Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- A Stranger in the Woods 2024

- Underground 2023

- A Nashville Wish 2024

- molkipolki 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take Two 2024

- Return to the Theatre of Terror 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take One 2023

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Sangre Vurdalak

A.K. Tolstoy's A Taste of Blood
Vurdalak Blood

Argentina / Singapore 2020
produced by
Roxana Ramos (executive), Paola Suarez (executive), Jordan Nutson (executive), Sia Mehilli (executive), Ryo Ebe (executive) for Aramos Cine, Jaque Content, 108 Media
directed by Santiago Fernández Calvete
starring Germán Palacios, Alfonsina Carrocio, Lautaro Bettoni, Tom CL (= Tomás Carullo Lizzio), Naiara Awada, Carmela Merediz, Martín Rena, Beto Bernuéz, Julieta Daga, Jose Manuel Solis Vargas
written by Santiago Fernández Calvete, based on the novelette Sem'ya Vurdalaka by Aleksei Tolstoy, music by Santosh Logandran

Vurdalak

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!


Natalia (Alfonsina Carrocio) is pretty much locked away by her dad Aguirre (Germán Palacios) in their country home, even though she's old enough to look after herself, so it's hardly surprising that she one day gives her father the slip to run away with her boyfriend Alexis (Tom CL) - but he doesn't really want to run away. So she walks off on her own to God knows where, and eventually walks into a stranger who claims to be her uncle she never knew she had, but he talks very convincingly about her family's origins in Easter Europe for her to trust him - until he turns into a vurdalak, a vampire like monster. Natalia almost falls prey to him but is saved by Alexis, who takes her back to her family. Now this is when Aguirre opens up about the family heritage that's closely linked to the vurdalaks, which is why they left for South America decades ago - but now apparently the vurdalaks have tracked them down, so dad decides to go on a hunt that night and urges Natalia, Alexis, Natalia's brother Manuel (Lautaro Bettoni), his wife Eva (Naiara Awada) and their daughter Malena (Carmela Merediz) to lock themselves inside the house during the night and not come out before sunrise, and not let him in before then either. However once they're locked inside, weird and toxic family dynamics develop as Manuel and Eva desparately want to make a getaway with their daughter while Natalia and Alexis want to wait it out - which ironically enough ends with Alexis being chained up outside, and Natalia refusing to leave his side out of love and loyalty. And before the sun's even up the group goes searching for Aguirre. They find him, bring him home - and realize he might have been turned into a vurdalak after all, especially since he makes numerous excuses to face the sun. Ultimately it's decided to chain him up, and while Natalia and Alexis keep watch, Manuel and Eva go fetch their car they left stranded a few miles off. But then Aguirre escapes his chains, and while Natalia and Alexis manage to escape him, Eva decides to distrust them since they've been with Aguirre for too long, and might have been turned. Thing is, this has now become a life-and-death conflict between these two parties, and both parties have guns ...

 

Now Aleksei Tolstoy's story from 1839 this film's based on has been filmed several times before, most prominently by Mario Bava [Mario Bava bio - click here] as a segment of his I Tre Volti della Paura/Black Sabbath (1963) - but while Bava's version goes full gothic, this one is more of a psychological thriller, where the monsters really take backseat during much of the story to have the (still-)human protagonists fight amonst themselves, which seems to lead to far worse results that the monster on its own would have ever achieved. And this is achieved thanks to a very clever, character-heavy script that really manages to give all its characters at least some relatable traits, refuses to let most of them fall into a mere good-bad dichotomy - which of course only helps to make everything all the more horrible. And a strong cast only helps to bring them to life in a believable way while an atmosphere-heavy directorial effort sets up just the right mood for some really cool genre entertainment.

 

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find A.K. Tolstoy's A Taste of Blood
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find A.K. Tolstoy's A Taste of Blood here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find A.K. Tolstoy's A Taste of Blood at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

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!!!