Troubled by a series of strange dreams, a man seeks out the truth behind his visions which soon leads him onto the trail of an ancient, bloodthirsty vampire haunting the community around him and must team up with several other sources also trying to stop her to put an end to the bloodshed.
This was quite the fun and likable genre homage. Among its more likable factors is the really enjoyable sense of surrealistic visions mixed alongside the more modern presentation. While the overall approach taken here from the setup, the use of the vampire as one of the main leads involved, and the majority of the silent-film aesthetics this works with all screams out as an old-school Gothic horror setup that comes about through the main storyline, the arthouse visualizations in place add a different atmosphere to everything. The black-and-white style is quite effective throughout here while the slow-going pace keeps everything at a respectable clip which means the overall presentation for this one is quite impressive with a lot to like about it. The majority of this one manages to tie these elements together into a rather enjoyable series of stylistic attacks that provide even more proof of the arthouse sensibilities while also playing with conventional attacks. The means through which she torments both the guy and his priest friend are fine examples of these former qualities, exemplifying the clever camera tricks and more symbolic storytelling used to demonstrate the manipulative means it has to continue its reign throughout the community as this goes alongside the other scenes that are of the more traditional ambush variety. Featuring the creature appearing to be a hapless victim and trying to drain them of their blood which is quite fun but not as artistic as the other scenes, this all combines together for a lot to like here. There are some issues to be had with this one that hold it down. One of the main drawbacks is most assuredly the arthouse sensibilities on display which won't be for everyone out there. The idea of making this one mostly silent except for sporadic scenes explaining what's going on with the dead bodies they're finding and how it's all tied to the mythic vampire, focusing on symbolic dances and gestures for the attack scenes, and not really making much logical sense all give this a unique touch that's fun in the right mindset but is also entirely off-putting in the wrong one. That's mostly explained by the films' low budget and lack of resources which are pretty obviously put on-screen for this one to tell quite easily, but it's really the main issue to be had here.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
