Director: Robbie Lopez Release date:2023 Contains spoilers It is a bad sign when I have to rewatch a film, that I had been watching for review, because I fell asleep first watch. I mean, I am a man of a certain age but most vampire films, no matter how poor, keep my attention locked and my eyes open. I think, as well see, the issue with this film was the lack of cohesive narrative. opening After a production credit that borrows the Marvel production music we get a negative silhouette animation telling the story of Ambrigio who goes to Delphi, consults the Oracle, falls in love ..read more

Art and story: Shin'ichi Sakamoto First published: 2024 (UK) Contains spoilers The Blurb: In this beautiful, evocative, and often surreal retelling of Dracula, a fearsome enemy comes from the east, bringing with it horrors the likes of which have never been seen in the British Empire. Standing opposed are Wilhelmina “Mina” Murray and her stalwart companions, united in a cabal that eclipses gender, nationality, and station until they can achieve victory. The lines between reality and fiction blur as Count Dracula’s influence grows within the halls of Whitby School. The arrival of the ecce ..read more

Author: E.H. Drake Release date: 2024 Contains spoilers The Blurb: How does one deal with life after death when death doesn’t seem any different… except the need for blood? As Gabe struggles with his new reality, Lily avoids all her responsibilities to him. But soon, their newest investigation makes confrontation inevitable. They are forced to run from human authorities and the vampire Court, all to protect a new comrade. Can the two resolve their differences and come together for the common good? The review: This is the sequel to Blood Herring and the second of the trilogy. We meet Lily ..read more

Director: Tim Sullivan Release date: 1999 Contains spoilers A shot on video flick from the late nineties, this is ghosting around on VHS (and had a DVD release at one point) and it is really from the low budget stables. It looks dreadful nowadays but there is a suggestion that the lighting was interesting once-upon-a-time, at the very least, and it has some interesting plot aspects. It starts with headlights and a sign that suggests an open house viewing but only at night. The car comes to a halt and Frank (Richard Marks, The Malibu Beach Vampires) gets out of the car and knocks at the d ..read more

Director: Fred Olen Ray Release date: 2022 Contains spoilers This one was suggested by my friend Leila but I did already have it on my Tubi watch list. In fairness I can see a fair argument to suggest this is not Vamp. We get flesh eating, but not particularly blood/fluid/essence eating and the transformation might be likened as much to a fish-like lycanthrope as a vampire. But I have decided to accept it, for no other reason that it contains vampiric breasts. Also the director is Fred Olen Ray, who is a stalwart of both low budget horror generally and vampire films specifically and so I ..read more

From the Junji Ito Collection comes this short anime recreation of the manga Rumors This episode first aired in 2018 and, as I mentioned in the look at the manga, the majority of the story follows Soichi making up rumours about himself and spreading them around school. Part of this involves him pinning up a lipstick advert in the schoolroom that features Miss Fuchi, the unheimlich or even monstrous model who made her first appearance in the manga Fashion Model. The impact on the schoolkids is immediate and creates fertile ground for Soichi to spread rumours that she is in town and terrorisi ..read more

Now the wendigo (or windigo, in this) is an odd one in that it originates from Native American myth and thus is not the standard, undead, vampire. It is, however, cannibalistic and whilst sometimes drawn as an antlered spirit is also sometimes drawn as a person. It is safe to say it has crossover into the vampire myth/archetypes, especially when drawn by filmmakers, and is worth looking at on a case-by-case basis. When it comes to this 1981 Canadian film, directed by Jim Makichuk it is more difficult as the film is more a slasher than anything else and we see little of the windigo (John Mac ..read more

Director: Anubys Lopez Release date: 2023 Contains spoilers Perhaps I have been doing this for too long or perhaps punches are broadcast too far in advance but I kind of knew from just title and trailer that Aged was going to be vampiric in nature. What I didn’t know, of course, was just how we were going to get there. What we did get was a slice of American Gothic that reached back into the past to create a sense of uncanniness. Some aspects were a little on the nose but they worked if you just accepted them for what they are and accepted that our protagonist was virtually ignoring them ..read more

Director: Jemaine Clement First aired: 2022 Contains spoilers A return to Wellington Paranormal a spin-off series of What We Do in the Shadows. Season 1 had a vampire episode and this episode comes from season 3 and features an energy vampire (though one very different to Colin Robinson from the more famous, vampire-based spin-off that kept the name What We do in the Shadows). Wellington Paranormal follows the cops O’Leary (Karen O'Leary) and Minogue (Mike Minogue) who, under the guiding hand of Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu), form the Paranormal Unit of the police force (a very unofficia ..read more

Director: Donald Farmer & ors. Release date: 2023 Contains spoilers This is an anthology film, as well as a nunsploitation, and the IMDb page lists a whole load of directors including schlock meister Donald Farmer. Given that the segment I’m reviewing this for was recycled into (I assume, though this could be the recycled piece) Farmer’s flick Debbie Does Demons then I assume he was responsible for the segment. stake After an opening with a medieval warrior carrying a pendant, running through woods and finished off in a stream by (revealed to be vampire) nuns, the segment ..read more