VAMPIRES Movie Review
Vincent Lannoo’s film VAMPIRES is another in the long line of “mockumentaries” that have been released in the last several years. It follows the story of the vampire clans of Belgium.
The film crew follows around a vampire family who are not the least bit shy about their lifestyle. The family leader is Georges, and he along with his wife Bertha live a life that any vampire could hope for. The camera crew follows around Georges who walks them through their everyday life, including the grislier parts. This includes feeding on the mortals of Belgium, but the family also shows how the Belgium government helps them live their eternal lives.
Sounds like a pretty stupid premise for a movie, and to tell you the truth I was skeptical.
Turns out that you should never judge a film by synopsis alone, because Vampires was awesome. It should go down as one of the best cult films of all time, partly because of the premise, but mainly because of acting.
The ensemble cast pulled together brilliantly, and never once while watching Vampires did I feel that I was watching was fiction. It was like the best kind of reality show for a horror buff, mainly because it was all about vampires!
Fleur Lise Heuet, plays Georges’ daughter Grace, and she was by far my favorite character of the film. Grace hasn’t quite adjusted to her vampire-ness, and tries several ways to make herself mortal. There is an opening sequence when Grace is introduced that had me laughing out loud – it actually made me feel bad for the poor vampire girl!
Most horror vampire films tend to play up the gore aspect, and while there were scary parts of Vampires, it wasn’t over the top. There was just the right amount of fear presented to the audience, and even for a veteran horror watcher like myself, I cringed a few times.
All in all, I would HIGHLY recommend Vampires to anyone that enjoys off beat cult films. Let’s get this one moving to the mainstream!
Vampires is available nationwide on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House.
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