This French adaptation of the 19th century short story by Aleksei Tolstoy (second cousin of War and Peace‘s Leo) captures the eerie half-light between the age of reason and medieval superstition that was at the heart of the 18th century vampire craze, as a French aristocrat finds himself stranded in the house of a less than simple Serbian family when their father (or is it…?) returns from battle.
Drawing heavily on the original story but condensing the time frame considerably, this adaptation loses some of the uncertainty over the Vourdalak’s identity but in return really ramps up the claustrophobia, which pays off in spades as emotions intensify in the final third of the film. Visually The Vourdalak is reminiscent of 1970s arthouse horror, with sometimes oddly stagey and off kilter scenes, possibly to represent the unsteady and decaying grasp of reason of the benighted family. It also features the brave but not always rewarding choice of using puppetry to create the Vourdalak itself, which generated some unsettling moments for this reviewer, but might equally generate unintended comedy for others.
In spite of its occasional staginess and scenes that add little to the plot (although a fair bit to the sense of unease), the film keeps to a taut 90 minutes and the characters, though broadly drawn, are engaging enough for you to care about their fate, especially the initially unbearably foppish and silly lead (Kacey Mottet Klein) as he slowly discovers a spine. Sparse, tense, and claustrophobic, if you can get past the spooky puppet, The Vourdalak is a solid addition to cinema’s eternally bulging vampire canon.
THE VOURDALAK is coming to VOD in the UK and Ireland on September 16th
