The tyranist's thoughts
Ever seen a Danish vampire movie? I hadn't either until this one. Not that it is so different from low-budget American fare.
Part anthology, this tells the story of a particular vampire through history. The central story, or frame if you will, is that his great-grand-daughter has inherited a rural mansion and all of her wacko grandmother's vampire material as well. Stories from a book titled Nattens Engel are related and we flash back about a million times.
The movie is an interesting stab at the genre being informed by everything from Stoker to Tarantino. While the low-budget nature of the film sometimes shines through, it is for the most part well-made and fun to watch. The dialogue is obviously tranlated from Danish, sometimes poorly, sometimes nicely, but really, I've heard dialogue written by people who speak this language natively that was worse.
You too are likely wondering how a guy named Shaky Gonzalez ends up directing a Danish flick. Well, the short answer is that he's Danish. The long answer is that he was imported from some South American country when he was younger and so claims Denmark as his native land now. Don't worry. I was confused too.
Apparently the central flashback segment was filmed as a short first and then the rest of the movie was filmed later. You can't really tell as it's nicely blended in, but that does explain the way the flow and tone of the story change in the middle.
The effects aren't great, but are decent and the acting is really pretty good. A fine production and one that makes me think I'll probably check out Shaky in the future.