The Vampire Lestat (Interview with the Vampire Season 3) – review

Directed by: Various

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Actually, the third season of Interview with the Vampire – you can read my reviews of Season 1 and Season 2 - the season was renamed the Vampire Lestat to indicate that it generally followed that volume of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles (not entirely, for instance one part would come from the much later volume Merrick). Of course, the first two seasons, whilst following the heart of the first novel, moved the events in time, changed things about the characters and invented aspects especially around the physiology of the vampires (making them sexual beings, for instance, is the big one but in this we see them smoke and drink and pee).

om stage

For those who have read the Chronicles, you will be aware that the Vampire Lestat is where Rice moved from Louis’ (Jacob Anderson) perspective and into Lestat’s (Sam Reid). It is where Lestat shifted from villain to anti-hero, where Rice (in my opinion) fell in love with (or declared her love for) the character and Lestat took on the persona of the rock star and, in this, we follow him, and his band The Vampire Lestat, on tour and often we fall into the excesses of the rock band. For those who remember the movie Queen of the Damned this veers away from the gothic/nu-metal infused version of that film and grabs into a Glam Rock inspired musical style that works well in the vehicle, which veers into a MOR territory occasionally. The whole feel of the show breaks away from the gothicness of season 1 and 2 and embraces a modernity (which strangely does have a retro feel).

the Failures

It starts with an auction, that has happened after the disastrous concert (which will mark the beginning of the next season, with another title change to Queen of the Damned to indicate the move of core book volume). The first item is a lot of material from Lestat including recordings and handwritten scores. The lot is deliberately burned by the auctioneer before bidding begins. The second lot is a cabinet and turntable, with speakers, a magnum of Lestat’s blood and a collection of one-off vinyl pressings. Most importantly in the pressings is a collection called The Failures, Lestat’s self-narrated recollections of the events that make up this series. Incidentally the voice of the Failures (the on-record link, as it were) was director Guy Maddin.

recording the album

The tour the band are on is being documented by none other than Daniel Moloy (Eric Bogosian, Blade Trinity), now also a vampire. The band – guitarist Alix (Seamus Patterson), guitarist Larry (Noah Reid), drummer TC (Sarah Swire) and bass player Salamander (Ryan Kattner) – are, at first, unaware that Lestat is actually a vampire – that is until a deadly fight with a coven of young vampires (more difficult than it should have been as Lestat is stoned having drunk from someone on drugs) literally bursts into their world. Lestat has a body double (Sam Reid again) who goes out in public after gigs, allowing Lestat space to do what vampires do. When they start recording an album, I loved the idea of Lestat running into the sun to manipulate the perfect pained scream for the record.

awakening Akasha

One aspect that is pretty central to this season is the idea of the Great Conversion. Not from the novels, it has been mentioned in passing previously but it is a topic of conversation within this. Signifying a mass conversion to vampirism with a goal of world domination, and Lestat’s rock star status (to be fair, he was playing 1000 capacity venues with no particular album support, so one questions just how much of a star he was) becomes a rallying point to that. We do get flashbacks to parts of Lestat’s life, including encountering the statue-like Akasha (Sheila Atim), Marius (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Lestat’s interactions with them – Marius is ordered to dig a deep sleeping Lestat up as she chooses him to serve and, of course, Lestat drinks from the Queen.

blood shower

Lestat’s mother Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle) also features in flashbacks and modern times, as Lestat turned her. Given the inclusion of sexuality in the vampires, that relationship is drawn as physically incestuous. Of course, this all goes to make for a very complex and conflicted Lestat, a Lestat who still loves Louis but hates the lies he sees in the released Interview with the Vampire (how much was Louis’ embellishment, how much Daniel’s and what influence the Talamasca had, can be debated). Sam Reid is genuinely brilliant as Lestat, if he embodied him in the Interview seasons, he owns the character in this. Indeed all the performances are good but I have to highlight Jennifer Ehle, who was wonderful as Gabriella and imbued a Mercurial air and, at times, seems to have consciously groomed and manipulated Lestat. I enjoyed this – 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Resurrection – review

Director: Bi Gan

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

Bi Gan’s epic film is a 2 hour and 40 minute long meditation on cinema through the ages, an art film that explores its subject in an oneiric fervour, which demands viewer attention.

The premise is that humanity has achieved immortality by sacrificing the ability to dream but there are dissenters to this, known as Deliriants, whose dreaming threatens the fabric of both time and reality. A woman (Shu Qi) searches for a Deliriant (Jackson Yee)…

shadow of the Deliriant

The first section of the film sees her trying to capture him via a cinema, into an opium den – where he consumes poppy to help him dream and cries tears that supply the den. The film style here is expressionist and the Deliriant referred to as a monster. With his monstrous visage and the use of shadows there was a feel of Murnau and Nosferatu - though this isn’t why I’ve reviewed the film – and with the modern take on expressionism and the silent film I was reminded of Guy Maddin also.

the Deliriant

She eventually captures the deliriant and cannot understand why he wishes to dream but, digging into his back, she finds a projector within him and decides to allow him to watch the films/dreams as he dies – a process that will take two hours for her but be a hundred years for him. I will mention at this point that I think you can read Nosferatu as a meditation on film/cinema just as this is. The film then has four dreams in which the deliriant shapeshifts into a role within the dream (each lead played by Jackson Yee), It is the final dream that concerns us.

Apollo and Tai

The dream takes place on New Years Eve 1999 and the opening sees Yee’s Apollo awaken on a dock, that is drenched in red lighting and peppered with firework explosions. The cinematic style of this dream is that of a Long Take – a signature style of Bi Gan – and has Apollo meet a girl – whose first appearance consists of her shadow – and follows them through the streets. She gives her name as Tai Zhaomei (Li Gengxi) and professes that she has never bitten anyone and wishes to do that, he says he has never kissed anyone. The dream follows them together and individually at the times they are separated. It becomes apparent that she is “owned” by Mr Luo (Huang Jue) who seems to be a local mobster.

Huang Jue as  Mr Luo

In actuality, both Mr Luo and Tai are vampires, and he controls her as he holds her grave dirt. Apollo decides to fight for her -though he stands little chance and is severely beaten. They, by the end of the night, make a run for the docks and a ship that is meant to be there and, aboard ship, she admits what she is and shows fang. Mr Luo had not allowed her to drink blood unless it was filtered through him – there is mention of the idea that drinking from a human might make her human – but Apollo is willing to allow her to bite him…

lshowing fang

The vampire segment is technically brilliant, the Long Take working exceptionally well, and the whole film is beautifully photographed. The film, I suspect, will form a staple in some academic exploration of cinema and within vampire cinema texts. It can be like wading through a dream at times, and of course it is meant to be just that, with the film offering more and more, I suspect, on repeated watches. It is not going to be for everyone, certainly not a horror, it will be loved by some but its arthouse nature will make it inaccessible for others. I really enjoyed it, 8 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

Honourable Mention: Northern Ballet Presents Dracula

Over two decades ago I went to the ballet. It was the first time I had ever been to the ballet and I watched the Northern Ballet Theatre present Dracula. For a ballet-philistine, such as myself, it was actually enthralling with a marvellous score by Feeney. It never toured to my home town again (though it was sold out for that production). Now, in the midst of the covid lockdown Northern Ballet’s production of Dracula was shown on the BBC. It had a different score, different choreography and a different story variation but it had to be watched.

Riko Itu as older Dracula

If you are wondering why it is listed as an honourable mention – well I don’t really know how else to approach an art form I know so little about. This will make the fifth ballet I have watched in 5 decades. The aforementioned Dracula, of course, was the first. Then the was Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary, which is much less ballet (though it is one, of course) and more a Guy Maddin film. I’ve also watched Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, which was not a Dracula related piece but still had a vampire element. Indeed the only none vampire ballet I have ever watched was a broadcast of the Nutcracker.

biting Harker

Now, as mentioned, this was different to the first performance of Dracula I had watched, but of course held true to many of the story aspects from the novel beginning with Harker (Lorenzon Trossello) at the Count’s castle – where the Count begins older, and stylised, played by Riko Itu – it was a striking look and the dancer imbued his performance with alien movements. There are still the brides (Rachael Gillespie, Sarah Chun and Minju Kang). What is interesting is not the fact that he becomes younger (Javier Torres) – though the stagecraft was impressive – but that it is after repelling the brides and explicitly feeding on Harker.

Blooferlady

As for the England section we do have Mina (Abigail Prudameds) and Lucy (Antoinette Brooks-Daw) and the suitors are reduced to Seward (Joseph Taylor) and Holmwood (Matthew Koon) only. It was interesting that they have a transfusion for Lucy that fails, and is drawn from the two suitors at once. Dracula meets Mina at the Holmwood/Westenra engagement, and in this production they have the pair actually fall in love – with Dracula becoming reluctant to feed upon her – though we do get that eventually.

Mina and Dracula

What I will mention is that the very ending, the last moment of the ballet, was a new addition to the story and was shocking... When I previously saw Dracula live it was in three Acts (this was two) and it was fairly bloodless bar the last act where there was plenty of stage blood – I think avoided earlier as it would be a slip hazard. This is bloodless throughout, pretty much – though we do see the transfusion and the decapitated head of Lucy lifted briefly. It is, nonetheless, chock-a-block with atmosphere and is certainly inventive. Worth watching, even for a ballet-philistine.

At the time of writing there is no IMDb page.

Short Film: Taste of Night

This eight-minute Russian film, directed by Liudmila Komrakova and released in 2017, is not what you might first expect. Described on YouTube as a Tango Film, the concentration is on dance. Dance and vampires are not strangers, however. I remember watching the Northern Ballet Theatre’s wonderful rendition of Dracula many years ago and a similar production was given filmic treatment by Guy Maddin in the form of Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary. Hell I even looked at vampire belly-dance film The Bride of Dracula.

Of course, being a short this is a curtailed story but is lushly photographed and has an interesting lore moment.

dance

A motorbike pulls outside a large mansion. We see a dapper gentleman enter the hall where society meet and dance. He prowls the room until eventually taking the hand of a lady and leading her in a tango. At first enthusiastic we see his attention wander as a new person takes his interest. In a gold dress, with her blonde hair, she stands out in the centre of the room and soon he is dancing with her. They continue to dance as the rest of the room are drawn to the window to watch a fireworks display.

vampire revealed

The twist of vampirism is actually no twist, given I am featuring the short (and also given the poster prepared for the short). They are no longer in the room with the others but alone in what might be an abandoned wing of the mansion – lit by myriad candles. He pulls back a sheet and discovers the body of another beau, fang wounds in the cadaver’s neck. She approaches, no longer blonde but with dark hair. This was a fascinating moment. Of course, the answer might be that she wore a wig but… There is a potential implication in Dracula around Lucy’s hair – described early on as having its “usual sunny ripples” this might be read as dark hair with shine but some read it as being a blonde hair colour – once she is undead she is described as, “a dark−haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave”. Obviously, the language used does not help but I like the idea that, as the undead, she became darker in hair colour. Changing hair colour is a vampiric trait in Paul Féval’s the Vampire Countess (due to stealing the victim’s hair).

Be that as it may, the dance now changes to one where the dapper man tries to escape his fate…

The imdb page is here.

The Baron – review

Director: Edgar Pêra

Release date: 2011

Contains spoilers


O Barão, in Portugese, this is a film based on a piece of Portuguese literature by Branquinho da Fonseca (which is by no means a vampire story) but it also owes a great debt both to Bram Stoker’s Dracula (or the opening Transylvania section at least) and, probably more importantly, to the legacy of films that Dracula spawned. The film is an intertextual delight and starts by making its own (false) historical narrative. I’d like to reproduce that and make some comments as I do.

one of the strange characters we meet

We begin with the following: “During the second world war, an American crew of B-Movies took refuge in Lisbon. In 1943, producer Valerie Lewton” perhaps a gender-swapped reference to American producer Val Lewton and the date corresponds to the publication of da Fonseca's story “married a Portuguese actor that read her "The Baron" by Branquinho da Fonseca. A story about a tyrant who ruled the Barroso’s Mountains. Valerie recognized potential in the text for a “Draculian” movie.” This is the direct tie, of course, with Dracula and the vampire genre. “They shot it secretly in a factory in Barreiro. During the day they shot the American version at night the Portuguese version.” This tied the film directly to the Tod Browning movie – which this apes to some degree – and we have to remember that Universal shot the English language version during the day and then the Spanish language version at night.

Miguel Sermão as the Guard

The text continues: The dictator heard about the movie and ordered the film to be destroyed.” And whilst this clearly refers to António de Oliveira Salazar, I couldn’t but help think that it also referred to Florence Stoker and her order, after winning her copyright case, that Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens be destroyed. “The crew was repatriated. The Portuguese actors were deported to Tarrafal's Concentration camp. They were tortured to death in the "skillet", a cubicle where humans were roasted..” Bringing the horrors of the dictatorship to the fore and projecting them into the present in the line: “In 2005, 2 reels and the screenplay were found in the archives of Barreiro's kino-club. During the next 5 years the film was restored and reshot. In 2011, was shown for the first time.”

Marina Albuquerque as the teacher

Of course, vampire films and novels rely on intertextuality, reference upon reference – sometimes purposeful but sometimes the emergence of a “genre memory” and Edgar Pêra boxes very clever by both using the “genre memory” and by creating a false memory that adds to the reading of the film. More so as there is little vampiric within the film but we know we are watching a vampire film and it begins with a school inspector (Marcos Barbosa) travelling in a carriage towards his next appointment. In the story the Inspector begins the story at the town and this carriage journey is entirely invented for the film.

in the carriage

Comparing the two, Da Fonseca’s story gives a sense that the Inspector is unlike Jonathan Harker (from Stoker) as he is weary of and resents travel, which is a duty, whereas Harker is as much a wide-eyed tourist as on business. Harker makes specific mention of the "imaginative whirlpool" of the Carpathians condensing a mass of superstitions, as well as the various cultures he encounters, whereas the inspector dismisses folklore as he is not an ethnographer. In many respects, in this film, he becomes Renfield in the 1931 movie – who replaced Harker on the journey into the Carpathians and whom we first meet in a carriage. A group of children fight nosily over a rosary that their grandmother (Paula Só) never actually gives him (for his mother’s sake). One of the children is sick and he is less than impressed and calls the carriage to a halt, the grandmother states it is only food and points out that the sun is setting, urging the driver to go on.

boar's headed man

As the carriage goes on the Inspector dreams of being out in the wilds. He holds a pitchfork as a figure rushes towards him – a man with a boar’s head. It’s a foreshadowing but its also a surreal moment and I was reminded of the work of Guy Maddin, not just in this scene but often through the film. This came through both the surreality but also through the skill with which a period film was rendered by a modern filmmaker. It is also notable because the film itself is like a dream, a rendering of subconscious explorations.

Joana Loureiro as the old woman

As the Inspector reaches a village I was also reminded of another film. We see a man peering at the Inspector, and then he speaks to an old woman (Joana Loureiro) in the inn and I couldn’t help but think, as we looked at the glorious portraits, drawn on screen, of characterful faces, of the film Vampyr. Dreyer chose much of his cast from locals who looked the part, and it struck me that Pêra may well have done similar when choosing his supporting cast.

the Baron's special wine

However, when we meet the Baron (Nuno Melo), we see the perfection of the casting. The Baron is so imposing, his presence dominating the screen. At one point, when they get to the castle, he insists that the Inspector stay for a week, much as Dracula insisted Harker stayed (for a month). The Baron brings in a drinks trolley – making the hungry Inspector take a drink he doesn't want, but taking a select bottle for himself, the liquid inside suspiciously thick. This plays around the edges of “I do not drink… wine” actually going as far as the Baron declaring “I do not eat” (which is taken from the original story). Eventually the inspector accuses him of feeding on the past – part of that undead memory, and a reference to the intertextuality of the genre.

the orchestra

Another example is a pit, with a metal grate, in the primary room of the castle. We see dogs jumping at the grate at one-point snarling and barking. Later the Baron calls for his orchestra and the musicians emerge, like a pack of rogues, from that self-same area. The original story does have specific mentions of dogs in it, but not located in the same place, and features the orchestra, but there is no associating them directly with the dogs as the film does. Their music encourages he Baron and even the Inspector to dance but I couldn’t help but think of the line “...children of the night. What music they make!” One imagined that the dogs had become the musicians.

a moment of colour

One part I must mention is the ending, which is very different to that of the original story (and of course will be a massive spoiler). In the story the Baron is injured and the Inspector leaves but seeks to return at some point to meet the Baron again. In this the Inspector attends the Baron on his death bed, looking greatly aged though it is only the next day, but the Baron ensures, in a sense, that he will live on. When the Inspector accedes to the request the Baron draws his last breath and the scene becomes, momentarily, colour. As it fades back to black and white the Baron expires but, in a trick of photography, seems also to turn to stone.

Nuno Melo as O Barão

There is so much more that could be explored within the film but I will leave it there. It is most definitely an arthouse film and absolutely oneiric. As such it is not a casual watch, an easy watch or, even, a preferable watch if that sort of film is not your thing. It is a film that makes you think, especially if you have a knowledge of the genre (arguably that knowledge is almost a prerequisite of getting the most out of the film – as the Baron oft repeats, “I’m the one in charge”, and as a personification of the genre he certainly is). Beautifully composed with a magnificent performance by Nuno Melo. 8 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Bloodsucker’s Handbook – revisited

Back in 2013 I featured the film Enchiridion and my review described the film in the following terms: “if Canadian auteur Guy Maddin and Salvador Dali conspired to create a lovechild and name it Kerouac, then perhaps we would have a general frame of reference”. The review gave a good strong 7.5 out of 10 but the viewer had to be warned that it was a psychedelic, beat-fuelled experience replete with stop-motion.

Director Mark Beal kindly contacted me to say the film had received an international distribution but the distributor had made some changes. Not least the name had changed to Bloodsucker’s Handbook. This is not so big a change as Enchiridion is a Latin word that means handbook and, from a sales point of view, the English rather than Latin title would seem to be more sales friendly.

The colour complimented the Beats

The other major change was the fact that the film was no longer going to be in Black and White but in colour. Now, as this is the biggie, I’ll address the change straight off and say it works… kind of. The black and white offered a noir feel and the scenes with Valentine – the talking PI dog voiced by William Myrick – certainly deserved such a feel. However the film also owed much to the Beats (and, when watched, certainly brought Ginsberg to mind). The colour palate used is muted in a way that draws the 50s and early 60s to mind and fits into the Beat aspect. To be honest – a Blu-Ray set with both versions would be marvellous!

Jeremy Herrera as Doctor Condu

The film itself really did hold up to further scrutiny. Following the trials and tribulations of campus padre Father Noah Gregory (Cory W. Ahre) as the feds bring him into contact with alleged (and actual) vampire Doctor Condu (Jeremy Herrera), I was, again, most struck by their interactions. The film is certainly a psychodrama, perhaps a trip, maybe the evil dreams of the vampire it is one of those that someone looking for an easy-watch will regret stumbling across but those looking for a challenge and an arthouse feel will love. (At this point one wonders whether the title change will sell the film to the correct audience?)

If you want a little more in-depth exploration of the themes and the story then please see the original review. The score itself doesn’t change. The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Norway – review

Director: Yannis Veslemes

Release date: 2014

Contains spoilers

Norvigia, in the original Greek, this is an art-house film that had a very unreal feel – offered through the use of models and the design of the sets. Despite the title it is set in Greece, in Athens to be precise, but it is not an Athens that you would imagine.

The film is set in the 1984 and Yannis Veslemes does manage to infuse the film with an eighties feel but the film, itself, starts upon a train.

model train

Zano (Vangelis Mourikis) is placing newspaper against the window of his carriage. The train, when seen in external establishing shot, is clearly a model train on a model railway. There is no attempt to hide this, no kidology that the train is real and I was struck by a feeling of Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) that was imbued into the film. On the train we see a passenger who looks suspiciously like Einstein and several soldiers who seem uninterested in answering Zanos’ question regarding reaching Athens. Eventually they get there.

Athens

Zano gets to an Athens that looks much like a model that might have been used in a Fritz Lang film and heads to the Cine Star theatre – where his friend Jimmy (Yannis Bostantzoglou) is meant to live and who has invited him to stay. On his way in he meets an older hooker and, when he gets to Jimmy's, finds a plush coffin waiting for him. He is sat in the old theatre when the hooker approaches him. They kiss and off screen he feeds on her, leaving her bloody corpse in a bath. Following this he rings a funeral home, searching for Jimmy’s whereabouts.

seeing Alice

He goes to the Disco Zardaz and meets a variety of idiosyncratic characters including Theresa, an elderly lady who steals drinks, a virtually toothless vampire (bar his fangs) who hasn’t touched blood for ten years as he is addicted to heroin and the Captain, Marko (Markos Lezes), owner of the disco who used to be a film star and who rescues Zano from the dance floor when he collapses, stoned. Also in the disco is a woman, Alice (Alexia Kaltsiki).

yellow blood

Zano follows her into a restroom, whether out of lust or hunger is debatable, but he finds her sharing drugs with a Norwegian drug dealer called Peter (Daniel Bolda). In a perfectly protracted scene Zano attacks Peter and, as he feeds, blood spurts from the dealer’s neck. However, his blood is day-glo yellow and the scene becomes part surreal, part violent and works really well because of it. He tells Alice that he was going to bite her but he changed his mind. The two leave together, taking Peter with them as he starts to turn (he also seems to have become mentally simpler). This leads to a brief roadtrip but Alice meeting Zano was probably not as random as it seemed and leads to a meeting with a man who claims to be Bram Stoker but who may be someone far more sinister.

is he Bram Stoker?

It’s hard to explain Norway’s plot as there is a surreal element that would not be out of place in a Guy Maddin script. Werewolves are mentioned – but unseen – and Zano, who is forever dancing, claims he must keep moving or his heart will stop. He is physically very cold – something Alice points out during sex, has a reflection and he is fine with garlic. At one point we get a song, “Dracula, Dracula, Dracula” which is sort of an easy listening Mariachi track!

Zano reflected

Vangelis Mourikis keeps the viewer entertained as Zano and there is a chemistry that works between him and Alexia Kaltsiki. As to whether you’d like the film, well that depends on whether the idea of a surreal arthouse vampire film from Greece tickles your fancy. I enjoyed the film and think that 7.5 out of 10 would be a reasonable score.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Honourable Mention: The Forbidden Room

Do you like arthouse movies? If the answer is no, you may want to move on.

The Forbidden Room is a creation by auteur Guy Maddin (the IMDb credits suggest that it is co-directed by Evan Johnson but that is only a section called “How to Take a Bath”) and was released in 2015. We have previously looked at Maddin’s films Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary and Brand Upon the Brain! Like those films, this owes much to silent movies – though there is certainly spoken dialogue in this. It is absurdist, psychedelic and bizzare and (to quote Jonathan Romney from the booklet that comes with the UK dual Blu-Ray/DVD) “this isn’t so much a film as an encyclopedic compendium of cinematic possibilities”.

Margot sings

So, why the honourable mention? After Marv (Louis Negin) tells us How to Take a Bath and we start to strip the layers of the film, meeting the crew of the submarine the SS Plunger, followed by the tale of the Saplingjacks who look to save the Vamp (in the silent movie sense) Margot (Clara Furey) from the Red Wolves Bandit Gang and then we end up seeing Margot’s story as an amnesiac. In a club she sings of the aswang, the jungle vampire.

Margot and Pancho

Later we see Margot as she is stalked by the aswang, its footsteps growing louder as the aswang moves away. This is a variant of the aswang type the tiktik, whose tiktik call sounds louder the further it is from its prey. Margot meets Pancho (Victor Andres Turgeon-Trelles) but he is not the real Pancho – who lies dead – but the aswang.

intertitle

They return to her room and his scent triggers memory – his scent being sweet. He transforms into a peeled banana, the flesh blackened and is joined by a second and these are aswang bananas. Now this might seem quite surreal but vampire plants/fruit have a lineage – with fictional stories of vampire plants going back to the nineteenth century and vampire fruit being an alleged aspect of folklore (there is always the possibility that the locals were having the ethnologist, who recorded this, on).

the aswang bananas

That historian and ethnologist was Tatomir P. Vukanović and he related that amongst Slavic gypsies “there are only two plants which are regarded as likely to turn into vampires: pumpkins of every kind and watermelons.” (1957) Now, in this case the vampires are, of course, bananas but the principle is very similar. The appearance of the aswang bananas does not take too long – the whole scene is only a couple of minutes – and so this is a fleeting visitation in a film that will confound many but delight others.

The imdb page is here.

Ten Years of TMtV: Things to Make you go Hmm

TMtV is Ten Years old today!

I hope you have enjoyed our little celebration. I’d like to thank those who have been involved, Dave Copsey for the artwork, Jean-Marc Lofficier for the interview and the four guest bloggers; Paul Wakefield, David MacDowell Blue, Anthony Hogg and Gabriel InAstra. Of course, it is always fun to look back over the past but now it is time to look forward. What do we have in store in the future?

One thing I am particularly looking forward to with both interest and a wee bit of trepidation is the Vampire Symposium that will be held on the first day of the 2016 Bram Stoker International Film Festival. The trepidation is because I have been asked if I would contribute a 30 minute speaking slot to the proceedings and I have agreed.

As well as that I am well under way with the 2nd edition of the Media Vampire, which is greatly expanded in the 19th Century section.

New films to look forward to include a proposed new part of the Underworld franchise, the UK DVD release of Yakuza Apocalypse and Guy Maddin’s the Forbidden Room – which I understand includes vampire bananas! I am currently watching, and will furnish you with my thoughts on, the Shadowhunters series and we can expect more Penny Dreadful (hopefully with a vampire focus this season), the Strain and From Dusk till Dawn.

I already have a file full of reviews for you all. Look forward to reviews of Adventure Time: Stakes, The Hunted feature film (for those who don’t know, this is from the old web series of the same name), the books 50 Percent Vampire and the Vampire Gaytooth. Other titles I’ll be looking at include Japanese anthology film Kwaidan, a Franco film recommended by blog reader Ville entitled a Virgin among the Living Dead and wacky (but is that necessarily good) Indonesian film Pocong Kesetanan! There is also a review of a film where the vampire is staked by a flaming vampiric chicken – I kid you not.

Releases in the vampire genre may speed up and then slow a little but they never stop and that can only be good for us and bode well for another ten years of Taliesin Meets the Vampires. Normal review posts begin again tomorrow.