Neil Jordan’s Byzantium

In a desert of predictable young adult vampire romance, Byzantium is a refreshing oasis. It is a film directed by Neil Jordan and is based on Moira Buffini’s play A Vampire Story. In the opening scene the main character, Eleanor Web, played by the lovely Saoirse Ronan, is finishing writing a story which she then…

Biting Critique: Vampire Lore as Vehicle For Social Commentary

With the 6th season of True Blood having just concluded, and with fans eager for new episodes, it’s fascinating to reflect on the bevy of issues the show has addressed over the course of its run, including: xenophobia; subjugated groups gaining tolerance in an increasingly permissive society; humanity’s constant struggle to reconcile animalistic urges with…

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).…

Non-Fiction Spotlight: The Romance of Dracula

The Romance of Dracula by Charles E. Butler is, in his own words, “a personal journey of the Count on celluloid.” I think that is a perfect way to describe this book, which is part film critique, part essay, and part personal reminiscence. Like Mr. Butler, I love the vampire film genre as well as…

Sneak Peak: Styria

We’ve covered the upcoming motion picture Styria for over a year. This marks the first major film adaptation of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla since 1989 (the Nightmare Classics version)! This week I was invited to a private screening of the current edit of the film. A few things remained unfinished. One or two scenes haven’t…

Review: Kiss of the Butterfly

“I sense it even now. People thirst for it; the entire country is mad with desire for it…” A dying man’s cryptic letter catapults California college student Steven Roberts on a mystery-shrouded quest into the labyrinth of the war-torn Balkans. Singled out for the task by an enigmatic professor, Steven overcomes his doubts and plunges…

Virtual Vampires on Kickstarter

Daniel Cavallin and Andrés Cavallin, aka the “Cavallin Brothers,” are game designers.  They created their first video games back in the 1980s  and won a programming contest at the ages of 11 and 12 respectively — before the IBM PC was even invented! They founded TrueApps LLP, with the mission of creating entertainment software to…

Review: The Annotated Carmilla

When I was asked to review this book, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I confess that I haven’t read many annotated books, since my preference is to simply experience the story for myself and move on rather than to analyze and deconstruct. However, my other reservation came from the fact that Joseph Sheridan…

Let The Right One In Redux!

Most fans of the blood-drinking undead agree John Ajvide Lindqvist created a modern classic with his novel Let The Right One In. His eerie, troubling and somehow sweet story of a lonely bullied child who finds friendship, maybe even love, with a vampire who moves next door became a best-seller. Lindqvist himself wrote the screenplay…

Review: The Hunger by Doug Dandridge

A vampire novel written by someone named Dandridge immediately brought a smile to my face even if the author is no relation to the Fright Night vampire played by both Chris Sarandon and Colin Farrel. What can I say? I’m a geek. The Hunger is the story of reluctant vampire Lucinda: a murdered prostitute who…