Eternal

I had the pleasure to attend the screening of Eternal during the Fantasia Film Festival, in Montreal. I had been reading bits and pieces in Fangoria and the Dvdvampire.com about the production of this film and, I have to admit, I was expecting another run-of-the-mill, B vamp-flick. Vampire films have come to be quite predictable and it is more and more difficult to find an original offering. We either get a slam-bang SFX extravaganza, a la Blade or Underworld, or we get a period piece, a la Dracula.

I found Eternal to be so unique, that I have a hard time calling it a vampire film or even defining its genre. But this is one damn'd sexy thriller! It has been a long time since anything related with vampirism turned me on, kept me on the edge of my seat and even legitimately scared me a couple of times (although this is certainly not a horror film). It has even been longer since I got to see a serious erotic thriller, with a seductive serial killer thrown in as a bonus.

Elizabeth Kane, played by Canadian actress Caroline Neron can rip my throat any time. So can her lovely assistant, Irina, played by the dark and sensual Victoria Sanchez. Conrad Pla, as the twisted detective Ray Pope, is riveting in his portrayal of a bad seed with morbid hidden sexual desires. Not an easy or typical role.

Because of its original take on the genre, I have no idea what mainstream media will say about Eternal when it hits the screens, but, take it from me and the crowd at Fantasia: This is one thriller you don't want to miss!

So this may not be the best acted movie, the storyline is a bit weak, and the flow can be disjointed at times, but I still really enjoyed watching this movie. It it's beautifully filmed, atmospheric, creepy, suspenseful and the character Elizabeth Kane is great. She is believable. Other characters, a little less so. It's well worth watching.

Again, don't expect an Oscar-worthy movie but this is far better than it's current general rating of 4.8. For a horror/suspense/vampire movie, this is a solid 6 - better than average. And the beautiful scenes and creepy atmosphere are among it's best attributes.

I'm a sucker for vampire movies. I gotta see them. When I saw it was an erotic vampire movie, it shot up to #1 on my must see list. And I was not disappointed. And since the movie was shot primarily in Montreal, I got a good laugh trying to figure out where the shots came from. Basically, the vamp does her thing (sucking and killing ladies), kills somebody personal to the main cop in question, and he goes to great lengths to catch her. The plot is fairly straight forward, but the film stands out visually. Great looking sets. And if you want to see some beautiful ladies, you've come to the right movie. The vamp is hot, her assistant is hot, and even the wives of the cops are hot. Here are my 3 points to ponder:

1. The vamp, Caroline Neron, is a stone cold fox.

2. The first scene is probably one of the hottest scenes you will ever see in a movie.

3. Did I mention that Caroline Neron is babe? I cannot stress that enough.

i'm probably being a bit generous with a 7, but with an average rating of 4.6.. i was expecting it to totally suck. i found it to be entertaining enough. the story and acting were decent. the cinematography and production design were pretty right on. the sound was off (dog is menacingly growling while his mouth is wide open tongue out, footsteps are off) which is a bit distracting if you're one to notice that stuff. i did, however, find the music and soundtrack effective. i agree with another reviewer who wrote that it couldn't decide what kind of movie it wanted to be and that is definitely problematic. decent though, if vamps, ladies and blood are your thing, there are far worse choices out there to see.

It's a disappointing and clichéd movie that uses the name of Elisabeth Bathory to call attention, but completely fails about the true historic essence of that sadistic woman which lived in Royal Hungary in the beginning of the XVII century.

Of course that when I decided to watch this movie I wasn't expecting a documentary or even a historic movie about Elisabeth Bathory, even because it's set in present times, but I wasn't expecting such lame pseudo-detective plot either! Elisabeth Bathory is not "Catherine Tramell" from BASIC INSTINCT! But at many parts of the movie I thought I was watching some cheap imitation of BASIC INSTINCT instead of some story related to the Bathory legend! Another lousy imitation is done from the movie EYES WIDE SHUT, when in this fantastic film occurs the weird/bizarre party. ETERNAL cheaply imitates that too!

This film is really just a mixing of other movies' imitations, distrustful description of Elisabeth Bathory's tale, bad acting and, to culminate, the "great" plot of some 80's bad Hollywood cop action movie! Even the supposed erotic scenes were disappointing!

The premise of creating a story related to a "21th century's Elisabeth Bathory" was quite good, and it was what called my attention, but the way this movie was done was truly bad! If you want to watch a better movie related to Elizabeth Bathory myth, search for Walerian Borowczyk's CONTES IMMORAUX (1974). At least this one is more accurate!