Strigoi

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Strigoi

November 5th 2009 22:09

If you like your vampire mythology pungent and filthy, cloaked in the authentic ethnic threads of Eastern European sensibility, and sans the usual toothy, suave trappings of most of the fanged vehicles out of Tinseltown, then the highly original, far-from-British UK production Strigoi (2008) - which screened last Friday at the inaugural Fantastic Planet international film festival as part of their Halloween indulgence, along with Zombieland (2009) and Infestation (2009) which screened on the Saturday night, but I was unable to attend – will most definitely be an undead surprise worth digging for.

Writer/director Faye Jackson (a pleasant change having a woman at the helm of a horror feature, whose husband is Romanian) has made a decidedly unromantic, downbeat, morbidly humorous, and deceptively unsettling take on the vampire flick. Strigoi (the Romanian word given to the blood-thirsty undead) are forever returning to seek justice for wrongdoings against their former living selves. They have quite the appetite too, and not just for plasma and the red stuff; these smelly, dirty creatures will eat you out of house, home, and when they’ve emptied your pantry, they’ll finally settle on the side of your neck.

Catalin Paraschiv as Vlad

Constantin Tirescu (Constantin Barbulescu) is killed by the local villagers as justice served for his greedy real estate handlings and crooked underhandedness. It seems he’s always getting another word in edgewise, his ruddy complexion glowing from the shadows. Young Vlad (Catalin Paraschiv) is trying to get a handle on the situation. He doesn’t believe a word his elders say about family history and the supernatural. But there’s definitely something strange going on.

The local boys act a little sheepish

It’s a talky, meandering movie; probably too dialogue-driven and languid in pace to work as effectively as it should, but the characters are well-drawn, and the scabby-black sense of humour has congealed. It possesses a solid visual style with excellent cinematography. Strigoi doesn’t pander to cheap thrills, it’s a dense and chewy piece, but without the brow-beating self-importance and stifling arrogance. It mulls and ponders, mediates and muses, but it manages to avoid being bogged down so deep in its own cultural mire that it expires. This is the olde world vs. the new order.

Camilia Maxim as the village mayor's wife

If you want some blood sausage and goulash with your red wine Strigoi is one to keep those garlic-smeared eyelids peeled for. Any vampire movie that blares Spirit in the Sky whilst mama implores her grown son to “Be a good boy, and go cut his heart out, and burn it” is playing its tarot cards right. Just as Let the Right One In (2008) injected a much needed emotional and atmospheric element into the modern vampire movie, Strigoi strips back the extraneous layers to reveal the dark throbbing heart of the original folklore, and croaks a refreshingly soiled vampire yarn.

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

7 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

November 6th 2009 20:09

Film & TV on DVD

Hi bryn,

Thanks for the heads up on this one, you know this one is in my blood sucking market

i didn't read the middle of your review but the bookend paragraphs sell me.

just give me anything but 'Twilight' which has done more harm to the genre than even Buffy.

Comment by The Master

November 7th 2009 18:16

Strigoi means "Witch" in Romanian, and it usually refers either to a pure Witch or a Witch Vampire (Demon Witch) so that would have to mean that the Evil Mayor returns would have had to have been a Dark Sorcerer who was delving so deeply into Dark Magic that he either was becoming a Demon while still alive or that he was going to become one in Death.The movie doesnt show that he was becoming such a thing.However, that a side the Movie seems to have gotten the Folklore right.So I give this a 9 Thumbs up subtracting only one thumb for letting that part of the Folklore get lost in translation!

Comment by The Master

November 7th 2009 18:19

Well Buffy didnt do that much harm if any if you ask me,in fact the Vampires on there were closer to the Folklore than any other Vampire movie or show even showing there Demonic nature when they go to feed.A prime example of this is The Master from Season 1 who had powers and abilities similar to Folkloric Vampires.

Comment by Bryn

November 8th 2009 23:08

Horrorphile

The Master ... the Defence for Buffy the Vampire Slayer has risen from the grave!

Comment by Anonymous

November 9th 2009 19:24

Hell yeah lol, if you have a myspace and want to add me here I am :

Myspace.com/the_master_walks_

Comment by Anonymous

August 20th 2010 06:13

Actually, according to the whole Strigoi tradition, babies born with cauls or other weird shit were condemned to be strigoi, as well as unbaptized babies. So it doesn't apply to witches only. Oh yeah, and children with a strigoi parent are also -of course- strigoi, or if someone dis unnmarried.

Never saw this movie, but I plan on it. Bet the strigoi dude had to be that way for some reason. Maybe he was just an evil bastard, huh?

Fuck Buffy.

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