Coming: Fright Night 2

Let the arguments and debates commence! Sequels always cause both, as do remakes. Sequels to remakes even more-so! The original Fright Night inspired a sequel centered around Charlie Brewster encountering a female vampire. Now Fright Night 2: New Blood takes that idea but also brings back Ed (Chris Waller) as well as Amy (Sasha Parkinson).…

The Many Faces of Erzebet Bathori

Other than Vlad the Impaler, surely the one historical figure most often assumed to have been a vampire is Erzebet Bathori (Elizabeth Bathory), a 17th century Hungarian Countess and serial killer. One can understand why, especially given the gothic trappings added to an already horrific life story. For the record, she did not bathe in…

Review of Virgin Vampires

Way back in the 1970s, Hammer films had plans (never realized) to make a fourth Karnstein film as a follow-up to Twins of Evil.  The title was to have been Vampire Virgins. When I heard of the following graphic novel, little wonder if I wondered about any possible connection! Virgin Vampires (or Once Upon a…

Review of Not With Monsters

In the region of greater Los Angeles known as NoHo a black box theatre known as Zombie Joe’s makes its home.  They do a variety of plays there, many original as well as solid sprinkling of classics.  A new show opened this last weekend, a one-act musical that includes no less than five vampires in…

Review of Hellboy: Blood and Iron

Hows’ this for a pitch?  Hellboy Verus Elizabeth Bathory! Don’t know who made it, but that proved indeed the story behind Hellboy: Blood and Iron.  This formed one of two animated features made in between the two live action films.  As it happened, this one featured most of the original cast as voice talent:  Ron…

The Dracula Society

As I’m sure you are well aware, there are an enormous amount of vampire societies and organizations that exist today. These groups range widely in their purpose: from vampiric literary scholars and students to more occult and spiritually focused endeavors. Many vampire organizations require membership and can be quite exclusive in terms of sharing information,…

Rochester City Ballet Presents ‘The Blood Countess’

This is going to be fantastic, –finally, vampires have come to the stage. I personally, wish it could have been in a less speculative and naive story, but sadly, the writer didn’t ask me what I thought before he (or she), decided to pen a ballet that would amalgamate Bathory and Dracula pop-culture. And for that,…

Elizabeth Bathory the Blood Countess

Of all the candidates for “real life vampire” surely the front-runner must be Elizabeth Bathory. Among the highest nobility in 17th century Hungary, her name comes down to us amid horrified whispers–torture, mass murder, bathing in human blood, Satanism. How much if anything actually happened remains a matter for historians. Fans of vampires know her…

Jimmi Simpson Joins Cast of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I know you’re probably sick about all the talk regarding Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; for one thing, it seems a little foolhardy to spend a lot of time building up any movie, let alone something as near and dear to our hearts as a vampire movie. Remember how anticipated Clash of the Titans was? *shudder*…

Film Flashback: Daughters of Darkness

Today’s classic film is Daughters of Darkness, also known as Le Rouge aux Levres (The Lips of Red). It came out back in 1971, and is definitely one of the darker vampire films out there. Daughters of Darkness was directed by Harry Kumel and stars Delphine Seyrig, Daniele Quimet and John Karlen (who was in…