David O'ConnellVampires
March 28th 2011 03:33
Vincent Lannoo’s low budget mockumentary Vampires is a wicked black comedy with undeniable cult appeal. Taking us behind the scenes of a dysfunctional Belgium family with fangs, Lannoo invents a world in which vampire enclaves are commonplace. The funny opening sequence backtracks to a couple of ill-fated attempts to get a documentary off the ground (the appetites of the vampires getting the better of the cameramen and reporters sent into the field) before two further years of negotiation come to fruition.
We meet the eccentric head of the St.Germain family, Georges (Carlo Ferranti), who acts as guide to the nocturnal world in which he and his family exist. There’s his wife Bertha (Vera Van Dooren), their attractive older son Samson (Pierre Lognay) and troubled teenager Grace (Fleur Lisa Heuet), who longs to be human, continually attempting half-hearted suicides to curb her boredom and despair.
A married couple, referred to as the St.Germains’ neighbours, reside in their cellar; because Elizabeth (Selma Alaoui) and Bienvenu (Batiste Sornin) are childless they have no claim to proper housing within the community and are treated like “savages” in the cramped confines beneath the bourgeois vampires.
Head of the family Georges (Carlo Ferranti)
There are so many treats to enjoy here, whether ingrained details woven into Lannoo’s narrative or juicy one-off scenes that help construct his satirical portrait of an off-kilter, undead fragmentation of society. There’s a human referred to as The Meat (Benedicte Bantuelle) who mostly lives in a glassed off area of the house and offers her body up for slippery snacks each night to the family; a Vampire school in which students are shown gory films for laughs and get to practice their neck-biting techniques on dummies; a friend of Samson's who claims to have once been a member of The Doors before awaking after an all-night party as both a vampire and with an instantaneous Belgian accent; the liberal attitude towards sexual contact which doesn’t exclude incestuous trysts. Then there’s the community’s Vampire Code, handed down through the ages by Count Dracula himself and the Montreal vampire community leader whose proudest moment was appearing as an extra in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.
Lannoo’s novel approach to the material, combined with a regular scattering of genuine laughs, provide Vampires with all the fuel it needs to sustain interest. The acting is flawlessly in step with the film’s tone, and thankfully lacking the self-consciousness that might have tipped it over the edge into ingratiating parody. The aim here is not to appease gore-hounds, for the film is virtually bloodless. Clearly budgetary restraints prevented the filmmakers from splashing out, literally, on excessive effects but the hand-held aesthetic actually works in its favour.
Perhaps the premise wears a tiny bit thin by the end but this is a minor quibble; Vampires (2010) has more than enough dashes of originality to mark it as an equally successful venture into the realm of social satire as well as the deconstruction of horror clichés with tongue firmly planted in cheek. These endearing blood-cravers win us over by the end, drawing us into a world where clearly - as Georges takes pains to assure us - life is not as straightforward as it might appear; after all, there are standards to uphold when you are encouraged to “act as a sort of disposal service for undesirables”. And besides, when you break it right down, “it’s not easy being eternal; we can get bored”. On the other hand, audiences who find themselves in tune with Lannoo’s sense of humour, will not.
Vampires can be seen on the big screen at Melbourne's ACMI cinemas as part of their 'Freaky Friday' film series at 9.30 p.m on both Friday April 1 and April 8. Click here for more details.
Samson (Pierre Lognay) travels with The Meat (Benedicte Bantuelle)
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Spring-Heeled Jack
Over.Exposure
There's also the vampire protagonist Count Saint-Germaine, from the novels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Methinks the film is indulging in a little hypertextual fun!
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
I know Bryn but that's what happens when you don't live in the cultural capitol of Australia - you miss out on some real gold.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile