Verdict
Summary
Fitting in nicely with Full Moon’s Subspecies franchise, Vampire Journals isn’t necessarily a film in that series, but it’s in the same vein, and has the same director in Ted Nicolaou, and the film itself is a classic-style Hammer-type romantic vampire film with all the accouterments of the genre, including lots of crimson-red gore, good acting, stylish and moody atmosphere, sexuality and nudity, and an all-around solid flare for the dramatic.
Plot:
A concert pianist finds herself the object of affection and obsession by two vampires.
Review:
Concert pianist Sofia (Kirsten Cerre) performs a show in Bucharest and instantly captures the attention of two different vampires in attendance: evil, ancient Ash (Jonathan Morris) and much younger bloodsucker Zachary (David Gunn), who wants to shelter and protect her from the attentions of Ash and his evil cadre of vampires. Zachary makes his attentions known, but he is too nice and too genteel to win over Sofia’s heart, but when Ash steps in and sweeps her off her feet, she’s soon transformed into a vampire herself, forcing Zachary to try to save her from Ash’s clutches, which puts him in Ash’s radar as a fly to be swatted. With Ash’s minions (some of which are human) protecting the ancient creature of the night, Zachary’s chances of saving beautiful Sofia from a life of eternal damnation begin dwindling too quickly to salvage.
Fitting in nicely with Full Moon’s Subspecies franchise, Vampire Journals isn’t necessarily a film in that series, but it’s in the same vein, and has the same director in Ted Nicolaou, and the film itself is a classic-style Hammer-type romantic vampire film with all the accouterments of the genre, including lots of crimson-red gore, good acting, stylish and moody atmosphere, sexuality and nudity, and an all-around solid flare for the dramatic. It might be one of Full Moon’s best movies out of all of the dozens they produced over the years. I’d happily watch it again some day, and I whole-heartedly recommend it to fans of vampire films, horror flicks, Full Moon fanatics who’ve never seen it, and for its all-around solid production values.
Full Moon’s Blu-ray edition of Vampire Journals looks amazing in widescreen HD, with crystal clarity and vivid sound, and comes with an audio commentary by Nicolaou and producer Charles Band, as well as a vintage featurette and bonus trailers.
