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Le Vourdalak
The Vourdalak
France 2023
produced by Judith Lou Lévy for Les Films du Bal, Master Movies
directed by Adrien Beau
starring Kacey Mottet Klein, Ariane Labed, Grégoire Colin, Vassili Schneider, Claire Duburcq, Adrien Beau, Erwan Ribard
screenplay by Adrien Beau, Hadrien Bouvier, based opn the novel by Aleksei Tolstoy, puppet effects by Franck Limon-Duparcmeur
Vurdalak
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Somewhen in the 18th century: French Marquis D'Urfe (Kacey Mottet
Klein) is on a diplomatic mission to Moldavia during the days of the
Turkish wars - but he's robbed somewhere in the woods, and his entire
entourage is killed while it's more than a miracle that he has managed to
survive even. He finds abode with the family of patriarch Gorsha - who has
gone out to fight the Turks on his own, but he has warned his family to
not let him back into the family home should he be gone more than 6 days.
Gorsha's family though is friendly enough. They even promise to get him a
horse, despite the war-torn region being in a less than fortunate
situation. However, the Marquis doesn't mind to stick around for a spell,
having fallen for the graces of Gorsha's daughter Sdenka (Ariane Labed).
Thing is, Gorsha returns to the family home only after six days have
passed, and while at first his family thinks little of it, it soon turns
out that his warning was indeed vaild as he has in the meantime become a
vampiric creature, locally known as a vourdalak, and he soon starts going
after family members ... In a way, this is a very well made
piece of period gothic folk horror and will certainly please old school
genre fans - but on the other it's also a pretty inventive movie, be it
for its choice to bring the then prevalent class system into the mix in a
very poignant way or for the mere audacity to have its lead villain
represented by a marionette - which really gives the film a very eerie
quality all of its own. Plus, there's even some humour involved in this
one, ranging from satire to slapstick. But whichever way you choose to
look at the movie, a clever directorial effort manages to bring it to life
rather well, with a strong cast rounding out things for a very cool and
rather unique horror ride.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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