(254) FAMILY OF VAMPIRES (1990) Russian Horror | Tolstoy story
5007DVD
original Russian title SEMYA VURDALAKOV
[The Family of the Vourdalak]
director:
Gennady Klimov · Igor Shavlak
starring: Elena Karadzhova · Yuri Katin-Yartsev · Nikolay
Kochegarov · Igor Shavlak · Ivan Shchegolev · Nikita
Simanovsky
A Moscow journalist is sent to a remote area of the provinces to investigate
a story of the peculiar deaths happening there. He is invited to stay
at a rural family farm where the grandfather patriarch has just died.
Before arriving, the young man is warned that the people are very superstitious,
and he cannot mention the name of the deceased until nine 'death days'
have passed [by then the soul will be inside the Gates of Heaven]. Otherwise,
the deceased will return with a craving for blood. The journalist obeys,
but - at the dinner table - a child unexpectedly asks where grandfather
is, followed by knock on the door...
This
classic vampire story [written by A. K. Tolstoy in the 19th Century] had
already been filmed twice by Italian filmmakers, the master Mario Bava
for his BLACK
SABBATH starring Boris Karloff and Giorgio Ferroni's NIGHT
OF THE DEVILS in 1972. This version brings everything back to
a Russian landscape, albeit a contemporary one. But the tale still harbors
a grim timelessness of backwoods superstition punctuated by a barren wasteland
and dilapidated homesteads. This melancholy, with a tone of constant grief
and threat, is ripe for monsters of the night. The story actually becomes
secondary as the characters wait for their painful demise.
A
Russian film with optional English subtitles;
fullscreen format, uncut (80 min.),
in DVD format, encoded for ALL REGIONS, playable on any American DVD machine.
Extras include selected trailers.
Violence/Sexual
Themes
Intended For Mature Audiences
A Moscow journalist is sent to a remote area of the provinces to investigate
a story of the peculiar deaths happening there. He is invited to stay
at a rural family farm where the grandfather patriarch has just died.
Before arriving, the young man is warned that the people are very superstitious,
and he cannot mention the name of the deceased until nine 'death days'
have passed [by then the soul will be inside the Gates of Heaven]. Otherwise,
the deceased will return with a craving for blood. The journalist obeys,
but - at the dinner table - a child unexpectedly asks where grandfather
is, followed by knock on the door...
