Diva Satänica – review

Words and Art: BRÄO

First published: 2025

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: She’s an urban legend. A whispered name.
Some call her Medusa. Others, The Queen of Evil. The Lady in Black.
Vampire? Witch? Demon? No one knows for sure.
But one thing is certain. No one leaves her mansion alive.


And yet, people still go searching for her.
Why? Because she promises you the greatest night of pleasure you’ve ever known… in exchange for your life.


In this haunting tale, we follow Jonathan, a lonely, aimless man consumed by addiction. A string of strange, possibly supernatural encounters leads him to the legend of Diva Satänica, and what begins as curiosity soon becomes obsession.

Rendered entirely in stunning, hand-painted watercolour across 68 full-colour pages, Diva Satänica is a seductive, violent, and deeply atmospheric exploration of desire, death, and dark myth.

The review: This was a comic book I backed via a kickstarter, in its digital form, and it is a great piece of comic art. Pretty simple in its storytelling – a predator who hunts lonely men via a darkweb adult site, there perhaps is a simile with the film Succubus in the idea that she uses an electronic medium to hunt (and seems to have a supernatural control over that medium). She lures the men to her, though that may involve stepping between worlds also, with the promise of a sexual encounter.

This is absolutely beautiful and the creature, known as the Lady in Black, is described in comic both as a vampire and as a succubus. It is apparent that she needs blood in order to climax. The story itself has some adult themes (obviously, given the story as outlined) and some adult illustrations – so take that into account – but beyond the story, the joy of this has to be the wonderful, atmospheric artwork. 7 out of 10. The comic is available from Afterlight comics.

Succubus {2024} – review

Director: R.J. Daniel Hanna

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

Seen on the big screen at Grimmfest 2024, this is (by its very title) about a succubus but the succubus is using both flesh and spirit of victims to strengthen herself and become a corporeal reality. In such a way her actions are vampiric. The film also does a neat line in using virtual relationships along with a commentary on our interconnected and camera filled world (the film could have veered down a found footage route but, thankfully, avoided it and instead does have some footage moments but is a narrative film.

Ron Perlman as Zephyr

That said the opening footage is a recording and it features Dr. Orion Zephyr (Ron Perlman) talking to his wife and saying if the footage is found then it means that he is dead. He talks of his controversies, which will have hurt her, but says that she must publish his research – even if it is just given away free on the net. He leaves his car (cutting to a narrative camera), gets an axe and then heads on foot, limping, to a farm house.

Chris and Sharon

Chris (Brendan Bradley, Death Valley) is at home with the baby, but it is not currently an ideal family life. His son has been dropped off, whilst his estranged wife Sharon (Olivia Grace Applegate, Blood Fest) attends a hen night – they have been separated for two weeks. The cracks in their marriage seem mostly down to him. He started an app business but overstretched and is in debt. The stress of the business saw him neglect her.

meeting Adra online

Sharon is out with Charlisse (Emily Kincaid), who is divorced from Chris’ best friend Eddie (Derek Smith). Eddie has persuaded Chris to go on a dating app (even though he actually does still love Sharon) and he matches, at first, with a mutual friend and then gets a match from a mysterious girl called Adra (Rachel Cook). At first he suspects a scam. She initiates a video chat but types as he speaks (she has lost her voice, she says) and has a filter over her face. However, he becomes convinced she is real (and she attempts to have him visit her). Faux pas with Sharon, such as her seeing him masturbating on the nanny cam in the nursery (to a video Adra sends) and reactions when she looks noticeably aged on a video call – manipulated we assume by Adra.

bio-mass

How? Well Adra is the succubus and has selected Chris. She wants his cells (as she puts it) and there is a possession aspect to this, in order to infect and use sperm to help bring her corporeally into reality (or so it is implied). Yet she is corporeal… sort of… we see a video of a goat birthing a deformity (described by Zephyr as her first attempt to enter our world)… we also see her physically as a bio-mass (whether there is more to it, we don’t see) that devours a victim whilst copulating with it. We also see her in devil form.

demon form

However it is clear she can manipulate the virtual – with her female form that flirts with Chris. She can also manipulate when people are in an altered state – be that during sex, through substance, hypnosis or dreams. She is able to do this through a digital interface too and trap a victim in the altered state and unable to return to their conscious body. All this is really clever but there are bits that seem frustratingly unanswered.

Brendan Bradley as Chris

Zephyr is described as having hurt her and one assumes that is tied to the opening, but what he was doing there is never answered beyond what we saw in the prologue. If he did damage her corporeal form then how did she get to the house she is currently based in? How did Zephyr know that Chris was in touch with her and how he might get hold of him? These are frustrations but they are not insurmountable. In truth they were more apparent when I watched for review than they were on first watch in the festival.

coming between them

Well-acted by the leads, a moment of body horror, and a really neat use of the virtual world meeting the supernatural. This is a good film that perhaps needed a little bit more in the aspects mentioned but nevertheless I think is worth a watch. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Swap – review

Director: Dallas King

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

With a tagline of “Fifty Shades of Red”, one knows what we’re going to get from this and, whilst it is not hardcore, folks going in need to realise what they’re going to get and make their viewing choice based on that. Now, overall, this was competent but what I was left with was a question as to “why vampires?” It is not as though the vampirism isn’t front and central, it is, and there is an aspect of the ending that relies on the genre but the same film could have been made as a sex/jealousy story without vampires and not really changed the broad direction. Part of the issue is that things were left unsaid.

Kayla and Rad

So, it starts with sex, touching and becoming more passionate as the scene goes on. The couple are Kayla (Jessica Lelia Greene) and Rad (James Eastwood). Towards the end she chokes him and he reacts badly to it, having to make her stop. This underlines an issue in their relationship, one that is doubled down on when she talks about exploring, not getting stale, threesomes and another couple. He makes it very clear he does not want that (and considers it cheating).

Rad and Kayla

What we discover later is that he is a cop – there is mention of an investigation and so we get the idea that there is something going on with his career but the film does not expand or follow up on this. His reaction sours things and he goes for a shower, when he gets out she is doing naked yoga, but although his mood improves, she reminds him they are leaving in 30 minutes… Leaving is to go and visit her best friend Glory (Erin Anne Gray) and her new fiancé (3rd one) Angelo (Dallas King). When they get there, there is no answer at the front door.

shadow of wings

They go round the back, find an open sliding door and go in. There is sex noise, and they spy Glory and Angelo having vigorous sex at a pool table. At times she calls him “Daddy” at others she says “no”. They move away, though Rad is slow to (playing into the accusation of him being a voyeur later and though he suggests he nearly intervened at hearing her objections, dismissed by her as role play, it does seem he merely watches). We notice that Angelo (at least) has noticed but ignored them and, when out of Rad’s view, his shadow sprouts wings (there isn’t much done with shadows through the remaining film). So, what’s going on…

turning Kayla

Glory and Kayla used to be wild together and have been lovers as well as friends. Glory met Angelo at a swinger’s party and he has turned her. They want to turn the couple – but vampirism is not mentioned at first, just sex. Rad is not into that scene. Indeed after dinner the first night, in the pool as things becomes heated, he ends up punching Angelo. The ensuing argument between Rad and Kayla does not include him reminding her that he explicitly stated, that very morning, that he was not willing to contemplate group sex. That night Glory turns Kayla (consensually, though one questions just how much she understood what she consented to) this involves drinking Angelo’s blood from a bottle and a very well-done bite scene.

sunlight is no issue

So, vampires. They can go out in daylight and say they rarely drain but do, occasionally, drink blood. They actually feed on pleasure and Angelo states that they are not vampires, rather the source of the legend, and calls their “race” hedons – as in hedonists. Now here is where things needed expanded on – a bite turns (draining kills) but it is apparent that drinking a hedon’s blood is needed too. It is also apparent that the intention is that Angelo will die, passing on his knowledge and memories to Rad (or if the gift is refused he’ll drain Rad and get another 100 years of life, suggesting a direct need for blood as well as energy derived from hedonistic pleasure). The blurb suggests that Angelo is 500 but the dialogue suggests 4000. Why does he want to die? The dialogue doesn’t tell us and this is where the film fails…

hedon's eyes

I was left not knowing why Angelo wishes to pass the gift on and die and his manner does not suggest anything. He admits to having watched Rad and Kayla for two months and Glory is unsure of Rad’s suitability. Angelo says his relative innocence means the gift will mean more (ropey reasoning) but I find it difficult to see why Angelo thinks this uptight cop would want to turn/change his sexual preferences. I find it even more difficult to see why a 4000-year-old being would think 2-months observation and a couple of day’s interaction would be enough to deem him suitable. Overall the vampire story needed way much more expansion – the paper thin detail makes it feel tacked on even though the ending relies on it. There are style over substance moments, such as the rippling glass of a touched mirror once Angelo’s blood has been drunk, with no reason why but panache.

fangs

The photography worked, the performances were ok (though as writer/director/performer it appears as much fantasy fulfilment as film making on King’s part) but we needed more depth and that includes character depth as well as vampirism backstory depth. Why, for instance, was Rad so nonchalant at Angelo using cocaine (yes cops might turn a blind eye, but would he – we don’t know but his uptight nature suggests he wouldn't). Overall the vampirism could have been stripped out and a semi-erotic flick about sexual experimentation would have been much the same film. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

The Curious Dr. Humpp – review

Directors: Emilio Vieyra & Jerald Intrator

Release date: 1969

Contains spoilers

I had, of course, heard of this Argentinean exploitation film but I had never got around to watching it. But then Simon Bacon contacted me and let me know that it is, in fact, a vampire film. A sex vampire, but a vampire nonetheless. Normally I’d thank folks for putting me on the trail of a new-to-me old vampire film, but this time – with the greatest love and respect – we can blame Simon for this one.

Aldo Barbero as Dr Zoid

Co-director Emilio Vieyra actually helmed the earlier, and more traditional, vampire film Blood of the Virgins - a sexploitation film. This film failed the sexploitation test when distributed to America as the US distributors felt the need to add 17-minutes of additional “sexy” footage – mostly around the lesbian couple and the orgiastic hippies.

Gloria Prat as the stripper

The intro is odd in and of itself. We see feet, a couple kissing, chloroform in a monstrous hand and the couple grabbed by uniformed people (faces unseen) and put in a hearse-like ambulance. Then we have a montage of a lesbian couple, a drunk guy, an onanistic woman, orgiastic hippies and a club stripper (Gloria Prat, Blood of the Virgins). They are all got by a monster (or perhaps a man in a mask, as it looks just like a mask). The club stripper scene is the strangest as the creature enters the club, sits and watches at first, with apparently no shock from the rest of the clientele.

the monster

There have been 10 kidnappings in ten days we discover, as reporter Horacio Funes (Ricardo Bauleo, also Blood of the Virgins) meets with Inspector Benedict (Héctor Biuchet). Benedict is not happy with the coverage the reporter has given his investigation (and yet works with him all the way through). Funes is associating the disappearances with a case 30 years before in Italy. Their first proper clue comes from a barman (Justin Martin, also Blood of the Virgins) who remembers the strange looking fellow in the club.

Susana Beltrán as nurse Enfermera

Meanwhile we meet Dr Zoide (Aldo Barbero) or Humpp. He has created the monster (in fact he has a veritable army of them, and is experimenting with sexuality by giving the kidnap victims aphrodisiacs and having them have sex. This process leads to him extracting an essence and he needs that essence to survive. In fact, we see his hand having corrupted and then restored by the essence. This then is the vampiric element – the extracted essence created through extreme sexual activity literally keeps him alive he says. In fact nurse Enfermera (Susana Beltrán, also Blood of the Virgins), who has a thing for him, says “Oh, please...use my body to keep you alive!” Enquiring about one couple she suggests that she can be used again but he has no more essence and is spent – his body is disposed of in a furnace suggesting death is the final consequence of the extraction.

free-range kidnappees

Beyond this we get a talking brain in a jar (the original Doctor, and Humpp was his first experiment meaning the essence is also keeping him young some 30 years on), a strange scene where the free-range kidnappees are in the garden whilst the main monster strums a transparent string instrument, with the same ‘emotionless’ monster falling for the stripper and Humpp’s undoing when he captures Funes and the reporter's sexual prowess not only attracts the stripper but makes nurse Enfermera fall for him and consequentially betray Humpp.

rapid decay

Yes, it is a very strange film. It is also not very good and yet there is something morbidly fascinating about it. There is quite a bit of naked flesh and softcore sex – especially through the added bits. The monster (and his brethren) looks blooming awful. The story chops are bad (for instance, sending the monster to the pharmacy for aphrodisiac ingredients and then Humpp going himself after the brain said not to as he’d get caught) and we get a poorly executed rapid decay that reminds the viewer that this is a vampire film. And yet, and yet, there is something about this to the point that 2.5 out of 10 is more than it deserves but is the score it gets.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Siren X – review

Director: Hideo Jôjô

Release Date: 2008

Contains spoilers

Siren X ticks the boxes of being a pinku eiga film – the Japanese form that lies somewhere between a softcore film and sexploitation. It is just over an hour long, has some (rather tamely portrayed) sex scenes (whether enough to be a pinku eiga is debatable but there are a few), is terribly low budget and looks to have been filmed on a low-end camera.

In this case, whilst we have a siren, she is a very unusual vampire who, as she says “has to suck sperm and desire to maintain… …life”. This makes her a sexual vampire who needs both a physical and energy feeding medium.

the crew

It begins with a van driving to a remote lake outside Tokyo. This is the crew of the “documentary” series Mini-Skirt Adventures. The premise is that they hunt phenomena such as ghosts and UFOs with anchor Mamimi (Yuria Hidaka) wearing a mini-skirt with fan service up-skirt shots being the hook for the programme. As well as Mamimi there is director, and Mamimi’s boyfriend, Hayami (Eiji Nakamura), cameraman Yamada (Takashi Naha) and Yohei (Yûya Matsuura) who is almost a dogsbody who creates low budget sfx for the show to pass off as real phenomena.

filming

It is amusing that an under-current within the show is Mamimi’s reluctance to front it and be exploited for her body (given that she is a female character in a pinku eiga film). The lake is said to be haunted and they, at one point, put Yohei in the water (wearing a wig and dress). We see the siren behind him, they do not. Having filmed in the woods (and found a skull, which is real and not the prop Hayami assumes Yohei planted). A storm breaks and they seek shelter at a nearby house.

feeding the crew

The house is home to Reika (Yuma Asami) – who, of course, is the siren. She feeds the crew but after a row between Mamimi and Hayami, the starlet runs away. Hayami and Yohei go after her – but she flags down a passing van and leaves the place. Meanwhile Reika has come on to Yamada. The other two crew members return to the house and see the two together and Hayami starts to film them but strange things occur and then white material spews from Yamada’s mouth and Reika kisses it away as Yamada dies. She approaches the other two asking who is next but they run and drive away.

feeding at the neck

The two men (to a greater and lesser extent) are haunted by the memory of Reika who seems to be drawing them back to the house (literally siren like). However, lets go back to her feeding method – she might need sperm and desire but it seems that sex with her makes the sperm come out of the victim’s mouth rather than the normal place. Indeed we see another victim rip their own throat open and her drink from that as they bleed sperm from the neck. It is unexplained and whether deliberately weird or designed to sidestep the more traditional sexual methods of extraction, which may have elevated the film to hardcore, is unclear.

appearing behind Yohei

This is an odd duck and no mistake and, on the surface, is a rubbish film with overly simplistic narrative, unexplained strangeness and limited acting. However there is a subversive aspect to the text – for instance the pinku eiga actress whose character protests against being exploited or the in-film documentary creating poor sfx that shadow the film’s actual poor sfx (or indeed become it at times). For this reason and for the strange vampire type I’ll raise what is, actually, a poor throwaway sexploitation flick up to 3.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Breaking the Waves

This is a 1996 film by auteur Lars von Trier, which was nominated for the Cannes Palme d’Or and won the Grand prize of the Jury. So why look at it here? In a foot note to “André Gide, Nosferatu and the Hydraulics of Youth and Age” Naomi Segal suggests that, “An unusual version of the vampire myth can be found in Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves”. (Undead Memory, P86) Good enough for a look-see.

The film is set in a remote Scottish village in the 1970s and focuses on Bess (Emily Watson, Happy Family). As the film is starting she is talking to the (male) elders of her church and explains that his name is Jan (Stellan Skarsgård) but the elders have not heard of him. He is not from there and they suggest that they do not encourage matrimony with outsiders and ask her to name one good thing the outsiders have brought them. Music she replies.

Jan and Bess

Jan and Bess get married and we discover that Jan works on the oil rigs and Bess is overly innocent it seems. She is prone to childish outbursts (for instance she hits out at him when the helicopter bringing him and his wedding guests is late – though the action is less spoilt and more naïve – Segal suggests she is Sancta simplicitas) and a virgin. Jan is her first love and she has prayed for love (we’ll come back to that). As things develop we find out that when her brother died she ended up being sectioned (involuntarily incarcerated in a mental health hospital) – her sister-in-law Dodo (Katrin Cartlidge) is a Sister at the nearest hospital and, despite being an outsider, remained in the village after her husband’s death for Bess’ sake.

an elder

Again, as things develop we discover that Bess has conversations with God and God replies – at least Bess replies for God, changing her voice. It seems to the viewer that she is delusional to some extent, perhaps even schizophrenic (and giving vocalisation to the voices). Perhaps it is down to the oppressive religion, which is patriarchal and certainly misogynistic – women may not speak in services and may not attend funerals. At said funerals the priest (Jonathan Hackett) condemns sinners to Hell and those who transgress the morality of the church might be cast out of the church and be dead to the locals.

Jan injured

Bess’ bliss is broken when Jan has to return to the rig. During his absence she is criticised for being overly emotional about him being away and eventually she asks God to return him to her. She asks herself (in God’s voice) whether she is sure. At sea there is an accident on the rig and Jan is injured. He is brought back and operated on and does survive but is paralysed. He asks Bess to sleep with other men and tell him about it – an act of love that Bess believes can heal him even though she does not like the idea.

searching out encounters

Her sexual encounters are distressing for her and her actions come to the attention of the elders, Dodo and a doctor (Adrian Rawlins) who has fallen for Bess. He believes Jan is essentially abusing her (possibly due to his condition) and eventually attempts to have her sectioned again. Yet from Bess’ point of view when Jan relapses and she does as he wishes it brings him back to some level of health – hence the fact that, at first, she lies about the encounters (making them up) and eventually actually goes through with them; in turn they become more and more dangerous. Is it really making him better though?

Emily Watson as Bess

MASSIVE SPOILERS – Jan refuses further treatment and it is thought he will die until Bess’ terminal sexual encounter with a sadistic sailor (Udo Kier) from whom she had barely escaped previously and who she goes to willingly. She dies but we then see Jan actually ambulatory again, looking to bury his wife. It seems that he has recovered. The community had turned her away and at her (fake, as Jan steals her body and puts stones in the coffin) burial she is condemned to Hell and yet the Doctor suggests, at the inquest into her death, that rather than calling her neurotic or psychotic – as he had written in his report – he should have written good – for that is why she acted as she did, because she was intrinsically good.

attacked by the local kids

So, a vampire? We know that in the basic model, drawn from Stoker and expanded in many of the films based upon Dracula, the male vampire feeds upon a female victim and in that act of penetration/bloodletting ultimately hyper-sexualises her. In this Jan penetrates Bess on their wedding day (in the toilets at the reception) and leaves a stain of blood on her wedding dress. After his injury his encouragement/manipulation causes her to become a sexual creature (called a tart by stone throwing village children). However, Bess says of her encounters “I don't make love with them, I make love with Jan and I save him from dying.” We can also quote Taylor (2012, The Urge Towards Love is an Urge Towards (Un)death: Romance, masochistic desire and postfeminism in the Twilight novels, quoted in Race in the Vampire Narrative) who says that for vampires “Sexual hunger becomes conflated with literal hunger.”

landscape

The results of her sacrifice can’t actually be argued with and the film ends with a truly supernatural/spiritual happening that underlines her ultimate goodness and suggests that she might truly have been speaking to God. But if she is the vector, then it is Jan who would be the vampire, feeding of her goodness and perverting it (or at least trying to, arguably she maintains her innocence in the face of her encounters). Ultimately her death gives him life (and more, he can walk again, can even return to the rig, though he uses a crutch). So, whether he is a sexual vampire – perhaps even an incubus who feeds/heals through her sacrifice, made for love – or not depends on your view. I think there is a case for saying so. Certainly, however, the film plays with a trope that is out of the genre and at the very least is of genre interest.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Horror and Hamsters – review

Director: Randy Smith (segment)

Release date: 2018

Contains spoilers

When is a vampire film not a vampire film? There could be a few answers to that but today we are looking at the segment La Grosse Mort. The short had been in the anthology Monster Pool: Seven deadly Sins as the segment Lust, also. As for this anthology, the film has a formula where it alternates between a horror short and a scene of hamsters being cute – and I’m not kidding.

So, what do I mean, not a vampire? The creature in this segment is vampiric but there is a specific play around it not actually being a vampire in film, as you’ll see.

eating energy

It starts off with a woman, Cassandra (Rhapsody Blue), searching through a dating website until she comes to Tim (Jake William Smith). They meet in a club, he seems shy and perhaps clumsy and she seems sexually dominant. They leave with a specific aim of having sex. She is atop him when we see a tail behind them. Who it belongs to is, at first, not clear until its pointed end jabs her in the back, piercing her flesh. It pushes her down to Tim who draws her lifeforce from her (so an energy vampire), killing her.

producing a stake

We see many accounts on the dating site become inactive and then see Tim walking and talking to Anne (Kaleena Jay). They seem to be getting on but she is worried about the area he has taken her to and asks that he not attack her by the dumpsters. He says it isn’t his thing, unless she wants him to, when she suddenly elbows him in the nose causing it to gush with blood. He laments her choice, suggesting that they had made a connection, but she has a stake and she buries it in his chest.

alas, it will not work

There are some sarcastic pain sounds and then laughter. A stake won’t work, he jibes he’s not a vampire. He is, Anne insists, but he corrects her and states that he is an incubus. Now the incubus has less association with the vampire genre than the succubus but the former is the male version of the latter and he is definitely an energy vampire at the very least. Of course he might not be the only creature haunting the night. As for the segment, it is good fun and centres on a lesser used entity, 6 out of 10.

At the time of review there is no IMDb page

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Guest Blog: Interesting Shorts: Valeska

We welcome Clark back to the blog as he looks at Valeska, a short from the collection Voices of the Damned.

Author: Barbie Wilde

Published 2015.

Contains spoilers

Horror fans will probably best know Ms Wilde as the female Cenobite in Hellraiser II: Hellbound, but in this anthology collection she proves that she is also as adept at writing as she is portraying a horror icon.

The 11 stories contained include 10 previously published works, including The Cilicium Trilogy which are set within Clive Barker's Hellraiser Mythos.

I would add at this point that the stories are erotically charged horror, and therefore perhaps not suitable for younger horror fans (at least until they get a bit older).

The 11th story is the one of most interest for this blog though, being Valeska, the sole vampire story within the collection. This article will, by necessity, be very spoiler heavy

Ms Wilde has used vampire lore as a starting point and added her own twists.

Valeska, the titular character, is a vampire, but not your usual "run of the mill" vampire. She is of a class of vampires known as Seminals. This class of vampire is only female, for reasons that become apparent through the story. Seminals are considered to be a lower class of vampire by the Sanguine, a far more numerous, albeit weaker, vampire class.

The story starts in the present day as Valeska prepares for a nightly hunt. Upon entering a club, she sees a male who takes her eye. By emanating a special perfume from her sexual organs, she is able to ensnare him. This reminded me a little of how some vampires have used hypnosis as a form of ensnaring their prey. She goes to his home with him and seduces him. The scene set is very sexual in nature but necessarily so as it explains the nature of Seminal vampires. They extract the potency and life force needed to survive by sexual means instead of drinking blood.

As she is going home she senses another vampire, a Sanguine, who distracts her by informing her that the Sanguine have declared war on the Seminal. Whilst distracted another figure appears behind her and knocks her unconscious.

At this point the author takes us back to 1348, enabling her to explain her own vampire creation myth. She explains how famine had forced a family to take the words of Christ literally "This is my blood, drink it; this is my flesh, eat it". Suspicions within the village has forced them to leave one night and head East, naming themselves the Sanguine and continuing their ways without interference.

We move forward to 1692, and meet Patrizia, a Sanguine, who is walking near her village, thinking she is safe as Sanguine are far stronger than humans. She senses a presence and sees a dark clad figure. We learn this figure is called Varazlo, and he is far stronger than Patrizia. Initially against her will, yet later willingly, she is seduced by him. He tells her she is now carrying a child. This child is the first Seminal.

Seminal vampires are only ever female, whereas Sanguine can be either gender. The 2 classes of vampire tend to avoid each other except to mate, and any child born will become Seminal if female, but males will be sent to be raised by Sanguine.

The story returns to the present day and Valeska, who awakens to find herself on a bed. She feels that whilst unconscious she was raped. The perpetrator enters the room and we learn it is Varazlo, who although a vampire, is of a type unknown to both Sanguine and Seminal. He admits that he did indeed rape Valeska while she slept, and that she now carries his son, who is of a new class of vampire, more powerful than any that have come before.

He states he has done this because he is angered by the spats between the 2 vampire classes. As he turns to the door Valeska, who is understandably furious with him, attacks him, knocking him half unconscious when his head hits the door.

Valeska uses the Seminal way of feeding whilst he is coming round, extracting his life force until he dies before stealing his clothing and making her escape.

The story ends with her walking in the rain, pondering whether to keep the child growing within her or not, knowing it will have a huge impact on the vampire races.

Ms Wilde's prose is easy to follow with characters you can empathise with.

I found it a highly enjoyable story, and hope the author will write further about Valeska, as I feel there is more to be told about her and the vampire classes.

I would recommend the book to anybody who likes their horror with a healthy dose of both blood and sex.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Vampira – review

Director: Ángel Mora Aragón

Release date: 1998

Contains spoilers

I am guessing that there is a hardcore porn version of Spanish film Vampira somewhere. It features porn stars and several clumsy cuts in the endless stream of sex scenes.

Yet the “Drive-in Double feature” is a barely 1 hour film that has too much story (or an attempt at story, at the very least) to be relegated to the porn only category and thus we will look at the film.

hosing down

It begins, after a forest pov shot, with a man washing his car. He is approached by a woman who grabs his hose (ooo err, missus) and sprays herself, strips and soon there is sex with all the clumsy edits, to cut out anything too rude, that I mentioned earlier. At the end of it she develops cat’s eyes and fangs and has a good chow down on his neck.

in the woods

Alex (Nacho Vidal) is out in the woods to test out camera film in a dusk, near twilight setting. He is wandering through, making Dictaphone notes, when he hears a strange howl. He runs and sees a woman chewing on another man’s neck. He legs it. Cut to him having sex with her, she grabs at his cross, he sees her in vampire form and then wakes up. He quickly removes the film from his camera.

a bite

He goes to speak to his friend Victor (Emilio Lisbona), a violent chap one surmises as he is never too far from a hand-gun. He says that he dreamt of her again and Victor points out that it has been two days and no body has been found. Given what he thought he saw one wonders why he took two days to develop the film but, as it is, there is nothing to see on the film. Cut to another man and another sex scene followed by a bite.

appeared in photo

Alex listens back to his Dictaphone and has captured the woman’s voice – not that they can tell what she says. Victor has to go to work and so has Alex watch an occult show hosted by Tutto Gettaceo (Xaviar Canals). Following this he sees another show about vampires and then has an erotic dream about the woman talking about vampires. He gets a call from Victor – a woman has suddenly appeared in the photos.

Xaviar Canals as Tutto

They go and see Tutto who is astounded by the pictures – he thought *they* were extinct – but tells them to forget they ever came across them. When they give him the tape he plays the voice backwards and it says “I want your blood”… going on to demand sperm and soul also. Tutto tells them that the creatures are naidas, a kind of blood drinking and sperm eating vampire. They live in a different version of time and space and he suspects they want to bring about an empire of evil.

hunting wabbits vampires

They dislike the sunlight, and will rest somewhere dark and humid. Victor knows just the place; the only house in the woods. When Alex asks what will kill them Victor suggests bullets, and being weapon mad happens to have a variety of pistols, a submachine gun and a crossbow for good measure. You might think, now they are hunting them, the sex would end… not so… they can hypnotise and seduce. We get a scene with two of them together and then Alex stumbles across them (the hunters split up, as you do) and ends up in a threeway – yet somehow survives.

in coffin

Given their powers, and the fact that Tutto clearly thinks of them as perfect creatures and thus can’t be trusted, we wonder at the potential outcome. I will say that the naidas sleep in coffins and seem to be able to vanish at will. I'll also say that bullets do work as a vampire slaying tool.

on the prowl

The acting is as poor as you would imagine, the dialogue (or at least the translation to subtitles) is rubbish. However they did try and do more than a simple skinflick. Did it work? No, not really. However, what did you expect. All that said there was some flesh on show, some fangs and some blood. It was certainly a cut above the accompanying feature, Night Vamps, which was no more than a series of unrelated strip teases by silicon overinflated women, and not a fang in sight. 2 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.