Short Film: Nosferatu Rising

This is a short film that director Sean Genders released in 2018 and comes in around he 7-minute mark. I have to thank friend of the blog and correspondent Billy for making me aware of it.

There is not too much to say about this one, after an establishing castle and bats shot, we see four vampire hunters enter the castle and an Orlock styled vampire, credited as Nosferatu (Jac Charlton), high above them.

Inside the castle is a captive woman (Elena Renn) and the hunters have come to save her. They carry pretty steampunk inspired weaponry, for instance a steam powered stake thrower and an illuminated holy water squirter. The vampire has the keys to her manacles, of course. The look of the vampire was really nicely done but the film is pretty dark, murky even. I suspect that was both an aesthetic choice and as a way of obfuscating the joins.

The imdb page is here.

Handbook of the Vampire: Black Vampires and Blaxploitation

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Jerry Rafiki Jenkins the Chapter Page can be found here.

Opening with the thought that “Blaxploitation film history… …is, in part, “a vampire story””, Jenkins' chapter proves to be a solid look at the Black vampire film and the ideas, explored within, of Africanism Vs African American and the concepts of Black Maleness and Femininity. The texts that the author uses are, for the primary ones, Blacula, Scream, Blacula, Scream and Ganja and Hess. Within those there would seem to be more a social connection between Scream, Blacula, Scream and Ganja and Hess then there are between Scream, Blacula, Scream and Blacula, which was interesting in and of itself. I think I would like to have seen Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Spike Lee’s remake or reimagining of Ganja and Hess, at least touched on, though the chapter is not lacking by its absence.

Perhaps a touch more unusual choices as texts were Vampire in Brooklyn and, more so, Def by Temptation - not in terms of content, they fit into argument well – but more in them being texts used less often by authors. There was, I felt, much more room for exploration of the themes that was curtailed simply by word limit and the author has opportunity, I feel, to expand on their themes in much more depth – perhaps even to the point of a monogram and it would certainly be a monogram I would read. Inciteful content and solid writing make this an excellent entry in the Handbook.

Deep Undead – review

Director: Dave Castiglione

Release date: 2005

Contains spoilers

This is a budget flick that has had the Blu-Ray treatment by Vinegar Syndrome and has a respectable score on IMDb, which as you watch you wonder why? In some respects I fear being harsh, after all it was early work by inexperienced filmmakers and writer/director Dave Castiglione came up with a concept that became a brave attempt at, evidentially, biting off more than he could chew. On the other hand, it is a blooming difficult watch.

divers

The film begins with a couple of divers looking around a shipwreck. Kudos to this budget production for pulling off underwater sequences but… this is ten minutes of pretty murky footage of divers round a wreck, with no real narrative driving it. One scares the other and then one clutches their head and, at the end of the sequence, they have both died. This cuts into a news report about spills from a drum of radioactive waste produced by a nuclear power station by the lake.

Pamela Sutch as Megan Flowers

The report is by Megan Flowers (Pamela Sutch), a reporter who believes more is going on there. The report mentions that the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) are investigating. Indeed they have arranged for a diving team, led by Kirk Taylor (David Maul) and contracted to the power company, to go into the lake to find the missing divers. The team fails to do so and Taylor has to go in when it appears his team is in trouble. They end up pulling out their diver, Cujo (Vince Butler), but not finding the bodies. There is, they have discovered, radiation round the wreck and Cujo reports seeing an angel who breathed life into him – and has neck punctures they put down to fishing hooks.

Flowers and Ronnie

Flowers tries to get some info but Kirk ain’t talking. Kirk’s girlfriend Ronnie (Dawn Murphy) is going to the beach with her daughters, Kimberley (Caitlin Morgan) and Lisa (Christina Rose), when Flowers approaches them and manages to get Ronnie talking. She leaves them on the beach just before Lisa gets in trouble in the water and yells that something has hold of her and suggests she has been bitten. Ronnie gets into the water to pull her out – Lisa's leg is caught in a fishing net but the body of a diver bobs up also – and Flowers runs back to the beach, only to be grabbed by someone in hazmat gear.

hospital vampire

Meanwhile Kirk loses his contract with the power company, who offer the divers direct employment for ropey sounding work. Cujo becomes ill and the NRC order a purge of water with the divers still in the system. So, we have conspiracy and big business and regulatory bodies acting rogue… but what about vampires. Well, there is one in the wreck (Debbie D, Vampyre Tales & Requiem for a Vampire) who was bitten by another as the ship wrecked in the 1920s and who has, as far as I can tell, been hibernating until the increased heat of the waters (and, I assume the radiation) woke her. Who is the main vampire? I won’t spoil but will say they sound as though they are a separate species to humanity.

plastic fangs

This is a struggle. The narrative isn’t best communicated and scenes drag on. There are logical lapses aplenty also. However, I can’t take away from the fact that there was an ambitious idea here and a budget film using underwater photography was impressive. Other moments are just bizarre – a vampire visiting another in the hospital and the pov over a pair of plastic boobs was just odd. Similarly, Flowers breaking herself and the kids out of a hospital, meeting up with a conveniently parked Kirk (all with a comment about the kids being safer with them) and then taking them out in a rubber dinghy whilst he night dives to the wreck… well their idea of safety isn’t the one I have. I must also mention the line where Kirk describes his wetsuit as having material that shields radiation, hilarious as it is a suit with no arms leaving them exposed, Flowers buys that, at least. Not great but ambitious, 2.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Terror of the Master – review

Director: Jeff Kirkendall

Release date: 1998

Contains spoilers

A straight to video film now on disc from SRS Home Video this was (according to IMDb) the directorial debut by Jeff Kirkendall and is full of the issues one would expect from a first effort, weirdly off framing being one such issue and just the strangest set of scene timings towards the end. Yet despite this I think it was better than some of his later films (I’ve reviewed the Temptress and the short 3 to Murder).

Maitely Weismann as Drew

It starts with a woman being chained in a cellar and, after the gun toting guys leave the cellar she tests the chains and girder she is chained to, in case she can get away, and then sees a shadowy figure – she screams. In an antique store, after hearing a radio bulletin about the latest in a string of kidnappings of women, a customer goes to the counter and believes she recognises the shopkeeper, Drew (Maitely Weismann), before realising she is also a news anchor on a local news service. The woman confides that she likes Drew better than that Dave Rydell (David Louis).

some odd framing

Why is she working the shop? It appears that it is a family business she co-runs with her sister Amelia (Jennifer Birn, The Temptress and 3 to Murder). Drew mentions her frustration with Dave to her boyfriend Jeff (Jeff Kirkendall, also The Temptress, 3 to Murder, Shadow Tracker: Vampire Hunter) and Sharkula) who councils patience, she’s only been at the station a year and she’ll get her break. He is frustrated with Amelia though, as she has been depressed since splitting with her boyfriend. To be honest there is a pap talk scene between Drew and Amelia, which was meant to establish character and relationship but just kinda dragged – and the film is only 75 minutes long.

a victim

Working in the store again, Drew seems ready to call it a night when a nervous looking woman, Beth (Kelly Chaisson Warner), comes in. She knocks over a cheap ornament, drops something and then leaves. A man’s face appears at the window. The next day Drew is doing a fluff piece for the station and, when she gets back to the office, discovers that a voice mail has been left telling her to be careful, if she goes to the police the woman will die. After she sees Dave’s latest kidnapping editorial she realises that Beth is the latest victim.

Drew, a cop and Ame;ia

She speaks to Amelia and decides to investigate – she dare not go to the police after the threat. Beth dropped a matchbook from a bar and a parking garage chitty and the game is afoot – but doesn’t last too long before Drew is kidnapped also. Amelia tracks her and Dave follows Amelia… And here is our strange timing… Drew is in a trunk of a car and taken to a derelict house… Amelia has been able to follow (but we have no sense that she is in a car)… Dave follows her and calls for a camera… as we cut between scenes it is apparent that it only takes the camera tech Lewis (Tim Hatch, also The Temptress, 3 to Murder, Sharkula and Shadow Tracker: Vampire Hunter) about a minute to get there. The timing is off.

Tony Turcic as Worthall

So, what is going on? Vampire Christopher Worthall (Tony Turcic, also Shadow Tracker: Vampire Hunter) was betrayed by vampire friend Darden Porter (James Carolus, also The Temptress, 3 to Murder and Bloodlust) over a female vampire (Shannon Von Ronne) who was a mutual romantic interest and was killed by hunters. Darden blamed Worthall for her death and poisoned him with strychnine (who knew that was a thing). Weak, Worthall got to the derelict house, to find it occupied by bank robbers and now has had them kidnapping women for him to feed on and get his strength back. Worthall has a line in hissing, long brown nails, fangs and we discover vampires can be killed through decapitation or a shot to the head. There is an ability to mesmerise also.

James Carolus as Darden Porter

The only other notable piece of lore (if you can call it that) is that before you discover his name the optional subtitles call Worthall a ghoul. The film had issues, as I have mentioned but it was actually quite good fun and very earnest. Despite the sisters' conversation moment that dragged, the short run time meant it didn’t overstay its welcome. The VHS transfer is as you would expect but, you know what, if you like straight to home video films there are a lot shoddier films out there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from a masterpiece and 3.5 out of 10 seems fair but you could do worse.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Invasion – review

Director: Shahram Mokri

Release date: 2017

Contains spoilers

This film is the third feature by Iranian auteur Shahram Mokri and it carries themes and techniques from those earlier films as well as creating a hypnotic sci-fi/noir vampire movie. It is thoroughly arthouse and, if such films are not your scene, then you may wish to turn away now. For those still with me the three films all deal with non-linear storytelling where we see the narrative in temporal loops. What this shares with Fish & Cat (2013) is that this was filmed in one take.

Abed Abest as Ali

It opens with a set on intertitles that I’ll reproduce in full: “The darkness started three years ago and the sun has gone from part of the world. To avoid illegal migrations, fences are everywhere. Lots of diseases have spread to many people. But one is especially significant to the authorities. Ali (Abed Abest) is arrested for murdering his friend, Saman. He is taken back by the police to reconstruct the murder scene.” The film takes part in a stadium and dressing room area for a sport that is never quite defined but is suggested as being one unique to the film

Ali and Negar

Ali is brought by the police in order to reconstruct the crime – in total three are dead but it is Saman, whose body is missing, that is the focus. It is suggested that Saman killed the other two team mates. It is revealed that Saman is a vampire and the team were providing blood for him but he started to demand more. To aid the reconstruction(s) Saman’s twin sister Negar (Elaheh Bakhshi) enters the masculine space of the team – an interview with Mokri indicates he chose the sport as a masculine space as it resembles Iran in that regard and he specifically wanted the disruption of putting a woman into that space.

sporting bite marks

It is quite difficult to put a synopsis together for this as it sees the reconstruction repeated but with the perspective shifting. Ali ceases to be himself in the reconstruction, his place taken by others, and he watching or collaborating as others. Negar, it is revealed, would live in a suitcase and she and Saman would trade places so, when Ali has spoken to Saman in the past, he might have been actually speaking to Negar. The demand for extra blood was to satisfy both brother and (without the team knowing it) sister. We do see two of the team with bite marks (I took these as being the murdered pair watching the investigation unfold) and Negar with blood across lips and teeth.

the worm in the pillow

One interesting side part was the primary investigator confiding to Negar that his wife was ill with some kind of unknown disease that as left her bedridden and vegetative. Negar suggests that there are worms that live in pillows that can drink blood from the sleeper’s neck and cause similar symptoms. Towards the end of the film Ali sees, through video, the investigator go to his wife and cut open her pillow. Inside is a large (pillow sized, worm – suggesting a parasite. How this ties to Saman and Negar’s vampirism is not revealed. There isn’t much in the way of lore… we do see vampiric levitation at one point and a vampire killing kit full of stakes (there is a conspiracy to do away with Negar under the noses of the police).

blood at mouth

What you get out of this film will really depend on your kinship with arthouse cinema. I found the film mesmerising and the one-shot technique was beautifully done – especially given the difficulty some of the compact spaces, and larger cast, would have presented compared to the exterior shot Fish & Cat. Some of the lighting is very well done, with greens and reds, and I can only see the interior lighting adding a further layer of difficulty to the task at hand. The technical skills on display demand 7 out of 10 as a minimum, the story is deliberately obscure, the non-linear nature of the temporal loops are something that a viewer will either enjoy or otherwise.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US (part of a collection)

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK (part of a collection)

Short Film: Night Rulers

A short film from director Blake Ridder, who was behind a short Morbius Fan Film (which I’ll feature in the future), this is a 4-minute short and was released in 2022.

It starts with Jess (Sorcha Verey) in a car park, on the phone. As she hangs up, we can tell she feels nervous, aware of a presence. She gets through two sets of fobbed doors into the lift area and, as the lift comes and she gets in, it sounds as though a fob is being used. However, the door shuts and she ascends the building.

When she gets out, she steps onto an open area and a figure moves behind her, she spins baring fangs at the man, Brian (Louis James), who suggests he is "one of you". She questions what he’s talking about when there is a rush and Christina (Sarah Alexandra Marks) leaps over the balcony wall. She has heard Jess’ cry for help (presumably telepathic). Brian doesn’t smell like one, they say – and there is also a denial of the name vampire.

bite

A woman (Julia Hural) comes out for a smoke and this is the opportunity for Brian to prove himself and so, with fangs bared, he fast moves at her and… doesn’t bite… he’s new to this and has never killed anyone. The film has very little substantive story, it feels more proof of concept, but if there is a reason to watch it is the slow-motion bites inflicted by the two female vampires, which are very nicely done.

The imdb page is here.

Handbook of the Vampire: ‘Beyond Humanity’: An Expedition Charting Non-Human Identities

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Adam Owsinki the Chapter Page can be found here.

This was always going to be a tough one for me to look at objectively as it examines those folks who claim to really be vampires. Now, I am cool with people being who they want to be, and I will say it is well written by the author, but my honest opinion is that such folk may have a belief that they are vampires (though some clearly are role players) but the reality is that they are creating a construct and they do not physically need blood. The author ties them in to the general “Otherkin” heading – which involves claims of all sorts of internal identities and, at least, addresses the point that claims within such communities are more often driven by media than by folklore and there is an inherent tendency to adopt things that were simply invented by an artist when plying their craft.

The author breaks down several types of vampires, namely psychic, sanguine, false sanguine, vegetarian, hybrid and lifestylers. The latter, of course, are role playing, they are creating an aesthetic drawn from favourite media vehicles. I was interested to see the author trace psychic vampires, or the use of the name at least, to Anton LeVay but what he described, as the author concedes, were not actual energy sucking vampires. I think it safe to say LeVay could have replaced "psychic vampire" for "narcissist". Although she (Dion Fortune) didn’t use the phrase "psychic vampire", I think Owsinki would have been better reaching as far back as Dion Fortune and her Psychic Self-Defence volume, which speaks of a belief in actual energy feeders.

When it comes to sanguine and false sanguine vampires, then the distinction the author draws is that false sanguine vampires are the so-called vampire killers. Sometimes dubbed vampires in the press, sometimes modelling themselves on vampires, the actual cases do go much further back than touched on – certainly one cannot forget such killers as Peter Kürten and Fritz Haarmann in the 1920s or the 19th century, press-dubbed, Vampire of Montparnasse Sergeant François Bertrand. His crimes included corpse mutilation and necrophilia. That these are “false” vampires is a bias in argument that sees the positive in ethical sanguine vampires equating to a truth, where arguably those who display unethical and criminal activity are closer to some versions of the folkloric vampire. Having mentioned Bertrand it would be remiss not to mention that this chapter does not touch on sexuality as a driver for building a vampire identity, yet those who associate blood consumption and sexuality have been reported on, for an early instance we could look to Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis (1886) though the word vampire is not conflated with the phenomena in that volume.

Of all of them, the term vegetarian vampire is perhaps the strangest and the author mentions the fact that consumption of animal blood (rather than human) is starkly out with actual vegetarianism. I have used the term myself, describing fictional vampires with ethical concerns about their feeding, of course.

As mentioned, this was well written and for those with a genuine interest in the phenomena it is a good primer that maintains a sympathetic view to non-human identification. Having tried, in the past, to be open to people self-identifying as vampires, I find I do struggle as it feels like a mental construct patched together from films but it appears that the construct does good for the individual concerned, and so long as dangerous activities are ethical and consensual, who am I to judge?