The House That Drinks – review

Author: Alex Alicea

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

The blurb: Marrow’s Point has a house everyone avoids and one ambitious investor is determined to monetize it anyway. When restoration consultant Evelyn Hart steps onto the fog-choked property, the mansion seems to notice her. Doors lock themselves. Sound dies in the halls. Blood does not spill, it sinks into marble and wood like the building is thirsty.

This is Gothic Horror with teeth: a living Victorian mansion that behaves like an organism, studying people, learning what they fear, and deciding what they’re worth. Locals warn that even if you leave, “part of you becomes a room,” and the house is patient enough to make that prophecy feel inevitable.

Evelyn is hired by Lila Voss, a desperate dealmaker who refuses to slow down even as the house’s “charm” turns predatory. When Evelyn pushes back on hosting guests, Lila’s answer is blunt: “Whatever it takes.” The house seems to like that.

Then Detective Mark Calder gets pulled into the nightmare as the mansion’s history snaps into focus and the town’s “luck” starts looking like a bargain paid in blood. The house whispers offers of protection in exchange for feeding, and Mark realizes the missing-persons story may include his own family.

As the mansion tightens control, Lila accelerates a preview event, funneling dozens of guests into a structure that herds them like prey. To survive, Evelyn and Mark are forced into an uneasy alliance with Silas Crowe, a contractor who knows too much about what’s under the house, and Rowan, an unnervingly calm figure who feels far older than he should.

If you want a Vampire Horror Mystery where the monster is the building, the secrets are structural, and every locked door is a decision the house is making, step inside The House That Drinks… and try not to give it anything it can keep.

The review: Some people are very traditionalist when it comes to vampire stories, they are looking for a member of the undead, they expect certain tropes. Others like a wider view of what constitutes a vampire and I am of the second camp, as regular readers will likely attest. I particularly like the idea of a vampiric building and indeed wrote a chapter on just that subject for the Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. I was therefore really excited when I spotted this book and there are conceptual aspects that I really enjoyed but other facets that are worryingly poor.

The book follows Evelyn Hart, a house restorer employed to assess the Varrick House (a building that had many names and uses over the years, but was built by immortality obsessed Elias Varrick in the nineteenth century). The house, however, is a living being and, as the book goes on, we find out about the predatory creature sealed in a foundation stone that acts almost as heart and brain, are told of the living wood used in construction and are introduced to a design that was meant to allow immortality and does, kind of. The house not only drinks blood but drinks in the person, taking the memories and personality, trapping the essence within its walls as it slowly grows and changes. This then feels like a culmination of certain vampiric house traits, whilst the stealing of memory and personality makes the house a repository of undead memory. In that sense it was a conceptually exciting read.

What went wrong was in the writing. There is inconsistency throughout the book and, as I read it, I gave that the benefit of the doubt as some of the inconsistencies, certainly around the passage of time, may have been deliberate to give the whole thing an Unheimlich essence. That might be true in places but, for instance, the time setting jumps between January in one place and October in another, which seems it might be a change in concept by the author and the editing of a redraft was poor…

However the errors in names were pretty bad, Evelyn Hart becomes Evelyn Thorne at one point. At the same time in the book Detective Mark Calder temporarily becomes Mark Chen. Chen, incidentally, is a name used for several background characters in the narrative. At the end of chapter 17 they are held in the house, with it locking them in place, at the start of chapter 18 Evelyn is outside in the nearby town – charitably, this could be nonlinear, though there is no indication of this, or deliberate but the author neglected to put anything in that would indicate that to the reader, likely it was just sloppy. On a positive note, it does jar the reader, and so inadvertently it does add to the uncanny.

Characters repeat plot points they have already established as though new – though perhaps this was meant to be the impact of memory being drunk and the characters losing their minds (literally) but if so the author never let the reader know this was what they were doing. Attitudes regress with characters resigning to the truth of the house and then deciding that can’t be the case despite seeing absolute proof. The house’s custodian, Rowan Hale, is met for the first time in the nearby town but later we are told his binding to the house is so strong he cannot cross beyond the house’s property line. He tells how his family were bound to the house, suggesting the responsibilities were inherited, and he has seen its actions by observing past family members but also that he is the one that made the original deal, was bound and has aged extremely slowly since. This might be an untrustworthy narrator, an error in drafting or an inability to keep motivations and backstories straight.

Another thing I noticed was the house using Evelyn to draft blueprints to allow it to reproduce, there are seventeen of them. However, at the end suddenly the house itself is blueprint 11 and it is strongly suggested that there were ten house before and likely out there (an idea that didn’t fit with the backstory and a single captured predator at the heart of the house) and seemed a fudge to open the pathway for a sequel.

I think all this could be one of three things: 

One, that the author deliberately made unreliable narrators and had things change or aspects repeat to build in that Unheimlich element and make the narration itself a liminal space between facts and falsehoods. If this is true, then the failing is on the author for not making this clear to the reader. I managed to convince myself this was true so as to stay with the narrative and finish the volume, and this was because I loved the central idea of the vampiric house, but I don’t truly think that was the case.

Secondly it might conceivably be errors created because the author used AI, to a greater or lesser extent, in the writing process. The inconsistencies and errors would then likely be AI hallucinations. I sincerely hope that isn’t the case, though I also note the, apparently, AI illustrations on the Amazon product page. A worse scenario is that the author is a pseudonym/invention that entirely AI generated books are being attached to – there is very little about the author online and he seems to have published a large number of books in an incredibly narrow space of time.

Lastly it is simply sloppy writing and redrafting, with ideas shifting, rushed changes, and very poor subsequent editing (or none at all).

As stands, if you like the idea of vampiric buildings and can overlook the issues with the narrative it may be worth a go, and that bolsters the score to 3 out of 10, which is generous given the issues but a tragedy given the concept.

On Kindle @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Red Days 2: Cecilia – review

Director: Brett William Mauser

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Back to the communist People’s Monarchy of California that we looked at when I reviewed Red Days. Cecilia was the missing daughter of that film’s primary protagonist and revealed, when she returned to her family home, to be a vampire. In this actress Xiomara Bermudez has been replaced by Nicole Mattox as the titular character.

The start of the film sees her in her father’s (Sergio Cantu) garage, body parts litter the floor and she is distraught. However, as an indistinct loudhailer is heard she retrieves, with some difficulty, a blade from a head and walks out to face armed cops. They shoot but, of course, the wounds heal (this was a, I think, deliberately glossed over in a SFX way and could have looked better) and she says, “my turn”.

Nicole Mattox as Cecilia

The film cuts to Day 1 and the nuclear explosion in California – one of the seven sisters, seven nuclear bombs in different states. In California the explosion led to the takeover by the Monarchy but also Z particles – an airborne zombie plague, held off by alcohol. We see (reshot with Mattox) Cecilia’s fate, where she walks the streets dazed and is eventually got by… something.

vampire captor

When she wakes, she is chained, near bodies, and has both puncture wounds on her neck and amnesia. She has been taken by two vampires, one of whom is somewhat dismayed that the other didn’t drain her. This is something they need to do before the vampire virus takes hold. In quick succession she is threatened by a vampire, who is got himself by invading zombies. Cecilia plays dead but a zombie grabs her arm, ready to munch on it, when cops come in and kill them. They check Cecilia (and it is noted that the bite on her neck is not a zombie bite) but she plays possum and she has no pulse. When the cops are gone, she gets out of her irons by smearing zombie guts on her wrists.

invitation needed

The film follows her as she becomes used to what she is – for instance, her inability to enter homes that are occupied without an invite – there is an sfx for the barrier she comes across, her cross burning her, her need to feed on blood and the burning effects of the sun. She meets a Texas ranger (from the equally seceded Republic of Texas), Jim (Cliff Dean), who knows what she is, is able to incapacitate her and comes into the film again later. At her lowest ebb she is found trying (and failing) to commit suicide and is handed off to a representative of the Corporations.

the agents

She is put through her paces with other survivors, involving a test where they take on a zombie each. The other candidates turn against her when they realise she has does not appear on camera, however Cecilia is offered chance to use a serum that should remove her vampiric weaknesses. A similar super soldier serum is being offered to three other women, including Kim (Lisa Butala), but Cecilia’s serum is different as it is cut with Lycan DNA due to her vampirism. The serum is partially successful, she loses her need to drink blood, whether her strength and speed are enhanced is unclear, but all the other vampire weaknesses remain. Cecilia also has gone somewhat mad but is part of a four woman team of agents working for the Corporations…

fangs

The film concentrates less on the wider Monarchy of California and more narrowly at Cecilia and one specific conspiracy storyline and this works in its favour. However, the pacing might have gone wrong if it wasn’t for Nicole Mattox who plays both early, heartbroken and later madcap Cecilia brilliantly and with gusto – though I will say she is channelling her inner Harley Quinn in the latter half. One confusing thing was the suggestion at the end of the film that Cecilia would return in Knight Watchmen. Jim, when he returns, has become a Knight Watchman – a Texas PI and executioner combined. However, director Brett William Mauser had done a web-series entitled Knight Watchmen back in 2022, with Nicole Mattox playing Cecilia but without Cliff Dean. Whether the intertitle refers to that series or a new vehicle isn’t clear, at least as I write. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this, mostly down to Mattox’s performance in truth, and more than the first film. 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Axes and Os – review

Director: Trent Duncan

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

The slasher film is a genre all of its own and this starts off as a typical slasher, with stereotyped characters and a psychotic killer (an axeman in this case). However, the film hints occasionally at a different genre and that is, of course, the vampire genre. After all, I wouldn’t be reviewing this if it was something else.

So, it starts in a house, with a record playing and we see a man, later revealed as Luther Dremel (Brandon Krum), who puts a camo cloak over a chair (the camera is close, showing parts of him only). He is clearly a large gentleman, and he taps the blade of a small axe hung on his belt. There is blood on the banister and he goes upstairs, a shower can be heard but, as he walks past a cupboard, a gun is fired from within and he falls. The shooter, a woman, tries to get the other woman with her to move. She doesn’t see Dremel stand, he uses the axe and he removes her heart.

Olivia and Leah

Olivia (Madison M. Bowman) is in bed and her phone goes. Leah (Cass Huckabay) is calling and asks if she is ready, but Olivia has changed her mind… too late, Leah is in the house and pulls the covers off her. The backstory seems to be that Olivia (who is the nerdy one and reading Call of Cthulhu at times through the film) has been hurt by Josh (Jake Nuttall) two-timing her and so Leah is taking her to Valentine’s Lake for a Valentine’s getaway of a girly weekend (they dub it a Galentine's getaway). It seems like Leah is part of the family who adopted Olivia.

he removes the heart

In the jeep waiting for them is Abby (Jamie Bernadette, Midnight Texas & All Girls Weekend) who will drive them and is the hard drinking one of the group. We note that Olivia makes sure she has her pills – normally this will trope towards a mental health thing, but not here. They pick up Dawn (Sara Wimmer) enroute who is the slutty one. They have hired a cottage. Elsewhere a woman, Margot (Noemi Cabrera), is training, she gets a call to check her email and realises she’s got Catherine (Eileen Antonescu) – finds and confronts her suggesting the killer will be back. Out in the woods a pair of hikers are killed by Dremel and the woman’s heart removed.

Brandon Krum as Dremel

Caroline is renting the girls their cottage and the girls meet her, Margot and local sheriff Preston (Cheyenne Hess) in quick succession. They head to the lake. When Olivia is on her own and slightly drunk, Josh shows up and she manages to get away by way of a swift knee between his legs, but ends up dropping her meds and then, angry, crushing them on the floor. Dawn finds and shags Josh and they are killed by Dremel. Of course, he is now hunting the girls in the cottage (which is the same cottage as seen in the prologue) In the main any character that crosses his path doesn’t tend to last too long..

vampire eyes

So far, so slasher. However, Olivia is having disturbed first-person dreams that includes sharp nails and Leah is concerned when she discovers Olivia no longer has meds. As they end up lost downstream, whilst escaping Dremel, they have a conversation and Olivia says that Leah must run if she starts to change… This is our vampire bit. The pills are keeping her vampire nature at bay (how she ended up in hospital, treated for vampirism, on a prescription and placed with Leah’s family are plot points that are not addressed) and without them she will have changing eyes, claws, fangs, and be a feral hunter. The scene is set for the showdown between axeman and vampire…

fangs

It is a shift up in what has been a fairly derivative and standard slasher. The police’s shock at the ongoing events and who the killer might be is best ignored too. It is take-your-brain-out slasher fare, until it turns on its head, pivoting into a feral vampire flick, and that is in the last ten or so minutes. It doesn’t set the world on fire, but it isn’t awful either. 4.5 out of 10 overall is fair.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Blade Vol. 2: Evil Against Evil – review

Author: Bryan Edward Hill

Artists: Elena Casagrande & Valentina Pinti

First published: 2024 (TPB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Blade learns lessons from the Incredible Hulk…and the infernal Dracula! Until the day-walking vampire hunter called Blade became sheriff of Vampire Nation, Dracula was his sworn enemy. Now Dracula is the only one who can teach Blade what he still needs to know about himself - and how to unlock new powers of vampirism Blade didn't even know he possessed! But in preparation to face the deadly Adana once more, Blade must confront the monster he fears he is - and who knows better what it's like to live with a dark side than Bruce Banner? Mustering all the power gained with Dracula's and Hulk's aid, Blade must gather knowledge about the Adana by going deep into the heart of enemy territory! A bloody rematch is coming. At stake? The fate of every soul on Earth!

The review: Part two of the limited story and it starts with Blade and the “unlikely ally” I mentioned in the previous review, revealed in the blurb above as Dracula. The fact that he would turn to Dracula for help didn’t phase me – though I will say I never felt the apocalyptic urgency coming through the narrative, generally, that would lead to such an alliance – but what did phase me was Blade’s apparent naivety. In volume 1 he blithely allows himself to make mistake after mistake. Here, Dracula says Blade has to drink his blood and we get a brief “no way”, and a too easily offered acceptance thereafter. This, I suspect, is down to the limited length but Blade was just not cynical enough generally.

The story came to a conclusion – with an aftermath that I am unsure as to if it was reflected across the Marvel universe thereafter. That said, it is a Blade adventure, which is always welcome, 6 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Honourable Mentions: Scary Movie

First, a full disclosure, I have never overly fancied the Scary Movie films but, from the trailer, I knew that this one, directed by Michael Tiddes and released in 2026, drew from Sinners and thus I wanted to check it through. Actually the 6th film in the Franchise, there is a blink and you miss it vampire moment but also two scenes lifted from Sinners.

The first of those sees a car pull up at a church as we hear “This Little Light” being sung. Ray (Shawn Wayans) enters the building and approaches the pastor. This is taken from the opening of Sinners and whilst, in that, Sammy is injured following his encounter with the vampires, in this it is centred around Ray’s sexuality and renouncing men, with jokes surrounding that.

arriving at the party

The second scene is when a Halloween party is being held and main characters Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan), Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif) and Jack (Cameron Scott Roberts) arrive in period dress, with instrument, and try to gain entrance by being invited (and refused). This, of course, riffs on the Sinners’ scene where Remmick tries to get invited into the Juke Joint – though the characters here are not vampires. As an aside, Jack’s appearance on the movie poster is from this scene and he has a vampire bite on his neck.

the substance

Before going to the vampire I need to mention a riff on The Substance, a film I have looked at due to its use of tropes, where there is an injection of “the stuff” into news anchor Gail (Cheri Oteri) in a process taken over by Ghostface. Out of her back comes an unredacted set of the Epstein Files and then her “younger self” is revealed to be one of the White Chicks from the Wayans’ film of the same name.

Count Brolock

Finally, we get to the actual vampire and it is easy to miss as it is in a mid-credit scene in which we get a fake trailer for Brosferatu, a take on Nosferatu (2024) . It riffs on being from “the studio that brought you every black version of a white movie”, and sees Count Brolock (Marlon Wayans) visiting Elle (Ruby Snowber) and gaining the ire of three black women watching the scene unfold. There is a shadow dick gag and the scene is very easily overlooked given its placement. And that is it, a fleeting visitation and other than that referencing a vampire film.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Dracula: Rise of the Vampire – review

Director: Dean Meadows

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

First comes the rant – and it does not affect the score. I backed this film on Kickstarter. Now I understand that this isn’t like purchasing, and carries a risk, but when the film is completed and the backers wait over two years past the estimated date before shipping their perks it can be irksome. I recognise when the filmmaker say, “we can’t release the film to you prior to its first official release date due to piracy concerns” (as this filmmaker did), but that wasn’t the basis of the perks as offered, which had no caveat for waiting for commercial distribution, and the despatch of the discs took longer than the film hitting streaming services (including free streaming on Tubi). Still, they have now made good on the pledges, unlike some projects, and at long last I have the numbered, signed, backer only-edition Blu-ray, but my frustration at the filmmakers was tangible for a while. Rant over.

Kurt Dirt as Shaw

Next come the confessions. Firstly, actor Kurt Dirt, who plays cult member Shaw, is a good friend. I was unaware he was in the film when I backed the crowdsourcing but certainly was by the time it was shot. Confession number two is the more I saw about the film, whilst I waited for the eventual release of the perk, the more worried I became about the quality of the film overall. The trailer made me wary, some reviews were scathing, but in fairness (and maybe enhanced by a low expectation) when I finally sat down to watch this, I found myself really taken with it and, of course, low-budget films can be satisfying cinematic experiences.

blood spray

And so, on to the actual review… after establishing shots of London, the film starts with a sermon from new vicar, Father James (Nathan Head), who has just moved to the parish 3-weeks prior. Suddenly several members of the congregation stand and put on masks – later described as Baphomet masks – and massacre the rest of the congregation. At this point we get the first weak link – (what I assume was) cgi blood spatter. Often an issue in budget films, to be honest, this looked like black dust. The cultists (for that is what they are) surround the priest and tell him to give a message – he is coming – before belting him one.

Gabe and Murray

One thing I should mention is that, whilst the establishing shots are of London, the filming took place in Barnstaple, Devon, and some suspension of belief is needed around external scenes. The police arrive at the church, in charge is DC Jessica Murray (Emma Fletcher). As well as the indoor massacre, in the churchyard they have found a body, exsanguinated with punctures in the throat. This is the third body found like this. Though Murray hates to admit it they need some help… Help is in the form of Gabriel Lee (Dean Meadows), and the back story for Gabe is partial but interestingly done. As the film goes on we discover he had been involved, as a cop, in something (supernatural) that left him kicked out of the force and sent to prison for doing the right thing. It is implied, but not stated, that he and Murray had a thing. Murray’s boss, DI Lee (Ailsa Roanne), is Gabe’s mother.

Gabe and Zoe

Before we meet Gabe, we meet a young woman, Zoe (Cerys Piper), who is being chased down an alley by three guys she stole a wallet from. She falls and they catch up but luckily Gabe is nearby. They tell him to do one, call him grandpa and one even draws a knife… so he draws a gun. Now this is a British film, so they don’t think it’s real, this opinion changes when he shoots the one with a knife in the leg. He lets Zoe give him a kicking before taking her to eat. She is homeless and hasn’t eaten for a couple of days and he wants her to stay at his flat, just for a while, what with the three exsanguinated homeless people and something coming… especially given her surname is Van Helsing – she is the last of her line.

Elizabeth and the High Priestess

So what we have is a cult of Dracula (Peter Jakeson) worshippers – they are run by Elizabeth (Eileen Daly, Demonsoul, Razor Blade Smile, Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft & Sentinals of Darkness), who is revealed to be Bathory later. Not a vampire according to dialogue but, assuming she is THE Bathory, the blood bathing has given her impressive longevity. It appears she has history with Gabe and, presumably, was involved in the previous unseen case. There is also a high priestess (Pauline Peart, The Satanic Rites of Dracula & Video Shop Tales of Terror) of the cult. The cultists want to resurrect Dracula; they have his blood, his cape, the location of his resting place but need his ring (which the Lee family have) to be able to control him. What was great was the lack of loyalty in the ranks with Shaw (Kurt Dirrt) intent on taking over and stealing Dracula’s favour.

Peter Jakeson as Dracula

The film is a love letter to old horror films, especially Hammer. The dialogue drops in several Hammer Dracula film titles verbatim and a Denham Industrial Estate (named for Dracula’s alias in the Satanic Rites of Dracula) is mentioned amongst other references. Dracula, once resurrected, looks the part, though he sports a Yorkshire accent rather than Christopher Lee’s clipped English or Lugosi’s Eastern European brogue. As well as Dracula and Bathory, the film’s opening credits mention Sheridan Le Fanu alongside Bram Stoker, and the mid credit sequence offers a brief Carmilla appearance. But the film has issues.

vampire attack

The acting veers wildly across the spectrum, a scene with Murray and Gabe was nuanced and well played by both (in the main Meadows plays things straight and hard man, any comedic cracks he makes are character deliberate), Eileen Daly hams it up deliciously and adds a campness that the film craves, but some other actors are stagey, perhaps even amdram, and the dialogue perhaps becomes a tad unnatural in places. ADR does not help and is noticeable. One fight – or more a drubbing of Gabe by the cultists – was well done, but other fight sequences not so much, a bar fight in particular feeling too choreographed, unrealistic and appeared slightly sped up in places.

Eileen Daly as Elizabeth

Yet, I was taken by the infectious nature of the film. It clearly isn’t a perfect film, the budget shows and yet I sat enjoying the experience. Where I had worried that it was going to be a dud I was taken by the love of the genre it showed and the deliberate campness added by Eileen Daly really kept the film afloat (and I should mention that, when his character turned simpering later on, Kurt Dirt added a further layer of campness that complemented Daly’s performance). Where the hinted at Gabe backstory worked, the plotting in film perhaps was a little ambitiously convoluted at times. Yet overall, if you enjoy low budget, like love letters to the genre, and appreciate well-paced campness, there is definitely something worth watching. 6 out of 10 was not where I thought this would be going. But it did.

The imdb page is here.

Whilst I am adding the Amazon links, be aware that, at time of writing, this is on Tubi for free stream.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Cult of Blood – review

Director: Robbie Lopez

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

Very nearly a “Vamp or Not?” However, by dint of some fangs, a late bat-form and mention of a vampire cult this sneaks into review but the vampire content is incredibly low. It also features a woefully underused Michael St. Michaels from cult favourite The Greasy Strangler as both the mayor and an evil entity who might be an energy vampire.

In a building dubbed Castle del Vampire, which has a sign painted inside declaring it part of the Order of the Dragon, a woman with pink hair runs and screams as she is killed by three robed figures. Elsewhere a cop, Taggert (Kyle Ament, Protégé Moi), is putting up missing person photos. He shouts out to his partner Patrick Ashworth (Mikael Mattsson, also Protégé Moi) who we don’t see at this point – as an aside Mattsson is given full face sfx makeup for the character that is so obviously makeup one wonders why they bothered. Taggert goes off screen and a hooded man comes on screen and starts pulling the posters down. Taggert chases him to no avail.

Dave Sheridan as Todd

We get an advert for Todd-Wan-Do, a mixed martial art brought to the people of Chicago by Todd (Dave Sheridan, also Protégé Moi) at Castle del Vampire. Todd is the leader of the vampire cult. Over the road is a Christian bookstore run by Stacy Fields (Thomas Smith) who has called the cops, Taggert and Ashworth, about seeing a young innocent girl enter the place and then hearing screams. As they discuss this they see the (not innocent, according to Stacy) Princess Jill (Nadia White, Harvest of Horrors) enter – Ashworth develops an immediate crush. In the place Jill, Todd and Crystal (Felissa Rose, Nikos the Impaler & Pandemic Thirst), along with cult members, summon the giant head of their dark overlord and make a sacrifice – his words make it appear he feeds on their energy.

captured

Cutting to a pair of influencers, T-Rav (Dan Gregory) and Joey Danger (Jessie Hobson, also Protégé Moi) who are with their long-suffering girlfriends Donna (KateLynn E. Newberry) and Shirley (Larissa Dali) for date night (but still live streaming). Donna has invited Tom (Ryan A. Johnson), another influencer, and his girlfriend Cindy (Bearce Isabelle), along. They get to a bar, Tom gets drunk(er than the rest) and they attract a guy named Roach (Bryan Slusher) – unbeknown to them a member of the cult – who has a crush on Cindy (nothing is done with that in a meaningful plot way) and who subsequently lures them to the Castle… Once there, having found the previous sacrifice, their days are numbered as Todd decides to use them for the Blood Ritual.

fangs

The film kind of aimlessly ambles along. Things happen more for device and joke than anything else (there is a definite undercurrent of humour, with Dave Sheridan mugging the camera for laughs) and the vampire aspect is less than explored. Jill shows fangs occasionally, there are the names of the order and the castle and they call themselves a vampire cult at one point. The three main cult members refer to others in the cult as humans – indicating they are not. We also get, through ritual, Todd transforming into a bat creature. The tension is pretty absent and the influencers are annoying rather than sympathetic – I think deliberately so. The girlfriends are more sympathetic. I get what they were trying to do and this is a cut above Robbie Lopez’ Protégé Moi. More for a beer fuelled viewing, this does have its place. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: Vampiri (1985)

Originally released in 1985, the 18-minute Fabio Salerno short film was shot in Italian and can be found on the Blu-ray set “The Other Dimension and the films of Fabio Salerno”. Likely originally shot on Super 8, it was most likely then lifted off VHS for this set (as the film elements are lost). Salerno was a DIY filmmaker, and you can definitely tell in this effort.

It starts with a voice, layered over a few occultish pictures, which says “The Gods saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. They fell in love with them and they took them as wives. Since then, many have become creatures of the devil. Among these, the vampire. Ancient Slavic superstitions spoke of ghosts that came out of the corpses to suck the blood of the living. Of course, it’s just a legend. But each legend contains a grain of truth.”

driving through the city

The intro gives us a pause for thought, invoking a strange mix of Gods plural along with the Devil of monotheistic Christianity, as it strays towards the idea of the vampiric ghost. The film is that bit weirder still. A woman drives through the city - an opening that invoked a feel of Hanno Cambiato Faccia's opening scene. She stops, removes her headscarf and goes into a building, whilst holding a cat carrier. She goes to an apartment. Another woman answers the door and the first asks for Mrs Tinetti. The woman who answered is her niece but her aunt is away. The first woman had brought her cat because the Aunt was going to cat sit and the niece offers to do so. Left with instructions that the cat eats only eggs and will open them herself, she watches the first woman leave.

the neice

There is a moment of getting back in her car, putting the headscarf back on and then, with brolly in hand, leaving the car and walking the city streets. Elsewhere police are investigating the stabbing of a woman – clearly, in the filmmaker’s mind, connected, I can only assume she was a victim of the vampire. Meanwhile, the niece has got an egg out and dropped it,, the egg cracking open to reveal a chick (I think, the quality of the film stock is atrocious). She is afraid of the cat, a wall (I think) bleeds, the cat becomes a man who chops her neck with a cleaver, the first woman materialises on a chair and goes to the niece to feed from…

feeding

It is all really strange, narratively uncommunicative and the DIY filmmaking (beyond the atrocious print quality) doesn’t help. I was taken by the idea (though I may well have got the wrong end of the stick) of the cat being a type of Trojan horse, a familiar of the vampire who kills the prey allowing the vampire to feed. It is not suggested that this is a cat vampire. Is it an important part of the history of vampire films? No, not really. But it is part of the oeuvre.

The imdb page is here.

Blade Vol. 1: Mother Of Evil – review

Author: Bryan Edward Hill

Artists: Elena Casagrande & Valentina Pinti

First published: 2024 (TPB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: The Daywalker returns for a new era of vampire hunting! True evil is patient. A dark, ancient power has been simmering quietly for centuries. And when Blade himself is the one to unknowingly unleash it, Marvel's entire supernatural underworld comes out of hiding to demand that he handle it - or pay a pound of flesh for his mistakes! But Blade's greatest hope of success rests with the last person he wants to ask: a hostile ex! Blade must travel to Japan to meet a high-end arms dealer who may be the key to defeating the Adana, the deadly threat Blade has inadvertently released! And as the pulse of its power ripples across the Marvel Universe, a familiar friend is drawn into the fray. Bloodbaths, blackmail and Blade - you won't want to miss this one!

The review: A limited length Blade adventure, it runs for the length of two volumes and this one sets the story up and the limited run is probably its weakness as it feels rushed. It starts with Blade tricked into killing a warrior who, though fearsomely dressed, is the key to stopping the resurgence of an evil entity named Adana. By killing the warrior, and then losing the weapon he wielded, which is the only thing that can kill Adana, Blade opens the way for her to emerge, possessing the girl he thought he was protecting. Adana’s goal is the end of the world.

Blade spends the rest of the story trying to find a new method of killing the entity. This includes getting help from Tulip, the ex and arms dealer mentioned in the blurb, trying to steal Lucifer’s sword from a vampire who lives on an ever-moving armoured train and begging guidance from an unlikely ally…

The artwork is strong, and portrays what it needs to, but was shy of being breathtaking, to me, but the issue lay in the rushed feeling of the comic book. Because this is a very limited run it really crammed the narrative in but, especially as this is global and apocalyptic, it felt rushed and in feeling so it lost impact. Not that this is poor by any stretch, but it could have stood for room to breathe. 6 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

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

The Hand of Night – Blu-Ray review

Director: Frederick Goode

First released: 1968

Contains spoilers

It is sixteen years since I reviewed the film The Hand of Night under the alternative title Beast of Morocco. The print of the film I watched was particularly poor but, this year, the excellent Vinegar Syndrome label have released a Region A Blu-Ray of the film that has been restored from a studio-supplied master.

Paul and Marisa

The film is so much better to look at after restoration – though there are still definite flaws, with the night scenes, especially on the Moroccan streets, not being imaginatively lit and thus losing definition. Nevertheless, this is a quantum leap in quality, and I would suggest looking at the screenshots with the original review and contrasting, the difference is marked.

Gunther and LeClerk

The extras contain two features about Associated British Pathé, a commentary track with Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons, and finally a brief vignette by Kim Newman, which is a love letter to the film and probably my favourite of the extras. It is nice to see the film getting some love. The Blu-Ray sleeve is reversible and, at time of writing, a Limited-Edition Slipcase is available.

finger-bone stake

I’m not particularly going to go into the film, I do that extensively on the original review, but suffice it to say that it is a rather unusual vampire film, Although some of the standard tropes are there; dying (and decaying) in sunlight and stake to the heart (with dissolution), primarily, but with an unfortunate bat motif also (as creatures of darkness, as there is a light vs dark narrative in this). I say unfortunate as the bat, seen most clearly in the title sequences both flying and staked with a finger bone but also in a dream sequence and in a too dark street scene, is truly crap.

caught by the sun

It should also be noted that this is a virtually bloodless vampire film, something that is by design as the commentary points out, and is more about seduction to darkness than it is feeding the dead (in fact it contains zero feeding, either seen or referenced). In some regards the human character Paul (William Sylvester, Devils of Darkness), in being described as neither alive nor dead after surviving the (pre-film) accident that killed his wife and kids, can be argued as being much more the undead than the primary vampire, Marisa (Aliza Gur).

William Sylvester as Paul

The interesting motifs used can’t prevent the film from being flawed. I said in the original review that “Sylvester doesn’t seem a strong enough actor to carry {the} character exploration forward” and, whilst agreeing with Kim Newman’s observation that he is less hero and more protagonist, my opinion did not shift on this rewatch. As such, despite looking so much better, the 5 out of 10 I gave the film originally remains the same. However, as a physical release the Blu-Ray gets 7.5 out of 10, a generally lovely restoration and some interesting extras. The Blu-Ray is available at Amazon US but the limited slipcase is available when buying directly from Vinegar Syndrome - link live when posted.