Short Film: Drakulon

Auteur Chris Alexander features several times on this blog. Though some of his work is narrative, other films are much more arthouse. The IMDb page describes this as “A conceptual, music-driven experimental psychodrama”, and that seems as good a description as any. It was released in 2025 and comes in around the 45 minute mark, flirting with feature length but still best described as a short.

The film is silent and follows an artist (Suspiria Vilchez) who, as things start, dreams of a vampire (Jessica Mucciante). Wearing her chiffon cloak and little else, the vampire might well have walked out of a Jean Rollin film. Indeed there is much I see in Chris Alexander’s films of Rollin and Jess Franco, this being no different. We can note that, in real life, Suspiria Vilchez is an artist and painted the pictures seen in film.

the model and the artist

When the artist awakes (she is in a motel, which is a transitory and perhaps even liminal space, which is often used by the director), we see a painting she has done of a woman with a bat outline over the face and also one of a vampire. Indeed, though Vilchez’ own, I thought I spotted a portrait tattoo of Bela Lugosi but the images we see all suggest an obsession (though one I’d personally say is healthy). However, when a model (Ali Chappell, Necropolis Legion & Space Vampire) comes we see that the artist seems blocked and the model eventually leaves, the canvas untouched.

Jessica Mucciante as the vampire

So, the vampire is the muse, but we are in a place where dreams and reality do seem to merge and become lost. Does the artist later murder the model or is it fantasy, daydream or full dream? Does she invoke the vampire and does the vampire bite her or is the vampire an allegory for her creativity (or for the director’s creativity, given how much he embraces vampire imagery in his films)? The soundtrack, by Chris Alexander, is superb, driving the film. The film is at the further end of arthouse and may not be everyone’s cup of team but if you are a Chris Alexnder fan (or even a Rollin or Franco fan) it is one to be watched.

The imdb page is here.

Vampire Nymphets – review

Director: David Stojan

Release date: 2021

Contains spoilers

A Mexican film, with no real dialogue (though there are recordings in English of what sounds like alleged Satanic cult survivors) this is a tough one to review due to its highly experimental nature and even tougher to do a blow-by-blow as there is little projected narrative. Essentially my summary of the plot would go a little like, a girl (Valeria Hernandez) is in the city, reading about occult matters. She goes to a cemetery, where another girl (Angela Garza) and man (David Stojan) drug and kidnap her. The kidnappers happen to be vampires, who then torture her until she is under the illusion that she is a vampire too…

Valeria Hernandez as the girl

Better, in this case, to reproduce the DVD blurb: “In a city ruled by the underworld, a religious fanatic teenager is worried about the recent rumours of demonic gangs and cults. She takes a trip to the cemetery to take flowers in remorse for the car accident her friend recently had, unaware the cemetery is territory of a female gang faction known as the Vampire Nymphets whose adored leader is a male vampire.

kidnap

“With their supernatural powers they lead her into falling for their spells and she ends up being kidnapped by them and taken to their safe house which is hours away from the city in a cursed land habited by witches, demons and werewolves where the gang operates an underground brothel.

Angela Garza as the vampire girl

“The young girl has trouble fitting in with the other vampires of the gang because of her religious past, she is then given potent hallucinogens and is in a constant state of confusion and begins to remember she was kidnapped and abused.

“Her nightmare begins when she wakes up the next morning and her transformation wears off into a dark abyss of hallucinations, satanic sacrifice and the evil spirits of the forest.”

cheap plastic fangs

The film runs for 60 minutes and is an assault of imagery, often disturbing or vampiric, with effects over scenes and an industrial soundtrack that adds a layer to the film. The difference between the two vampires and the girl is highlighted within the fact that they have fangs (and decent build prosthetics) and she wears Halloween style plastic fangs when she thinks she is a vampire.

David Stojan as the vampire man

The lack of narrative and experimental edge makes this reminiscent of the more experimental work of Chris Alexander though this is darker and more disturbing, which also brought Visions of Suffering to mind. I scored that film as “?” and I am in the same quandary here. There is a vision, that much is clear, and the blurb actually resonates with the film, though the film does not exactly provide the content of the blurb itself as you watch. If you like your films highly experimental, and dark, then this will work for you. If that turns you off, or you demand a clear narrative then turn away.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: Drifters

This was a film released in 2010 and was directed by Alexander Hoggard. As the viewer watches it you can pick up themes that owed a debt to both the Lost Boys and Near Dark within its roughly 20-minute running time.

It begins with a car, driven by Chris (Eric Hardman), moving through the US landscape. He stops at a bar and grill, goes to the bar and orders a whisky and whatever is on tap. Spotting a girl, later revealed to be Nikki (Taressa Costello), he goes over to speak to her but she blanks him. Just then an altercation begins at the bar.

Eric Hardman as Chris

A patron, Stephen (Alex Heckman), refuses to pay for a drink. The bartender is handling it but Chris goes over, intervenes, and there is a bar fight. Eventually Nikki pulls Chris away from Stephen (whom he seemed to have been punching ineffectually) and out of the bar. She kisses his cheek – a thank you, Stephen was her douche ex-boyfriend. Chris suggests they watch the sunrise but she declines.

 sleeping arrangement

He wakes in his car – his normal sleeping arrangement – and goes into the bar to buy a bottle of water. The barmaid tells him, when asked, that the next town is a 3 hour drive, and suggests that he leave town before sunset. The film then becomes a tad confused by showing a driving sequence but then has him stop with Nikki, Stephen and three others on the road. It becomes apparent later that he is still (or back) in the town but no real answer is given to the narrative cue that leads to the driving sequence seemingly ignored.

Taressa Costello as Nikki

Spokesman for the people before him is Michael and he questions Chris, who in turn asks whether they want him to join them – this was the aspect that felt like it owed a debt to the Lost Boys. He then goes with them to a diner where they terrorise the two patrons and this had more a Near Dark feel (without the gore and visceral atmosphere of the bar invasion scene from that film). Chris does leave the diner, followed by Nikki, and tells her he came for her. Will he get her away from the vampires (especially as he doesn’t seem to have worked out what they are)?

encounter

The vampire genre borrows from itself and cannibalises, so it is perfectly natural that one should see a couple of classic genre films reflected in this. It is clearly made by enthusiastic amateurs – some of the acting definitely needs some work – but it is interesting to see a short where the director is playing with the Americana trope of the road. Unfortunately, it is difficult to explore that in a short but it was a start of the exploration, at least. The film had been on Vimeo to watch but is currently set at private.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: Parasite Lady

Chris Alexander is back and although I am looking at this 2023 release as a short film, given its 42-minute running time, one might argue that it is possibly the most-Chris-Alexander feature to date. Regular readers will know that I have a soft spot for Alexander’s avant garde filmmaking and he has a style that, whilst reminiscent of some of the 70s genre greats, he has developed over the course of his films and, whilst I will say that some of the colour palate and photography in this drew my mind to Mario Bava’s vivid lighting structures, this was recognisably Alexander.

Arrielle Edwards as Miranda

Narratively sparsely simple the film opens inside a rundown motel, with a coffin, a window in the lid showing the occupant’s face. Though such a coffin has been used since, it brought Vampyr to mind. The occupant is a woman, Miranda (Arrielle Edwards), her features striking, indeed actress Arrielle Edwards is very striking throughout, a testimony to both the actress and the cinematography. There is a moment where she smiles later in the film that is absolutely uncanny. Her fingers emerge from the coffin, pushing the lid up. She sits…

attack

The film follows Miranda, from her moments in the room, to her ghosting through a seedy amusement park (with a Castle Dracula sign high above and a themed attraction). She picks up victims from the park and it's notable that they are blonde and reminiscent of the one who turned her, Lady Death (Thea Munster, Necropolis: Legion). Her victims seem mesmerised, walking back to the motel behind the vampire, and she opens their necks through her sharp nails. Lady Death seems to haunt her, manipulating her. Whether she is in any way there, connected telepathically or simply a delusion is never answered.

uncanny

The vampirism is passed through oral exchange of blood. Though she sleeps in a coffin, Miranda can walk in the daylight and has a reflection. When asked what they are, she says “We wake. We walk. We drink. We go on.” They can die if they want to, though a vampire can kill another vampire. The lore is limited as is the dialogue and the narrative, though simple, is skilfully presented through the visuals as much as anything. I was struck, more so than I think I have been before in an Alexander film, by the soundtrack. Discordant it matched the photography very well. This is arthouse filmmaking and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The imdb page is here.

Crowdfunding: The Damnation of Dracula

You may recall when I looked at the Sébastien Godin directed Blood Rites of the Vampyr and found an enjoyable low budget film with definite nods to Jean Rollin working in consort with a more modern sensibility that reminded me of auteur Chris Alexander’s work. The film was shot on an ultra-low budget yet managed to maintain an authentic arthouse/horror feel.

Godin, along with producer Chris Darton are looking to make The Damnation of Dracula with a much higher budget than Blood Rites had and, to fund it, they are running a Crowdfunding campaign with a variety of perks available. What really interests me within this project (beyond what Sébastien Godin might create with more of a budget) is the idea that Dracula will be gender swapped – Ali Chappell has been cast, who we know from Necropolis Legion and Space Vampire – but also, going by the Dustin Mills’ concept art, she is designed to be monstrous.

Before I relay the synopsis, can I remind you that, as with any crowdfunded project I highlight, I am posting this for information and whether you take the risk on backing is your choice alone (in the case of this project I will say that I have backed the project but caveat emptor). The Indiegogo page is here.

concept art by Dustin Mills

The synopsis reads: The small northern Canadian communities of Creek and Buffalo Mines are weak and nearly beaten. Since the closing of the mines a number of years ago the area is a shell of its once thriving past. The area is mostly made up of seniors and Indigenous people who have inhabited the area for hundreds of years. To further complicate matters developers have starting clearcutting the land and helping un-earth an evil that begins not only destroying the environment but feeding on the blood of the locals.

Eighteen-year-old Sarah Blackice is forced into taking action when her cousin Jimi is killed and his blood drained. Sarah, along with her cousin Birdie and their friend Wes approach a local talk radio host on a show about Myths, Monsters and Urban Legends for his expertise in helping combat the evil that has risen. Together this unlikely team must band together to overcome the dark malevolence they're confronted with.

The horror they uncover is far more insidious than local legends and myths of Wendigo spirits. Digging beneath the surface past the frozen earth, through the pine needles and muskeg is a darkness in the form of a hideous creature named Dracula. Organically rising out the sins of the past and present, years of broken treaties, stolen land and missing and murdered Indigenous women SHE rises, regaining strength to become whole once again.

Fortunately for this community they have a sentinel … a guardian in the form of powerful fearless young girl who’s journey and refusal to give up leads her into battle of wits with the Princess of Darkness herself … for the soul of her people and their land.

Blood Rites of the Vampyr – review

Director: Sébastien Godin

Release date: 2020

Contains spoilers

I was contacted by director Sébastien Godin, who’s premier for this film had been thwarted by the Covid-19 pandemic and was subsequently looking for reviews – I’m never one to turn down a view of a vampire film. Full disclosure, he also told me that he was a long-time reader of this blog - it’s always a thrill to find people who get something out of TMtV, however I have not let this influence the score.

The film was described to me as an attempt “to marry the styles of classic horror from the 20's and 30's with a 70's Euro-horror sensibility. Influences on the film include Jean Rollin, Jess Franco and F.W. Murnau”. This is quite an ambition for, what is admittedly, a micro-budget film. Certainly, as we’ll see, the black and white shot film styled itself as an art-house mood piece – though it sometimes strayed into a too narrative place for the mood piece.

Vicki Bitis as the Vampyr

It starts with a man, restless in bed. A woman (Vicki Bitis) is in the room, her face gaunt, her movements jerky. She moves her arms over him (a lot of her movement, through the film, might be described as being in the style of interpretive dance). He bolts awake. Later he tells a monk (Anthony D.P. Mann, Terror of Dracula) about the dreams that are filled with spiritual disturbance. He describes floating, no more than a point of view, in the forest, there is a grave and a sickly-looking woman who dances.

Anthony D.P. Mann as the monk

This disturbs the monk, though he denies knowing anything that might shed light upon the dream. Even so, he warns the man not to attempt to find the grave in the woods, to stay far away from it. This, of course, confirms to the man that the grave exists. After he leaves the flat, the monk offers a prayer, begging that it not be so.

spontaneously bleeding

We see the man stumbling through the woods, as though in a nonsensical daze. He reaches the grave marker and his throat opens spontaneously, spilling blood onto the earth. We see a hand emerging from the detritus and then the woman appears, led on the grave. Her eyes open and then she bites the man. She then goes to the town, where she appears as an anachronism as she walks the streets and, when in the man’s apartment, seems mystified by modernity. To note we get moments of a vampire silent movie on the TV at this point.

Steve Kasan as Blackburn

Detective Rollin (John Keech) is speaking to his counterpoint Detective Blackburn (Steve Kasan). A body has been found, drained of blood with no apparent trauma barring two small wounds to the neck (this is not the man in the woods, his body is found later). The Detective relays a story his grandma told him. When settlers first arrived at the area the land was barren but a special woman appeared at night, disappearing by day, who bled into the earth causing it to bloom – making an interesting connection between the vampyr and earth fertility.

dribbling blood

There was a price for her help, however. She demanded a monthly virgin sacrifice and when the townsfolk refused a savage beast appeared killing livestock and some children. The townsfolk captured the woman and buried her in the earth, sealing her in with a cross. Rollin is incredulous but Blackburn is happy to use the V word, insisting that time will tell if he’s correct. Meanwhile the Monk has contacted a vampire hunter (Luc Bernier, A Blood Story & Blood Reunion 3: Hunters).

a moment in red

So, I listed the inspirations outlined by the director and certainly I got the feel from this of the works of Chris Alexander, who cites Franco and Rollin as inspirations for his vampire films also. As with Alexander’s work, I see the Rollin influence in this much more than the Franco. I also was reminded, as I watched, of Lilith’s Awakening, though that was possibly within the black and white (which goes into red lighting and then colour for one scene). Where this became a tad conflicted, as a film, I think was in it grasping for the narrative when it felt like it wanted to remain a mood piece and the narrative threatened to be a hindrance to that.

attack

I liked some of the narrative ideas, don’t get me wrong, the idea that the vampyr was intimately tied to the health of the land was great, a voice-over tells us that vampires are fine in daylight, they just lose their supernatural powers, and it further relays that they hunger for (and can subsist on) knowledge as much as blood, which was really interesting. But little was done with the ideas, especially the latter, once presented and that was the conflict I perceived between storytelling and communicating a mood. Acting wise I felt Mann as the monk was a tad too over the top, but that may have been because Kasan was marvellously nuanced and understated as the Detective.

blood from mouth

Further, I liked the look they gave Vicki Bitis as the vampyr and her expressive dance movements fed into the film as a mood piece. Perhaps the pushing of ingested blood out of mouth was a tad wasteful but, again, was part of expressing a mood. I need to mention that she wore black shorts/leggings beneath her period styled dress, visible in a couple of scenes. Undoubtedly these spared her blushes in a dance moment and probably helped with warmth during night shooting at a cenotaph – however they were very noticeable and an idiosyncrasy – perhaps flesh tone might have served to not pull the viewer out of the mood wondering at the anachronism. Her meeting another night creature cemented the Rollin-esque aspect.

the beast

When it comes to effects there is little to go over. There’s lots of fake blood – with much expelled by the vampyr (and vomited at one point having eaten a morsel of cake). The black and white helped here, and the effects looked good as one or two hearts were held aloft (the removal from the chest more implied than shown). We did get a couple of flashes of what might be described as the beast mentioned in the back story. On pausing the beast looked false, but in quick cut it worked well enough and fed into the animalistic aspect described in the Detective’s story. Note that I am deliberately not listing the lore around what could destroy a vampire.

shadow of the vampire

The photography was crisp, and the Black and White worked well in enhancing the mood. Finally, I need to mention soundtrack – which worked with the more industrial pieces used during vampiric moments, but the very 80s synth styled phrases didn’t do it for me and were a tad jarring. That’s not to say that I disliked the film, in fact quite the opposite, I enjoyed my time within the film. For me it’s one that if you like the movies of Chris Alexander, then you should enjoy. So that’s the viewer who enjoys an art-house sensibility and limited narrative (notwithstanding my perception of the film’s conflicted approach to narrative). 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Space Vampire

Director: Chris Alexander

Release date: Unreleased

Contains spoilers


Writing this is quite an honour but also rather strange. This film by Chris Alexander is unreleased at the time of writing (December 2019), indeed in correspondence Chris told me that, “No one has seen it.” This is clearly why it is an honour to look at it and many thanks to Chris for the opportunity. But it is strange as it is not a film that should be reviewed, at least not in a marking it out of 10 way. Again in Chris’ words “it's not REALLY a "movie", more just a waking dream.”

blood at mouth

As such this is almost like a piece of Über-Alexander, taking perhaps his most experimental films, Female Werewolf for example, to its most pronounced. It is a full-on experimental piece with overtures of vampirism and, for some reason, it also reminded me in places of Under the Skin - though this had less (to no) narrative but there was just a feel, a spark, that felt familiar.

coalesce into the vampire

The film has an, at times, jarring soundtrack that has a sci-fi theme with an almost techno to industrial heart and, on opening, that theme dominates as we see a pattern of pink on blue shapes that become dominant pink and coalesce into the face of the vampire (Ali Chappell, Necropolis: Legion) we then get a brightness, which becomes the sun across a snowy country landscape, with her walking towards us – the sheer black catsuit and boots contrasting against the snow.

blood in shower

As Chris described his own work, it then becomes a waking dream. We see her approach a house, and a victim (Cheryl Singleton, Queen of Blood, Blood Dynasty and Female Werewolf) therein. There are moments of blood, splattered across the vampire’s face or covering it when she showers, washing it away. There is no real linear aspect; the film touching on events that could be past or even to come. The camera often swoops around her, but occasionally takes her point of view or holds her static in portrait.

swooping camera

This is where the film would be difficult to score. This is the director playing within his style, exploring the boundaries having eschewed the restrictions of a communicated narrative. I understand that the film is to be projected in a gallery installation at a future date. However the director has confirmed that there is no intention to release it in its own right (though it might yet be an extra on another Alexander release). For now, however, you’ll just have to take my brief explanation of a cinematic meditation with a vampire theme.

The imdb page is here.

Use of Tropes: Female Werewolf

I must admit that despite a soft spot for the films of budget arthouse auteur Chris Alexander, I’d let this 2015 flick gather dust – possibly because of the word werewolf in the title. This is a shame because it was released prior to the third of his Irina films, Blood Dynasty, and in many respects shows us the experimental bridge between the later films of the series.

Like the Irina films it is most definitely experimental, a psychosexual drama that explores a psychosis embodied in a female character but, in this case, the central character – billed as She and played by Carrie Gemmell, who was also in Alexander’s Blood for Irina and Queen of Blood – is named as a werewolf rather than a vampire.

fangs

I say that but the imagery and tropes through most of the film is more reminiscent of a vampire film and we must remember the words of Bram Stoker, “The Wehr-Wolf is but a variant of the Vampire.” (Lady of the Shroud). When we meet the mostly silent She (the first words of dialogue do not occur until just before the half way point) we are aware of her own sexual urging and frustrations. In a motel (by the establishing shot, though the layout is more like an apartment) she dreams of an encounter, we do see fangs within that sequence, but she wakes alone.

feeling eyetooth

When she wakes, her trip to the bathroom tells us that she feels that she is changing, feeling at an eye-tooth which is no sharper than anyone else’s. This is perhaps where we get one of the unexplained doubts – is she changing? Is it all in her head? Is she psychotic? One thing we can say is the thought of the change is something that she finds erotic, cupping her own breast immediately afterwards and, to me, the werewolf myth is less likely to have a noticeable change like a sharper tooth (outside of the transformation) and feels more like a vampire trope. The referenced eroticism is also closely connected to the vampire genre.

Carrie Gemmell as She

That said the film also connects her to the moon (originally a vampire trope – in the early literature – the werewolf connection is, of course, well established) through both the physical satellite and in her menstruation whilst in the shower. Again, the blood swirling at the plughole is a staple of many a horror subgenre. I have to mention the shower sequence as being noticeably modest, deliberately so – Alexander might be exploring a psychosexual drama but there is nothing sexploitative within it. Other thoughts that might occur to the viewer is a connection between the beast and fertility but also the popular connection between the full moon and psychosis.

Cheryl Singleton as the office worker

If this is a psychosexual exploration the erotic aspect seems perhaps cold at times, sterile even. If we take the object of desire, an office worker (Cheryl Singleton, also Queen of Blood & Blood Dynasty), they look at each other without words but the stares are almost dead and the stalked woman expressionless – as though mesmerised (again probably something more associated with vampires than werewolves). Eventually she comes, willingly if trance-like, to She’s rooms and is set upon (a comment about the TV not working one of the few dialogue lines).

seems vampiric

As She attacks, we see fangs and, watching this scene out of context and without the film title, one would immediately associate the scene with vampires. There is some clawing at the torso but this would not be out with a vampire film either. What we do not see at this point is any form of hairiness, as one would expect from a werewolf. Perhaps werewolf might be used more in the form of a killer (the moniker of werewolf and vampire have been attached to serial killers)?

transformation

There is a transformation at the end of the film and, given the budget, it is remarkably done. Using exposure, filters and (I would guess) superimposed imagery we see the wolf emerge and then it becomes clear that the head is emerging from her open mouth (reminiscent of A Company of Wolves). Yet even then we are left to wonder whether the transformation is in her head, allegorical or real. The connectivity to nature, perhaps fertility, remains but her love is for the dead.

with Irina

I have indicated that one may read the text of Female Werewolf in a variety of ways; fantasy, allegory, supernatural, psychotic. However, there is a tell in film that I missed until pointed out to me and after I had written the main body of this article. When we meet She, we become aware of her fantasies as we see, within the heavily filtered sequence, another woman. Credited as dream woman, she is played by Shauna Henry – star of the Irina cycle. In a correspondence with Chris Alexander he revealed to me that the dream woman is, in fact, Irina and she infects She – making that werewolf/vampire connection stronger, making this a vampire film (in fact, though I will stick to the ‘Use of Tropes’ exploration), and making this not only a bridging film within the Irina cycle in a stylistic sense but making it a film directly connected to the cycle.

aftermath

Like the core Irina cycle, this is not going to be the easiest of watches for viewers. For the casual viewer it will seem, vague, without narrative. For the gore-hound it will barely satisfy. For the person looking for sexploitation and titillation it will miss the mark. However, for the Chris Alexander fan it will speak volumes, it has depths to explore and consider and it marks a moment stylistically in the Irina volumes where they moved to their most experimental.

The imdb page is here.

on Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Necropolis: Legion – review

Director: Chris Alexander

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers


On the surface this film, a new release from Full Moon Features, might not seem like a vampire film – indeed I considered doing a “Playing with Tropes” for it. However, it is a reimagining of the 1986 flick Necropolis, which I class as a vampire film – albeit a vampiric witch. Like the original there is some (brief, in this) evidence of energy vampirism. Plus, the blurb on IMDb describes antagonist Eva (Ali Chappell) as a “satanic vampire sorceress”.

bearing a cross

The film is also directed by Chris Alexander, whose arthouse vampire films are: Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood and Blood Dynasty. I have a soft spot for these films and Alexander’s use of symbolism and inference. I have to say there is a tension I detected in this between Alexander’s love of arthouse and Euro-horror and the need to create a cohesive narrative for a Full Moon Feature schlock-horror.

ripped out heart

Starting in the past we meet Maynard Gandy (Joseph Lopez) holding a portrait of Eva, his wife. A farm hand (Adam Buller) comes in to tell him that the barn is secure and he will make his way home. He then decides to tell Gandy about Eva, suggesting that he has seen her go in the chapel and this is not the first time. He leaves and then Gandy seems to enter a vision and the farm hand returns holding out his ripped-out heart.

Joseph Lopez as Maynard Gandy

In the chapel Eva stands above a sacrificial victim (Goldie Rocket), and flanked by two neophytes referred to as gatekeepers (Zoe Georgaras & Stephanie Delorme). Her somewhat risqué outfit reveals that her breasts have mouths, with sharp teeth, rather than nipples. This is reminiscent of Eva in the original film, who has six electoplasm-producing breasts, and (much) later this Eva’s breasts will gush milk for her neophytes. She intones about “she who must live”. She cuts the hand of the victim, licks up the blood and then holds her to a breast – the mouth seeming to suck energy from her before it gnashes the flesh for the blood – yes, it’s a rare sighting of a vampiric breast.

eyes turn white

Gandy comes in and tries to ward her by holding out a cross. She comes forward and he starts to recite (what I assume was) an exorcism. Her eyes turn white and he stabs her in the heart… Modern day and Lisa (Augie Duke) comes around from what may have been a dream. She is in a bookstore about to do a signing of her book “Beyond Darkness” but her real reason for being in the town is to research Eva. She is approached by Zia (Lynn Lowry, Mostly Dead, My Stepbrother is a Vampire!?! & Rabid), who cuts the line, to warn her of uncovering Eva’s story – even mentioning her name gives her power. Lisa, of course, doesn’t listen.

Augie Duke as Lisa

Indeed, she is staying at Gandy’s farmhouse – and we get a cut foot dripping through the floorboards and causing a beating heart to reform (rebirth through spilt blood, of course, is heavily a genre trope) as well as possession. However, I don’t want to go any further as, with a short 61-minute run-time, we are quite a way into the film. Knowing the director’s work, it was clear this was a Chris Alexander vehicle, relying on his lead actress (with precious little dialogue) to project the narrative through actions, expressing her descent physically. However, there is more dialogue in this than in his previous work. It does suffer from not expanding on the story more conventionally – we don’t see any backstory to Eva becoming what she is (was she possessed, seduced, always demonic and married to Gandy for reasons known only to her dark heart?) EDIT: Chris Alexander has contacted me to say that the Eva backstory is given in a one-shot comic.

reforming heart

That said the effects are interesting – perhaps some of the fast cut moments, designed to be nightmarish, are much as one would expect relying on the disorientating impact of the editing as much as anything, but the heart reforming (for instance) looked great (perhaps a tad too much blood for a small cut in the foot, but who cares, it looked fab). The greater use of effects – and, of course, who can resist the idea of vampiric breasts, Ken Russell couldn’t – give this a fuller feel than perhaps his Irina films.

Lynn Lowry as Zia

This has clear elements that are related to the original film but it is definitely a reimagining rather than a remake. I can’t help but think that some viewers, searching for schlock, might be put off with the more Alexander-esque elements – but conversely it was actually those elements that did it for me. That said I stand by the idea that it needed a more expressly broadcasted narrative (and it had plenty of potential running time it could have used to do so). 5.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK (Full Moon Channel)