I knew nothing about Vampir before I watched it, aside from the fact that it seemed to be an independent horror/drama that would probably have something to do with vampirism. I may have been less inclined to watch it if I had realised that star Branko Tomovic was also the writer and director. Sometimes that can work out well, but having the same person as writer, director, and star can often be a recipe for disaster if that person has more enthusiasm than actual talent.
Tomovic plays Arnaut, a man who travels from London to Serbia in order to accept a job that has him looking after a cemetery. He is happy to leave behind a recent horrible memory, but the relocation may end up leading to him having a number of disturbing new experiences. Most of the locals seem unfriendly, but perhaps that is just Arnaut being paranoid.
Not the kind of horror film to recommend to those wanting a good dose of blood and guts, and there are times when this hardly feels like a horror movie at all, Vampir is interesting, but ultimately fails to achieve what it sets out to do.
Tomovic isn’t a bad lead, certainly able to show his character feeling out of place and wrestling with various “nightmares” (while he is asleep and awake), and the journey of his character becomes intriguing at certain points. It just doesn’t progress beyond those scenes, making the film a drab affair that is too infrequently punctuated by impressive moments. There are a few supporting players, such as Eva Ras, Gorica Regodic, and Judith Georgi, but the only other person given enough to do is Joakim Tasic, playing a local priest named Father Radosav.
Trying to do something different with the vampire movie is difficult nowadays, and I admire Tomovic for giving it a go. It is easy to see what he wanted to achieve here, and the technical side of things is very impressive for such a relatively small-scale production (especially with the audio, and the atmospheric score from Mark Ashworth), but this feels like it should have been a short prequel to a much more interesting feature. I didn’t actively hate this, but I wouldn’t encourage anyone else to watch it until they have already exhausted their main list of prioritised viewings.
5/10
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