Review of German Film ‘We Are the Night’

We Are the Night is a popular German film that was recently dubbed in English and sent to the vampire fans in the US. The movie tells the tale of Lena, a common thief living in Berlin. She is bitten and taken in by three stunning vampires each with their own incentives and tragic tales. It’s not long after Lena is brought into the group before she realizes how unstable and impossible life as a vampire is and quickly everything falls apart as the vampires are pursued by a detective named Tom.

I’ll admit, I was expecting a brainless chick flick when I began watching We Are the Night, but was pleasantly surprised by the depth and dark beauty of this film. This is most definitely not mindless teen movie, it’s an adult horror film, with a touch of class. The film first shows us the joy of being a vampire, the freedom and the power that comes with immortality. It’s all dance raves, blood and fun – at first. But the movie takes a darker turn as we see the true horror in becoming a monster, that one isn’t actually free when turned into a vampire, they are simply trapped in a new type of prison.  It was an excellent concept, I loved that the writers took a deeper look into being a vampire.

I also loved how visually appealing We Are The Night is. Everything from the special effects to the actual scenery and settings was fantastic. I loved the regal architecture in one scene and the depilated ruins in the next. The makeup effects were also impressive, the main character, Lena, was HIDEOUS in the beginning. I honestly did not think there was any way they could make this girl beautiful, but they did. Her transformation into a vampire was glorious, she was perfection.

The vampire mythos in the film is most certainly different than what is found in the vast majority of other vampire stories, the number one difference being that there are no men, every vampire is a woman. There were once male vampires but they were either killed by humans or by their female counterparts, vampiresses who no longer wanted to be ruled by men – it’s a notion that would make Anne Rice’s Akasha proud. However, it’s of course an idea that sounds good in theory. It did add an interesting note to the movie though.

Now while there was a lot I adored in We Are the Night, there were minor things I had issues with, like the dubbing. Most of the voice actors they used were dead on, they were a perfect match to the German actor. However, some choices were horrible. Lena’s English dub was SO bad, my goodness was it terrible. The voice they picked for her didn’t match her at all, it sounded like a 10-year-old’s voice, not a young woman’s voice. It didn’t work at all and it was distracting, but luckily, she doesn’t speak all that much.

One other problem I had was with the actor that played Tom, he wasn’t good. The other actors and actresses were fantastic, they put on a moving performance, but not this guy. He was painfully fake and unbelievable in most scenes. They really should have gone with another actor for Tom.

Other than those minor problems, this was a good vampire film. It was dark, thought-provoking and fun at the same time (an odd combination). It’s definitely a film I recommend, however, for adults only since there is lots of gore and some full frontal male nudity (it is a German film after all). It has a little something for everyone – sexy actresses, horror and gore, loads of incredible action scenes, a deep and dark storyline and more!

You can watch We Are the Night here or buy the actual DVD here.

Check out the trailer below:

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

12 comments

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      1. There are english subtitles on the american DVD which you can get from Amazon among other places, which is sadly more than I can say for Europe. The dud is pretty bad compared to the original german voices that breakthrough the language barrier like glass.

        As for the guy playing Tom he is too the director what Johnny Depp is to Tim Burton. He has been in all of his films.

        1. Ah, thanks for all the info :)
          I streamed the film through Amazon on my Fire, which is why there was only dubbing for me. Good to know the DVD has subtitles.
          Maybe in the guy’s next film he will use someone that can act and not just a friend of his ;)

          1. I thought Max Riemelt(the dude) was ok. But he was much better in his previous films ;)

            But I guess the character of Tom was simply a damsell in distress to be saved, so they got someone who looked good.

            I would recommend the original version to any one who liked the movie despite the horrid dub. The performances lose so much when their voices goes. While Lena sounded 10 years too young the other ones sound 20 years too old compared to how they sounded in the original.

            Nina Hoss(Louise) has a much more seductive voice than the h-g they got to dub her.

          2. Sorry to interrupt: I just wanted to let you know, that all of the main actresses and actors dubbed themselves. As the discussion of how bad the voices are were on. So Lena (Karoline Herfurth) really has such a childish voice – it is the same in English and in German :)

  4. Subtitles aren’t always a perfect solution (ex: the “dumbed-down” subtitles on the original U.S. DVD of “Let The Right One In”), but they beat mismatched dubbed voices (ouch).

    Since this film sounds like my cup of blood, oh pardon me, tea, I’ll just hav eto try to ignore that one bad dub.

    I love the concept of “all-female” vampires, because I have a similar story outline for a tribe of all-female lycanthropes.

    1. Yeah, I have mixed feelings on subtitles and dubbed voices. Sometimes I like one and sometimes I like the other. I guess it depends on the film and how well done it is.

      1. Moonlight, you couldn’t have been more right about the Lena dub voice.
        Holy ****, that was bad!
        But her visual transformation was like watching The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo turn into Adriana Lima. >;^)\
        A very cool, fun film overall.

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