyond this we get a talking brain in a jar (the original Doctor, and Humpp was his first experiment meaning the essence is also keeping him young some 30 years on), a strange scene where the free-range kidnappees are in the garden whilst the main monster strums a transparent string instrument, with the same ‘emotionless’ monster falling for the stripper and Humpp’s undoing when he captures Funes and the reporter's sexual prowess not only attracts the stripper but makes nurse Enfermera fall for him and consequentially betray Humpp.

rapid decay

Yes, it is a very strange film. It is also not very good and yet there is something morbidly fascinating about it. There is quite a bit of naked flesh and softcore sex – especially through the added bits. The monster (and his brethren) looks blooming awful. The story chops are bad (for instance, sending the monster to the pharmacy for aphrodisiac ingredients and then Humpp going himself after the brain said not to as he’d get caught) and we get a poorly executed rapid decay that reminds the viewer that this is a vampire film. And yet, and yet, there is something about this to the point that 2.5 out of 10 is more than it deserves but is the score it gets.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Siren X – review

Director: Hideo Jôjô

Release Date: 2008

Contains spoilers

Siren X ticks the boxes of being a pinku eiga film – the Japanese form that lies somewhere between a softcore film and sexploitation. It is just over an hour long, has some (rather tamely portrayed) sex scenes (whether enough to be a pinku eiga is debatable but there are a few), is terribly low budget and looks to have been filmed on a low-end camera.

In this case, whilst we have a siren, she is a very unusual vampire who, as she says “has to suck sperm and desire to maintain… …life”. This makes her a sexual vampire who needs both a physical and energy feeding medium.

the crew

It begins with a van driving to a remote lake outside Tokyo. This is the crew of the “documentary” series Mini-Skirt Adventures. The premise is that they hunt phenomena such as ghosts and UFOs with anchor Mamimi (Yuria Hidaka) wearing a mini-skirt with fan service up-skirt shots being the hook for the programme. As well as Mamimi there is director, and Mamimi’s boyfriend, Hayami (Eiji Nakamura), cameraman Yamada (Takashi Naha) and Yohei (Yûya Matsuura) who is almost a dogsbody who creates low budget sfx for the show to pass off as real phenomena.

filming

It is amusing that an under-current within the show is Mamimi’s reluctance to front it and be exploited for her body (given that she is a female character in a pinku eiga film). The lake is said to be haunted and they, at one point, put Yohei in the water (wearing a wig and dress). We see the siren behind him, they do not. Having filmed in the woods (and found a skull, which is real and not the prop Hayami assumes Yohei planted). A storm breaks and they seek shelter at a nearby house.

feeding the crew

The house is home to Reika (Yuma Asami) – who, of course, is the siren. She feeds the crew but after a row between Mamimi and Hayami, the starlet runs away. Hayami and Yohei go after her – but she flags down a passing van and leaves the place. Meanwhile Reika has come on to Yamada. The other two crew members return to the house and see the two together and Hayami starts to film them but strange things occur and then white material spews from Yamada’s mouth and Reika kisses it away as Yamada dies. She approaches the other two asking who is next but they run and drive away.

feeding at the neck

The two men (to a greater and lesser extent) are haunted by the memory of Reika who seems to be drawing them back to the house (literally siren like). However, lets go back to her feeding method – she might need sperm and desire but it seems that sex with her makes the sperm come out of the victim’s mouth rather than the normal place. Indeed we see another victim rip their own throat open and her drink from that as they bleed sperm from the neck. It is unexplained and whether deliberately weird or designed to sidestep the more traditional sexual methods of extraction, which may have elevated the film to hardcore, is unclear.

appearing behind Yohei

This is an odd duck and no mistake and, on the surface, is a rubbish film with overly simplistic narrative, unexplained strangeness and limited acting. However there is a subversive aspect to the text – for instance the pinku eiga actress whose character protests against being exploited or the in-film documentary creating poor sfx that shadow the film’s actual poor sfx (or indeed become it at times). For this reason and for the strange vampire type I’ll raise what is, actually, a poor throwaway sexploitation flick up to 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Breaking the Waves

This is a 1996 film by auteur Lars von Trier, which was nominated for the Cannes Palme d’Or and won the Grand prize of the Jury. So why look at it here? In a foot note to “André Gide, Nosferatu and the Hydraulics of Youth and Age” Naomi Segal suggests that, “An unusual version of the vampire myth can be found in Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves”. (Undead Memory, P86) Good enough for a look-see.

The film is set in a remote Scottish village in the 1970s and focuses on Bess (Emily Watson, Happy Family). As the film is starting she is talking to the (male) elders of her church and explains that his name is Jan (Stellan Skarsgård) but the elders have not heard of him. He is not from there and they suggest that they do not encourage matrimony with outsiders and ask her to name one good thing the outsiders have brought them. Music she replies.

Jan and Bess

Jan and Bess get married and we discover that Jan works on the oil rigs and Bess is overly innocent it seems. She is prone to childish outbursts (for instance she hits out at him when the helicopter bringing him and his wedding guests is late – though the action is less spoilt and more naïve – Segal suggests she is Sancta simplicitas) and a virgin. Jan is her first love and she has prayed for love (we’ll come back to that). As things develop we find out that when her brother died she ended up being sectioned (involuntarily incarcerated in a mental health hospital) – her sister-in-law Dodo (Katrin Cartlidge) is a Sister at the nearest hospital and, despite being an outsider, remained in the village after her husband’s death for Bess’ sake.

an elder

Again, as things develop we discover that Bess has conversations with God and God replies – at least Bess replies for God, changing her voice. It seems to the viewer that she is delusional to some extent, perhaps even schizophrenic (and giving vocalisation to the voices). Perhaps it is down to the oppressive religion, which is patriarchal and certainly misogynistic – women may not speak in services and may not attend funerals. At said funerals the priest (Jonathan Hackett) condemns sinners to Hell and those who transgress the morality of the church might be cast out of the church and be dead to the locals.

Jan injured

Bess’ bliss is broken when Jan has to return to the rig. During his absence she is criticised for being overly emotional about him being away and eventually she asks God to return him to her. She asks herself (in God’s voice) whether she is sure. At sea there is an accident on the rig and Jan is injured. He is brought back and operated on and does survive but is paralysed. He asks Bess to sleep with other men and tell him about it – an act of love that Bess believes can heal him even though she does not like the idea.

searching out encounters

Her sexual encounters are distressing for her and her actions come to the attention of the elders, Dodo and a doctor (Adrian Rawlins) who has fallen for Bess. He believes Jan is essentially abusing her (possibly due to his condition) and eventually attempts to have her sectioned again. Yet from Bess’ point of view when Jan relapses and she does as he wishes it brings him back to some level of health – hence the fact that, at first, she lies about the encounters (making them up) and eventually actually goes through with them; in turn they become more and more dangerous. Is it really making him better though?

Emily Watson as Bess

MASSIVE SPOILERS – Jan refuses further treatment and it is thought he will die until Bess’ terminal sexual encounter with a sadistic sailor (Udo Kier) from whom she had barely escaped previously and who she goes to willingly. She dies but we then see Jan actually ambulatory again, looking to bury his wife. It seems that he has recovered. The community had turned her away and at her (fake, as Jan steals her body and puts stones in the coffin) burial she is condemned to Hell and yet the Doctor suggests, at the inquest into her death, that rather than calling her neurotic or psychotic – as he had written in his report – he should have written good – for that is why she acted as she did, because she was intrinsically good.

attacked by the local kids

So, a vampire? We know that in the basic model, drawn from Stoker and expanded in many of the films based upon Dracula, the male vampire feeds upon a female victim and in that act of penetration/bloodletting ultimately hyper-sexualises her. In this Jan penetrates Bess on their wedding day (in the toilets at the reception) and leaves a stain of blood on her wedding dress. After his injury his encouragement/manipulation causes her to become a sexual creature (called a tart by stone throwing village children). However, Bess says of her encounters “I don't make love with them, I make love with Jan and I save him from dying.” We can also quote Taylor (2012, The Urge Towards Love is an Urge Towards (Un)death: Romance, masochistic desire and postfeminism in the Twilight novels, quoted in Race in the Vampire Narrative) who says that for vampires “Sexual hunger becomes conflated with literal hunger.”

landscape

The results of her sacrifice can’t actually be argued with and the film ends with a truly supernatural/spiritual happening that underlines her ultimate goodness and suggests that she might truly have been speaking to God. But if she is the vector, then it is Jan who would be the vampire, feeding of her goodness and perverting it (or at least trying to, arguably she maintains her innocence in the face of her encounters). Ultimately her death gives him life (and more, he can walk again, can even return to the rig, though he uses a crutch). So, whether he is a sexual vampire – perhaps even an incubus who feeds/heals through her sacrifice, made for love – or not depends on your view. I think there is a case for saying so. Certainly, however, the film plays with a trope that is out of the genre and at the very least is of genre interest.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Horror and Hamsters – review

Director: Randy Smith (segment)

Release date: 2018

Contains spoilers

When is a vampire film not a vampire film? There could be a few answers to that but today we are looking at the segment La Grosse Mort. The short had been in the anthology Monster Pool: Seven deadly Sins as the segment Lust, also. As for this anthology, the film has a formula where it alternates between a horror short and a scene of hamsters being cute – and I’m not kidding.

So, what do I mean, not a vampire? The creature in this segment is vampiric but there is a specific play around it not actually being a vampire in film, as you’ll see.

eating energy

It starts off with a woman, Cassandra (Rhapsody Blue), searching through a dating website until she comes to Tim (Jake William Smith). They meet in a club, he seems shy and perhaps clumsy and she seems sexually dominant. They leave with a specific aim of having sex. She is atop him when we see a tail behind them. Who it belongs to is, at first, not clear until its pointed end jabs her in the back, piercing her flesh. It pushes her down to Tim who draws her lifeforce from her (so an energy vampire), killing her.

producing a stake

We see many accounts on the dating site become inactive and then see Tim walking and talking to Anne (Kaleena Jay). They seem to be getting on but she is worried about the area he has taken her to and asks that he not attack her by the dumpsters. He says it isn’t his thing, unless she wants him to, when she suddenly elbows him in the nose causing it to gush with blood. He laments her choice, suggesting that they had made a connection, but she has a stake and she buries it in his chest.

alas, it will not work

There are some sarcastic pain sounds and then laughter. A stake won’t work, he jibes he’s not a vampire. He is, Anne insists, but he corrects her and states that he is an incubus. Now the incubus has less association with the vampire genre than the succubus but the former is the male version of the latter and he is definitely an energy vampire at the very least. Of course he might not be the only creature haunting the night. As for the segment, it is good fun and centres on a lesser used entity, 6 out of 10.

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On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK