Kiss if the Vampire (1963) directed by Don Sharp

This was originally ment to go into the Hammer Dracula series but ended up it's own film instead. It is notable for swerving away from the typical vampire formula by having a coven of them led by a charismatic leader. There are with elements in the story as well.

A young couple gets caught up in a vampire cult when the leader of the cult takes a shine to the wife and arranges to befriend them as a ruse to kidnap her. at a masked ball he has one of group wear the same mask as her husband and lure her into a locked room. The guy is a good 5 inches taller than the husband but she fell for it anyway. There is a Van Helsing like character of sorts. A drunken man whose daughter has also fallen victim to the undead cult gets the husband t help him get both their family members free by calling 100s of vampire bats to attack the coven and kill them. This makes as much sense watching it as it did you reading it. 

The film looks good and while it's plot goes all over the place it's novel enough to keep your attention and only drags now and then. probably not something you would want to go back to over and over, though. 

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) directed by E. Elias Merhige

 I saw this film in the cinema on release and remembered liking it quite a bit. Seeing again recently, I realized I forget how good it really is. Basically a comedy with some tension and drama thrown in, the movie is a "what if" sort of story positing that when Murnau filmed the silent classic Nosferatu, he used a real vampire. 

I originally was tempted to the cinema because Eddie Izzard was in it and his small role does merit going to see it the film but it's Willem Defoe who shines and stands out as the vampire. His appearance is beyond perfect and he without doubt spent some time studying Max Schreck in the original role - copying his physicality and postures to perfection. Murnau has told the cast and crew that Defoe is a method actor and will appear only at night and in full make-up, never dropping character for the entirety of the production. His odd behaviour and attacks on crew members quickly brings a few to conclude that he is, fact, a member of the undead. Thing like pulling a bat in flight out of the air and eating in front of people was a clue for example, though in that case Udo Kier's character simply states... "Max, you must be the greatest actor ever!"

The vampire seems to be under the control of Murnau through most of the runtime but it becomes clear that is not the case by the end. Defoe manages to go from comic to genuinely terrifying in a split second and the stakes change completely. 

Quirky might not cover how odd this film is and you will have to sit through a rather long opening credits sequence before the movie starts but it's all worth it.  As a little extra info,  Nicolas Cage produced this film and was to play Schreck but gave the role to Defoe when he showed interest. Good choice! 

Nosferatu (2024) directed by Robert Eggers

 

This long awaited remake of the 1922 classic film by Murnau was finally released Christmas day this year. The plot is not different from the original but the details and execution make this film very much it's own thing. A real estate agent is sent to meet a certain Count Orlock in in the carpathian mountains to sell him a property for a large sum of money. He arrives, and Orlock is an undead creauture that decides it will take control of the agent's new wife. The agent escapes and gets back home just before Orlock to warn his wife, who because of her odd connection to the monster already knows he is coming. The rest of the film is a race to destroy the menace somehow before the entire village dies from him or the plague he has brought with him. 

Spoilers: 

I was not sure this would work. I saw The North man and it was OK, but basically had the same plot as Conan the Barbarian. It was well filmed with great performances but had its faults. Luckily, this movie is not a copy of the original and keeps away from many of the expressionistic trapping of that one (though not all of them which is good) and relies much more on true gothic horror and the folklore of the Carpathian region involving vampires to create something new and terrifying for a modern audience. Orlock is really nothing like Max Schreck in the silent version physically. Schreck has a slim monstrous beauty in a way. Bill Skarsgård is a walking corpse with a voice that give you nightmares and is unrecognizable in any way from his real life appearance and voice. The original was considered one of the most scary films at the time due in most part to the look of Nosferatu and this new version gives us a new image to lose sleep over. 

Visually I also had some trepidation. Eggers is a master of camerawork and transitions and I am always afraid he will slip into something that looks great and takes me out of the film. He doesn't do that, in fact i would say as fantastic as the cinematography is, it stays in service of the story from start to end - pulling the viewer through the events until the conclusion. Too many films look like video game segments with sweeping impossible camera moves that are far too smooth and really distracting. See The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for example and almost any new horror movie. This film lives in its darkness and takes you into it without dragging you along, you go willingly and it's seamless. 

The sound design in the film is great. I didn't notice the soundtrack much to be honest but there are all sorts of crazy, disturbing noises woven into the shots that add to the fear and sense of unrest.

The folklore has to be addressed since Eggers is famous for his research and Nosferatu has some nice nods to the actual legends rarely seen. A horse is used to find the grave of a vampire and I've only seen that in the disappointing Dracula with Frank Langella. They use iron stakes, nice touch! The vampires are walking rotted corpses not sexy teenagers. Nosferatu is pure evil, without morals or a dumb backstory to make you "understand him better". 

The cast is all stellar. Skarsgård  is the stand out, he can't help but be and Lily-rose Depp really gets her role and her character as well as manages to freak you out with her fits of hysteria as they were called. I was hoping Willem Defoe would be Nosferatu before production started as he was so good in the role in "Shadow of the Vampire" but he was better as the eccentric vampire hunter, a role that recently I have come to really detest how it is interpreted. Francis Ford Coppola had Anthony Hopkins as a mean, perverted Van Helsing and Laurence Olivier's turn at the part was cold and underwhelming. This was a good balance of dedicated and crazy. 

As a life long fan of the Murnau film, I can say I was impressed by this version and I also love the Herzog version which is, again, a totally different take on the same story. Believe it not, a lighter version. Eggers brought the silent film into today while keeping it's look and feel firmly rooted in the past and gothic horror traditions. it could have easily gone over the top or into cliché after cliché but made it's own way instead. This is a bleak, tense often violent film so it is not for everyone and not for anyone who wants anything that resembles most vampire tales. If you want the real deal don't miss it. 

Dracula Rising (1993) Directed by Fred Gallo

Somehow, this guy is NOT Dracula in this movie! 

 

What a mess this movie is! Christopher Atkins of Blue lagoon fame is Dracula? Sure, though his monk "buddy" is more Dracula like and is the actual bad guy in this film. 

Not sure I can describe the "plot" most of the movie takes place in flashbacks, like 80% of it. This gives the excuse to show Atkins as the young hot Dracula with his soon to be burnt alive love having sex and swimming naked at some waterfall with full frontal. I guess they had to reference Blue Lagoon somehow. He has a monk pal who is also sexy and whips him when he is bad or immoral or something... it's VERY homoerotic. 

Anyway they both become vampires and to be honest I couldn't follow the path to that with all the flashbacks and the friend coming across more as Dracula than Dracula as they carry their feud/relationship? into modern day with the obligatory reincarnation of Vlad's old flame. She ends up in a flaming car by Dracula saves her and... I can't even remember. No one is good in their roles though they all look hot which I think is the point, maybe the only point to make this in the first place. 

Morbius (2022) Directed by Daniel Espinosa

Based on the Marvel comic this is marvel's latest attempt to add supernatural characters into their marvel Superhero universe. The "living vampire' appeared in the 1998 film "Blade"  briefly and that film is on schedule for a new reboot. Having succeeded adding Dr Strange into their stable of heroes successfully this was the next step as they mull around the idea of adding "Werewolf by night", the aforementioned "Blade" and possible "Tomb of Dracula" in future. This film isn't as successful as Strtange and while it's not a bad film it isn't all that great either. 

The main issue is the all too cliché plot and characters. The actors are all fine in the roles but they are not given anything new or unusual to do. I actually predicted almost all the plot beats within 5 minutes of the film starting and was not wrong about any of them. The effects are very good and some of the visuals are pretty cool but they don't add anything to the story. 

This is an obvious movie made to set up their universe for other movies. It doesn't really even come to any sort of solid conclusion and so much is left unexplained it just feels unfinished and a tease by the end. A tease for what? I have to say I am not even slightly curious.