Comment by Magic Marmalade:
A winter warmer.
I really liked this one, against all expectations.
Don't be fooled by the DVD cover, as this is not the ultra-slick production that cover suggests; Rather this is in the vein (pun!) of the kind of ultra-low budget, atmospheric, early seventies rural England style "horrors" that Hammer and others used to make - maybe think, in terms of look, style, and feel: The Devil Rides Out, and the 1978 movie: The Legacy (Both more my kind of horror movie, as opposed to modern horrors) - This has a lot of atmosphere, and character, due mainly to the incredibly meagre budget seemingly only stretching to the hire of a couple of cars, a caravan, some charity shop find costumery, and the use of an old manor house...
(Perhaps for a few mornings, where I guess they shot most scenes in a very short amount of time, to make the most of this access)
...These resources are utilised to great effect by shooting in those dank misty, autumnal / winteral mornings those of us in England are well acquainted with: damp brown, soggy leaves bestrewn among the baring, dead looking woodlands, an icy mist hanging perpetually in the air to the sound of the many ominous crowings of local rooks, ravens, and well... crows.
This weakness also is this movie's strength though too, actually, as not being able to do spectacular vampire effects (supernatural powers etc.), they basically dispense with all that, and concentrate on the "off-ness" of the two main female leads: besides the mostly tastefully shot, largely inoffensive soft-focus, soft porn lesbian sex scenes, and occasional romp with their lured, and ensnared male victims, there's plenty of stomping around in the misty woodland and graveyards sporting long flowing, black and purple velvet cloaks, before stomping back again moodily.
And aside form a hapless straight-laced couple in their caravan, one of the lured: the hapless Ted, who spends the movie, once ensnared, trying to free himself from their clutches, has the only real "effects" in the movie: A cosmetic cut on his arm the devilish duo extract their needed blood from. So it's all about mood, and not visual effects nonsense, or contrived variations on Vampiric folklore.
In fact, it has a kind of cosy, familiar feel to it, great for a night tucked in with a little snifter when the rain's coming down outside.
The only thing that really has me scratching my head is the opening scene, after the initial sex bout between the pair, they are shot by a dark figure... who? we never find out, or how this leads them to become vampires, or by what mechanisms...
(I did say they dispensed with all that establishing of premise etc... and as you can see, I mean ALL of it)
...But once over that, you have a gently titillating early seventies rural English gothic mood piece.
All good fun :)
