Vampire Diary
Year: 2008
Directors: Mark James and Phil O’ Shea
Stars: Anna Walton, Morven Macbeth, Jamie King
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Monarch Home Video
Running Time: 90 Mins
Official Website: http://www.vampirediary.co.uk/
Going into Vampire Diary, I had little expectations, even though I was attracted to the film by the film’s title and the nice poster art. After seeing this film, this wasn’t the type of vampire film that I was expecting see. Instead, this is a nice gory horror-drama that plays more like a chamber drama than an action/horror movie that I’m used to seeing in other vampire films.
The film is about Holly (Morven Macbeth), a filmmaker who is making a documentary on the London neo-vampire and Goth scene. One night while filming for her documentary, she comes across a beautiful and enigmatic Vicki (Anna Walton), who tells her that she is a real life vampire. After taking Vicki in, Holly begins to stumble on to Vicki’s dark secrets. Instead of turning her in, Holly helps her gets what she needs to survive, as she is pregnant with a vampire baby. Soon, Holly’s world changes as she becomes more involved with Vicki and her murderous way, as she has little time before the baby is born.
Vampire Diary is very surprising little film that dark and enjoyable, while showing off London’s gothic underground. The direction from Mark James and Phil O’ Shea was good for the most part. They did a good job capturing the whole London underground atmosphere. The scenery felt very dark and gothic, which helped the film’s dark tone. James and O’ Shea’s direction of the actors were very good, especially with the leads, Anna Walton (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army) and Morven Macbeth. Both of their performances were essential to the film’s success. The chemistry between the two actresses were very good, as the relationship between themselves was a bond with these characters, which had to be good, since there’s very little action here. If there was one problem that I had with James and O’ Shea direction it's that they used too many different camera formats, as they used HDV, DVcam & mini-DV to BetaSp. The different types of camera really affected the presentation of the film, as the view just felt annoying and made my mind wonder a bit.
Phil O’Shea’s screenplay really goes into the London underground scene while developing its characters. One of the main things that the screenplay establishes is the relationship between the film’s two main characters. This had to be a key element in order for the film to succeed because films like this have to rely on its characters. The film does rely on its main characters. O’Shea does a great establishing the relationship between Holly and Vicki, as the characters were fascinating. He also explores the characters in a dark romantic way, which made the story interesting. O’Shea also handles the vampire mythology very well here by focuses on the vampire’s desire to feed, and how people can be so fanatical about them with the fake fangs and the Goth makeup. That provided a nice subplot to the film’s dark tone.
Vampire Diary has a lot of bite, in a serious and more dramatic way instead of action.
Review Rating 3.5 Stars
Year: 2008
Directors: Mark James and Phil O’ Shea
Stars: Anna Walton, Morven Macbeth, Jamie King
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Monarch Home Video
Running Time: 90 Mins
Official Website: http://www.vampirediary.co.uk/
Going into Vampire Diary, I had little expectations, even though I was attracted to the film by the film’s title and the nice poster art. After seeing this film, this wasn’t the type of vampire film that I was expecting see. Instead, this is a nice gory horror-drama that plays more like a chamber drama than an action/horror movie that I’m used to seeing in other vampire films.
The film is about Holly (Morven Macbeth), a filmmaker who is making a documentary on the London neo-vampire and Goth scene. One night while filming for her documentary, she comes across a beautiful and enigmatic Vicki (Anna Walton), who tells her that she is a real life vampire. After taking Vicki in, Holly begins to stumble on to Vicki’s dark secrets. Instead of turning her in, Holly helps her gets what she needs to survive, as she is pregnant with a vampire baby. Soon, Holly’s world changes as she becomes more involved with Vicki and her murderous way, as she has little time before the baby is born.
Vampire Diary is very surprising little film that dark and enjoyable, while showing off London’s gothic underground. The direction from Mark James and Phil O’ Shea was good for the most part. They did a good job capturing the whole London underground atmosphere. The scenery felt very dark and gothic, which helped the film’s dark tone. James and O’ Shea’s direction of the actors were very good, especially with the leads, Anna Walton (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army) and Morven Macbeth. Both of their performances were essential to the film’s success. The chemistry between the two actresses were very good, as the relationship between themselves was a bond with these characters, which had to be good, since there’s very little action here. If there was one problem that I had with James and O’ Shea direction it's that they used too many different camera formats, as they used HDV, DVcam & mini-DV to BetaSp. The different types of camera really affected the presentation of the film, as the view just felt annoying and made my mind wonder a bit.
Phil O’Shea’s screenplay really goes into the London underground scene while developing its characters. One of the main things that the screenplay establishes is the relationship between the film’s two main characters. This had to be a key element in order for the film to succeed because films like this have to rely on its characters. The film does rely on its main characters. O’Shea does a great establishing the relationship between Holly and Vicki, as the characters were fascinating. He also explores the characters in a dark romantic way, which made the story interesting. O’Shea also handles the vampire mythology very well here by focuses on the vampire’s desire to feed, and how people can be so fanatical about them with the fake fangs and the Goth makeup. That provided a nice subplot to the film’s dark tone.
Vampire Diary has a lot of bite, in a serious and more dramatic way instead of action.
Review Rating 3.5 Stars
This is on the bottom of my netflix somewhere but I will have to move it up now. I am borderline obsessed with vampire stories right now, although there really are hardly any good vampire movies. It will be interesting to see if this one can offer anything more.