A dark fairytale from France.
19th century gothic novella The Family of the Vourdalak gets a Hammer Horror-esque adaptation in this satisfying vampire yarn. Simpering fop Marquis de blah de blah is mugged while being sent as a French court envoy across Eastern Europe. He is told he can get himself a new horse at the home of a peasant named Gorcha. But when he finds it, Gorcha is missing, and his family are weird, unwelcoming and afraid of something. And when Gorcha returns we realise why.
An old school horror with practical effects and a skeletal puppeteered monster as Gorcha. The whole film is confined to the old farmhouse that serves as Gorcha’s home, and the surrounding woods. A simple story, so traditional the tension comes from the inevitable sense of doom rather than twists and jump scares.
Kacey Mottet Klein plays the Marquis beautifully, moving fluidly from his comical buffoonery to his genuine terror. The costume as well is just great, from the Marquis’s silk jacket and knee-high stockings, to his love interest’s green gown with its embroidered flowers seeming to grow up from the ground. A film that hits the bullseye of what it’s trying to be.