By
Kristin Battestella
For
our seventh vampire viewing list, here's a quartet mixing Old World
and new, past and present, feminine frights and demure galore. ¡Ay
caramba!
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night – The black and white patina
of this 2014 Persian language spooky invokes a specific fifties or
spaghetti western mood. Retro cars, big old TVs, and greaser styles
are transposed to a modern, mid-century rundown and post-industrial
bleak with kids begging on the street, unusual hookers, an old man
injecting “medicine” between his toes, and icky drug dealers.
Arash is already paying for his father's mistakes and taking
guff from the rich – but a deadly vamp with a demonic voice and a
belying angelic appearance rolls into town, cleaning up Dodge and
making things better for the downtrodden. Fine scoring with carnival
music touches and rhythmic, edgy throwbacks contrast the stillness
and topsy turvy gender roles, for the fallen pimp, collapsing father
figure, and absent mothers have created a vacuum for our eponymous
mystery and the dark power hidden under her chador. We know the fangs
and deservedly gruesome will happen amid the slow build drama or drug
and sex frenzy but not when, leaving brief squishing effects, mild
blood splatter, and attacking crescendos to speak for the minimal
dialogue. A well-behaved stray cat parallels the titular feline
predatory, yet sardonic skateboarding adds humor. Arash dresses up as
Dracula, gets some bad ecstasy, and meets the real thing but retains
his innocence and kindness among the cruelty – the simplicity of
homemade ear piercings is much more charming compared to today's wham
bam sex or moon eyes romance. It's an unconventional mix of straight
drama and simmering horror, however at times writer and director Ana
Lily Amirpour seems unsure which storyline is priority. The quirky
vignettes and dialogue are nice while other scenes are pointless and
the silence or music does more. This should have been a short feature
or a limited series – viewers want to know The Girl better but this
picture can't rely on earlier unseen shorts or companion comic books.
With 100 minutes to fill here, the structure should have been
tighter, perhaps with labeled character chapters and our vamp in both
senses of the word connecting them. A sagging middle dampens the
impact of critical scenes, and this feels more indie cool than truly
foreign film – it's almost faux foreign with no real cultural
references. Audiences accustomed to frights a minute will also be
disappointed in the handful of horror moments amid the isolated
interplay and justifiable girl power. Fortunately, this unusual world
gets better as the protagonists go forth. Her bad frees his bad, is
that a good or bad thing? There really should be a vampire drama
category, and despite its flaws, this unique tale using horror to
address social contradictions is worth a look. And there's a Bee Gees
poster, people. ¡The
Bee Gees!
Kiss of the Damned – This 2013 vampire tale feels much older
thanks to a seventies style opening, video stores, Old World names,
European accents, retro clothes, and bonus Montgomery Clift movies on
the television. Ominous music, moody candlelight, and a bleak seaside
house foreshadow the blood spilling to come, and the property comes
complete with an un-tempting, blood disorder maid taking phone
messages for her mistress – a lonely translator who's never
available during the day and indisposed until evening thanks to a
“medical condition” where she can't be exposed to sunlight. Wink.
Intercut, handicam vamp violence and edgy, intrusive music or
over-emphasizing flashes, however, are unnecessary, and melancholy
pain with choice pop moments or ironic classical cues do better. Blue
lighting, headlights, and golden interiors accent nighttime filming,
creating a stylish mature alongside the frank conversations
addressing how to chain a girl to the bed. Sexy turned killer teeth,
wild eyes, askew angles, and violent thrashing elevate the alluring
but dangerous as the heavy petting escalates in spite of the
consequences. Reluctant Djuna knows this romance could be doomed, but
Paolo wants to get sucked dry at both ends. (¿¡?!)
Such erotic yet creepy may be too weird for some, but this realistic
vampire relationship is refreshing and fast moving – the vampire
turning happens early and the entire picture isn't a dying for love
question. More time is taken for the lifestyle details on living
forever, heightened senses, and the charming couple that preys
together stays together. Problematic sisters and centuries old
sibling rivalry parallel the role reversals and too good to be true
good vampire behaviors. Biting on the club scene versus love and
living posh, sisters forgetting their mother's face, cocktail parties
and a close knit vampire community discussing why inferior humans
reign and synthetic blood isn't FDA approved – there's just enough
gore and blood to recognize the messy brimming beneath the gilded
surface. The tense debate on whether they are monsters or not and why
they shouldn't self-loath gets better as it goes on with bloody slip
ups, saucy conflicts, sunlight perils, and deliberate virgin blood
trickery. Although some scoring and editing are rough around the
edges and debut writer and director Xan Cassavetes packs a lot of
flash early on in the film to lure audiences, the likable cast and
fine drama don't need anything else. This would have made a fine long
form series, and I'm glad the vampire genre is growing up again with
films like this.
The Vampire – With such a confusingly plain title, I had to
look up this 1957 Mexican horror El Vampiro starring
Abel Salazar and German Rubles to make sure I hadn't already seen it.
Fortunately, there's no mistaking the foggy villa courtyards, Gothic
Victorian interiors, hypnotic eyes, and fangs afoot here. This
original tale gets right to the screams and neck nibbles, and the
black and white patina perfectly matches the don't go out after
sunset warnings. Even the fake bat doesn't feel hokey amid the
fifties train and ingenue in white visiting her sick spinster aunt.
The boxes of soil from Hungary, suspicious cape-wearing count, and
carriage at the crossroads may seem Stoker-esque to start, however
there are some undead surprises – and an older aunt who remains
young and reflection-less but thinks all this vampire talk is
ridiculous. Torches and tolling bells invoke some medieval funerary
alongside crypts, superstitions, and fearful folk crossing
themselves. The recently late are buried with crucifix in hand while
creepy crescendos accent the phantom ladies in black about the
cemetery. Ghostly effects, well-framed shadows, and spooky lighting
schemes heighten the ruinous haciendas as well as the suspenseful
count and his then-shocking vampire bites – sudden falling books or
slamming doors also help build the dangerous mood unlike today's fake
out jump scares. Rather than detract from the horror, just the right
amount of humor and a whiff of romance accent the fine dialogue –
although despite DVD commentaries and a variety of caption or audio
options, the English subtitles don't exactly match the español.
Secret passages, dusty books,
and otherworldly singing provide more flavor for a wild finale
combining stakes, sunlight, and fire. To be sure, this toothy little
number wins with heaps of atmosphere.
The Vampire's Coffin – Salazar and company returned for this
1958 sequel aka El Ataud
del Vampiro, and the two
pictures can be found together
on the generically named The Vampire Collection
set for more howling cemeteries, grave robbers, and disturbed vampire
tombs. Of course, it's amazingly
easy for two men to remove such heavy headstones and take a giant
coffin to the local hospital for a scientific study, but hey, me want
that sweet fifties Hearst! Skeletal reflections, giant wooden stakes
– the Gothic creepy moves into unexplained science territory but
the old fashioned hospital retains a gray, mod feeling with scared
kids and a cross above the bed. What can modern medicine do compared
to a determined monster? Sharp shadows and dark angles add
Expressionism accents while staircases and noir pursuits akin a Val
Lewton aesthetic. Although a missing vampire about the ward could be
laughable, spooky effects, a dark cape, and hypnotized victims add
macabre. There is, however, a lacking finesse here thanks to a busy
narrative crowded with swanky theater glamour and gruesome wax museum
hideouts. Disbelieving medical directors, ritzy routines, and torture
devices are all well and good on their own, but one moody, fully
embraced locale would have been better. Convenience and poorly
choreographed fights aside, the fun finale packs in plenty of
rituals, chases, and guillotines, as you do. Ironically, it feels
like pieces of this film are borrowed in more recent cliché horror,
and despite a general bloodlessness and try hard approach, bared
fangs and la sangre talk
keep up the theme.
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