Handbook of the Vampire: Carmilla in Context

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by S. Brooke Cameron, the Chapter Page can be found here.

This was another HotV chapter looking at Le Fanu’s Carmilla, this time looking at the original text and specifically around the queer context and the political reading as it pertains to the Irish politics of the time. There is no doubt that the text has a very obvious queer reading but the chapter explores that within its historical context. On the Irish question there is a full discourse on the Protestant/Catholic tensions, the question of home rule and Le Fanu’s own political positioning, which the author suggests was, at best, uncertain.

The author looks comparatively at Carmilla against the other stories within In a Glass Darkly, touching also on Le Fanu’s Spalatro, from the notes of Fra Giacomo and looking briefly at the forward influence on with Dracula. By looking firmly at the nineteenth century the chapter proves an excellent companion to the Carmilla and the Daughters of Darkness chapter.

Handbook of the Vampire: Carmilla and the Daughters of Darkness

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Brigid Cherry the Chapter Page can be found here.

This was a HotV chapter looking at Le Fanu’s Carmilla through its adaptations and intertextual connections, concentrating on key themes. It looks first at the African-American Gothic as portrayed within the Antebellum location and narrative themes in Carmilla (1990) and I found this part of the chapter both inciteful and worth the entry alone. Comparative to this, and equally worth exploration, was the move of the story to a British heritage drama in the adaptation Carmilla (2019).

The chapter touches on predatory masculinity, as some adaptations explore – looking at both the Unwanted and Styria (reviewed as the Curse of Styria – and the forcible return to heteronormality (which, arguably, was a theme emerging from the original story). Self-harm is looked at, and it is worth remembering that the creative forces behind the film Styria were interested in the phenomena of “suicide clusters”.

I was really pleased to see the author looking at metatextual examples of Carmilla related texts, especially the obscure Carmilla Hyde. Overall, a really worthwhile chapter.

Handbook of the Vampire: Canadian Vampires

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Murray Leeder & Andre Loiselle the Chapter Page can be found here.

This chapter of the Handbook takes a look at vampire films, and some literature, coming out of Canada and recognises a comedic seam running through many of the films so that even the more obscure films perhaps not touched on, such as the Death of Alice Blue, do fit within that comedic seam. The authors capture a good proportion of the Canadian output, however, and suggests that traditional vampires are migrants to the country, which of course is a place of colonial settlement. There are, however, good examples of properly horror based Canadian vampire films, with David Cronenberg’s Rabid being a prime example (which, itself, was remade by the Canadian Soska Sisters).

It was interesting to discover that there are several soucouyant novels from Canadian authors and Leeder & Loiselle make the connection between the vampire and the Wendigo and also drew attention to Algernon Blackwood’s story, the Wendigo – one I will have to find and inwardly digest.

Murray Leeder always delivers a well-turned prose and this collaboration is no exception and offers the reader a grounding study of the vampire in Canadian film and literature.

Handbook of the Vampire: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Analyzing the Series and Its Legacy

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Erin Giannini the Chapter Page can be found here.

This chapter of the Handbook gave an overview and introduction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, concentrating on the series, rather than the initial movie and, of course, touching into spin-off series Angel. This is, of course, quite a daunting undertaking as, recognised by the author, the series has spawned a great deal of academic work, in its own right. The approximately 8-9000 word count for Handbook chapters cannot begin to do anything other than scratch the surface but what we do get is an excellent introduction to some of the themes the series contains.

The author, amongst other things, touches on gender and sex themes in the series as well as religion and ethics – noting a particularly Kantian approach to the latter. They also touch on how the Buffy universe continued in comic form after cancellation. There is an interesting touch into toxicity and the fact that Buffy creator Josh Whedon has, in and off himself, shifted from the person who brought a feminist oriented series to air, to being allegedly toxic himself due to his reported on-set activity. The fact that the Whedon Studies Association opted to change the organisations name is telling, as the shadow of the allegations fall long across the series as a subject and so disassociating themselves allows for study of a watershed series without that stigma.

Countess Dracula – review

Author: Carroll Borland

First Published: 1994

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Carroll Borland is the legendary star of early cinema, who's portrayal of "Luna" opposite Bela Lugosi in the 1935 motion picture horror classic, "Mark of the Vampire," indelibly etched in the minds of moviegoers the "look, the style and the sexuality of female vampires for generations to come." How did Bela Lugosi inspire the writing of the legendary sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula? What was the true story behind the infamous "incest scene" rumored to have been cut from "Mark of the Vampire", starring Carroll and Bela? Was Carroll Borland visited by the ghost of Bela Lugosi? What was the secret of their relationship? Learn the answers in Gregory Mank's compelling account of Carroll's life and film career.

The review: Though some may buy this coffee table sized volume for Carroll Borland’s biography, I was more interested in her short novel (actually a novella), a sequel to Stoker’s Dracula. Written when she was fifteen, having seen Lugosi in the stage production of Dracula, it would prove to be her introduction to the actor years before they played opposite each other in Mark of the Vampire.

To some degree it is fanfiction, but it is well written, if a tad sparse, and follows the Stoker story some 50-years on. In doing so it introduces a unique piece of lore that suggests a setback (perhaps the attack by Harker, as the Count turns to dust, or the interruption of an attack and the saving of the victim) can cause the vampire to have to sleep for 50 years (hence the jump forward in time). This also happens to the vampire’s maker – so if the bride must enter the 50-year hiatus, so must the Count. It also suggests Mina did not turn as she died whilst the Count was so indisposed and during the day (prior to the book’s opening, though Jonathan Harker and their son Quincey do make an appearance). The story hints at, though does not explicitly state, a reincarnated love (though this could be a retrospective interpretation).

As for the more biographical side Borland makes a categorical statement that the allegedly lost (to the cutting room floor) incest scenes between Mora and Luna (the vampires), from Mark of the Vampire, were never shot. This is likely the case but whether background story narrated by, say, Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) included it and was cut might not be far-fetched.

For fans of the film, for fans of Borland herself and for those just interested in the rather fun musings of a fifteen-years old Lugosi fan and what it developed into, this is a wonderous curio. Thanks to Sarah, who got me this as a birthday present. 6 out of 10.

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Handbook of the Vampire: The Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Cristina Santos the Chapter Page can be found here.

One of the early comments in this chapter that struck me was the fact that the Erzsébet Báthory story is one of the witch/vampire hybrid. This hybrid is found scattered throughout the megatext but I had never really looked at Báthory in that way. When pointed out, it is obvious. Not only is she (in many versions of the tale) aided by a woman versed in witchcraft but the whole bathing in blood to gain youth and vitality is certainly within the sphere of magic/witchcraft.

Santos looks at a variety of texts to explore the development of the mythologisation of the historical Báthory into the Bloody Countess – primarily prose, but also touching into both films and TV series that have reached into the myth. It was only after reading this, and considering this article, that it struck me that the author did not use the film Countess Dracula within the chapter; an omission given that the Hammer film likely brought the Báthory story to a generation of cinemagoers and the conflation of Báthory with Dracula in the title. The author looks at the way “his-stories” about the countess were constructed by those with power and a vested interest in her demonisation, which make the historical documentation complex. I will mention that the author does state that Gilles de Rais did not undergo a vampiric mythologisation (10), this is not entirely true. Whilst de Rais is considerably less well known, J K Huysmans (for instance) does liken De Rais to a vampire in his 1891 novel Là-Bas.

One thing I do like, when reading reference works on vampires, is to get new media to look at. Santos has put me on the track of the series American Horror Story: Coven and Salem, with aspects in them using that Báthory-like witch/vampire hybrid and the cosmetic use of or bathing in blood. Certainly, at the time I wrote this article, Coven had an instance of energy vampirism in the first episode (and the link above goes to my thoughts on the season). As for the essay, it was a very good read, it didn’t suffer from the missing Hammer film (I only thought of it after the fact) and the de Rais comment is minor. An excellent entry to the Handbook.

Handbook of the Vampire: Bloodsuckers from Beyond: Cold War Era Space Vampires of the Cinema

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Matthew Jones the Chapter Page can be found here.

This chapter of the Handbook looked into science fiction vampires that were contemporaries to, and analogous of, the Cold War, with a view to opening a discourse on, what Jones terms, “the elusive extraterrestrial film vampire”. With that in mind, though the Thing from Another World is mentioned in passing amongst other, famous, monster features, it is not studied within the essay as a vampire film with an extraterrestrial origin to its creature. Given that it was released early into the Cold War its absence is unfortunate. The text is also silent on such films as Brainiac, which has an alien aspect (the brain eating vampire was human but returns from a comet having become monstruous and the author could have entered into an interesting discourse between this Mexican offering and US fare).

My only other criticism regarding content was that, although It! The Terror from Beyond Space was included, I’d have liked to have seen more space dedicated to the film, but that is because it is one that I have a tremendous soft spot for. This chapter does start the discourse the author wished to, and generally there is plenty of room for more on these alien vampire films.

Handbook of the Vampire: Blood Is Life. Life Is Blood: The Psychology of Vampirism

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Nikki Foster-Kruczek and Catherine Pugh the Chapter Page can be found here.

This entry into the Handbook of the Vampire looked into the psychology of vampirism and so like ‘Beyond Humanity’: An Expedition Charting Non-Human Identities did touch into those who identify as vampires, though I felt this had an edge of critical thinking that was less obvious in the other chapter. The authors took a particularly Freudian view of the subject, using the work of Ernest Jones quite extensively. Because of this they looked at arousal through bloodplay, which was noticeably missing in the previous chapter. They also, early in the chapter, posit “clinical vampirism technically does not exist” (3), instead tying the consumption of blood with other fetishes and, later in the chapter, go beyond Freud and look at hemomania, suggesting the need for one’s own blood exhibited with that condition might develop through poor impulse control to a wider need.

What I thought interesting was the take on identity and the idea of narrative identity (defining one’s identity through storytelling). If an individual identifies as other-than-human, then there is difficulty in becoming part of a community and a clash with the typical perception of normality. This underlines the importance of the vampire community for the individual but also indicates why media generated ‘rules’ are adopted into that identity and that the consumption of texts around vampires helps shape the narrative identity and, ultimately, self-identification is the key.

This was a fascinating chapter of the Handbook.

Handbook of the Vampire: Black Vampires and Blaxploitation

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Jerry Rafiki Jenkins the Chapter Page can be found here.

Opening with the thought that “Blaxploitation film history… …is, in part, “a vampire story””, Jenkins' chapter proves to be a solid look at the Black vampire film and the ideas, explored within, of Africanism Vs African American and the concepts of Black Maleness and Femininity. The texts that the author uses are, for the primary ones, Blacula, Scream, Blacula, Scream and Ganja and Hess. Within those there would seem to be more a social connection between Scream, Blacula, Scream and Ganja and Hess then there are between Scream, Blacula, Scream and Blacula, which was interesting in and of itself. I think I would like to have seen Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Spike Lee’s remake or reimagining of Ganja and Hess, at least touched on, though the chapter is not lacking by its absence.

Perhaps a touch more unusual choices as texts were Vampire in Brooklyn and, more so, Def by Temptation - not in terms of content, they fit into argument well – but more in them being texts used less often by authors. There was, I felt, much more room for exploration of the themes that was curtailed simply by word limit and the author has opportunity, I feel, to expand on their themes in much more depth – perhaps even to the point of a monogram and it would certainly be a monogram I would read. Inciteful content and solid writing make this an excellent entry in the Handbook.

Handbook of the Vampire: ‘Beyond Humanity’: An Expedition Charting Non-Human Identities

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Adam Owsinki the Chapter Page can be found here.

This was always going to be a tough one for me to look at objectively as it examines those folks who claim to really be vampires. Now, I am cool with people being who they want to be, and I will say it is well written by the author, but my honest opinion is that such folk may have a belief that they are vampires (though some clearly are role players) but the reality is that they are creating a construct and they do not physically need blood. The author ties them in to the general “Otherkin” heading – which involves claims of all sorts of internal identities and, at least, addresses the point that claims within such communities are more often driven by media than by folklore and there is an inherent tendency to adopt things that were simply invented by an artist when plying their craft.

The author breaks down several types of vampires, namely psychic, sanguine, false sanguine, vegetarian, hybrid and lifestylers. The latter, of course, are role playing, they are creating an aesthetic drawn from favourite media vehicles. I was interested to see the author trace psychic vampires, or the use of the name at least, to Anton LeVay but what he described, as the author concedes, were not actual energy sucking vampires. I think it safe to say LeVay could have replaced "psychic vampire" for "narcissist". Although she (Dion Fortune) didn’t use the phrase "psychic vampire", I think Owsinki would have been better reaching as far back as Dion Fortune and her Psychic Self-Defence volume, which speaks of a belief in actual energy feeders.

When it comes to sanguine and false sanguine vampires, then the distinction the author draws is that false sanguine vampires are the so-called vampire killers. Sometimes dubbed vampires in the press, sometimes modelling themselves on vampires, the actual cases do go much further back than touched on – certainly one cannot forget such killers as Peter Kürten and Fritz Haarmann in the 1920s or the 19th century, press-dubbed, Vampire of Montparnasse Sergeant François Bertrand. His crimes included corpse mutilation and necrophilia. That these are “false” vampires is a bias in argument that sees the positive in ethical sanguine vampires equating to a truth, where arguably those who display unethical and criminal activity are closer to some versions of the folkloric vampire. Having mentioned Bertrand it would be remiss not to mention that this chapter does not touch on sexuality as a driver for building a vampire identity, yet those who associate blood consumption and sexuality have been reported on, for an early instance we could look to Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis (1886) though the word vampire is not conflated with the phenomena in that volume.

Of all of them, the term vegetarian vampire is perhaps the strangest and the author mentions the fact that consumption of animal blood (rather than human) is starkly out with actual vegetarianism. I have used the term myself, describing fictional vampires with ethical concerns about their feeding, of course.

As mentioned, this was well written and for those with a genuine interest in the phenomena it is a good primer that maintains a sympathetic view to non-human identification. Having tried, in the past, to be open to people self-identifying as vampires, I find I do struggle as it feels like a mental construct patched together from films but it appears that the construct does good for the individual concerned, and so long as dangerous activities are ethical and consensual, who am I to judge?

Handbook of the Vampire: Australia and New Zealand Vampires

Written for Palgrave’s Handbook of the Vampire by Ashleigh Prosser and Blair Speakman their chapter page can be found here. As the chapter title suggests it looks at antipodean vampires and whilst it does touch on indigenous myth, around Australia at least, it focuses on media representation of vampires both in literature and films/television.

When it comes to Australia, I was aware of the various films it touched upon and there is a very Gothic aspect to much Australian horror focused cinema. Where my interest lay, in this chapter, was around First Nation representation in vampire media and, of course the authors touched on the series Firebite and its depiction of post-colonial racism still institutionalised in Australian culture. What really did interest me, however, was the literature from First Nation authors and in particular the series Master of the Ghost Dreaming by Mudrooroo. A four-part series, apparently it is books 2-3 that make up a trilogy of vampire tales that merge Dreaming and Gothic horror. Book 2 (the first vampire one) is called Undying and I immediately purchased it and will feature it on TMtV at some point in the future.

The scope of Aotearoa New Zealand vampire media is a bit thinner but also tends to import colonial vampires into its narrative. The chapter touched on TVs It Is I, Count Homogenised and the film Perfect Creature but the most impactful Aotearoa New Zealand vampire vehicle was, of course, What we Do in the Shadows - where the vampires are all, of course, colonisers/immigrants into a recognisable Wellington. In fact, it was its spin-off, Wellington Paranormal, that contained Māori myth and a main Māori character in the form of Sgt. Maaka (Maaka Pohatu). These vehicles are, of course, comedy and that continues a thread through Aotearoa New Zealand vampire vehicles that also includes My Grandpa is a Vampire. If there was a missed opportunity here it would have been to touch on the spin-off TV What we Do in the Shadows - whilst that was, of course, US based it is in the same universe and, with characters from the film appearing on occasion, could have created an interesting reverse colonisation argument. Nevertheless, this was a great introduction to antipodean vampires.

Handbook of the Vampire: Introduction to the Handbook of the Vampire

This is my First post looking in an in-depth way at Palgrave’s Handbook of the Vampire, a monumental reference work that has an introduction and 97 chapters concerning all aspects of vampire study. It is published as an e-book with the chapters available through institutional logins and being published as a two-volume hardcopy. I am lucky enough to have provided two chapters for the handbook (which I won’t be writing blog posts on but you can find links to the Handbook pages for each chapter I provided on the Handbook Page I have set up).

This first post concerns the Introduction, written by editor Simon Bacon. Of course, the chapter is an editorial, it outlines the scope of the project and what the reader can hope to find within. He suggests that “So much more research and study are required to understand and recognise the full implications of what we are saying when we say ‘VAMPIRE.’”. This is fitting coming from Simon – he and I indulge in frequent correspondence and have collaborated a few times, but his output into the arena of vampire study is vast (as both editor and author) but his definition of vampire is wide also and it is this width that allowed him to catch a vast net to snare the cornucopia of treasures within the Handbook.

I also have to give a moment of thanks for the fact that one of my entries for the Handbook was actually cited within the introduction.

As I continue to look at the Handbook, I will point out interesting ideas, new sources of vampire media and even where I disagree with a proposition within a chapter. This project, to map each chapter, over time, here at TMtV will undoubtedly take a long time. I will read the chapters over time and then have to write the article and schedule it for posting, of course, but it is a journey I think will be worth taking.

Martin (Midnight Movie Monographs) – review

Author: Jez Winship

First published: 2016

The blurb: George A. Romero changed the face of Horror cinema with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. But it would be a decade before he caught lightning in a bottle again.

Romero spent those 10 years honing his craft on a series of documentaries and low budget features that would culminate in the global phenomenon of DAWN OF THE DEAD in 1978. But MARTIN, made immediately beforehand, in 1977, is his unsung Masterpiece.

Mature, controlled, and devastatingly effective, MARTIN is one of the most astonishing character studies ever committed to film. The tale of an alienated young man who may, or may not, be a vampire (a stunning performance by John Amplas); it is, by turns, disturbing, shocking, and heartbreaking. One of the finest American films of the 1970s.

The review: This book is no less than a love letter to Romero’s vampire film, in which the author waxes lyrical about a film they clearly adore. If you are a fan of the film, therefore, it is likely that you will, at the very least, get something out of it and more likely quite a lot. A slim volume (the first edition limited to 200 numbered hardbacks) it dispenses with trappings such as chapters and is, essentially, a long, almost scene-by-scene, synopsis into which factoids and interpretations are thrown. Some of the interpretations are interesting and could have done with a more detailed explorations (at times), and there are aspects where an academic analysis would have been welcome, but the book is as intended and will appeal to those who want less academic focused volumes. The author’s style suits the format, with a chatty, enthusiastic quality to the prose. If I did have a gripe (and notwithstanding the comment about academic volumes) it is the sparsity of citation – the author does offer where (book or, often, DVD extra) he got a particular fact, and there is a bibliography, but I would have liked, for instance, a referenced page number with each book cited.

To repeat myself, fans of the film will find much to love within. 7 out of 10.

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Bram Stoker, Dracula and the Victorian Gothic Stage – review

Author: Catherine Wynne

Release date: 2013

The Blurb: Bram Stoker worked in the theatre for most of his adult life, as theatre reviewer in Dublin in the 1870s and as business manager at London's Royal Lyceum Theatre in the final two decades of the 19th century. Despite this, critical attention to the influence of the stage on Stoker's writing has been sparse. Bram Stoker, Dracula and the Victorian Gothic Stage addresses this lacuna, examining how Stoker's fictions respond to and engage with Victorian theatre's melodramatic climate and, in particular, to supernatural plays, Gothic melodramas and Shakespearean productions that Henry Irving and Ellen Terry performed at the Lyceum. Bram Stoker, Dracula and the Victorian Gothic Stage locates the writer between stage and page. It reconsiders his literary relationships with key actors, and challenges the biographical assumption that Henry Irving provided the model for the figure of Count Dracula.

The review: If there is one area of vampire studies I feel more out of my depth in, it is within the realm of the vampire and the stage, especially the 19th Century stage. It is good therefore to read authoritative tomes on the subject (and I can recommend Stuart’s Stage Blood in that regard). This is not a book about the staging of vampire plays (though it does touch on Dion Boucicault’s the Vampire/the Phantom) but rather looks at the stage of the Lyceum, and the actors and performances thereof, to extrapolate possible influences on Stoker and his seminal novel.

The primary thrust is within the form and structure of the Gothic melodrama, the form that Irving mastered so very well and that actresses Ellen Terry and Geneviève Ward not only mastered on stage but, it is well argued, replicated in their personal lives. Wynne presents strong, cogent arguments for her contentions and places Stoker within a context that is not often considered but was absolutely the world in which he lived in. As well as using his literature (including “Personal Reminiscences…”), Wynne also had access to some of Stoker’s unpublished personal correspondences, which expand our view of the man and the time.

It is easy, sat in the 21st Century, to assume we understand the world that Stoker – theatre business manager and novelist – lived in. Wynne opens our eyes, with a monogram written in an easily digestible way (for an academic volume). For students of the author or the novel, necessary. 9 out of 10, however not cheap so do look out for Palgrave sales.

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Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror - A Film by F. W. Murnau: A Shot-by-Shot Presentation – review

Author: Roy A Sites

First published: 2014

The blurb: Nosferatu -- Does this word not sound like the Deathbird calling for you at midnight? Beware of it, otherwise you will fade away and images of your life will be shattered, nightmares will quickly rise in your heart and feed upon your blood.

From the mist shrouded ruins of Transylvania to the deserted manse in Wisborg……
He is coming!

-- Vermin, plague, misery, insanity, death –
...hide in the shadow of the Vampire...

The great 1922 silent horror film classic presented in story-board form with a shot-by-shot presentation. Every shot in the film is represented with a frame enlargement, narrative comments and a fresh translation of every original German intertitle card. In addition, brief comments are provided relating to cinematic devices used by Murnau in his seminal film, as well as backstories, then-and-now photos, sources for viewing the film, and more. This is F. W. Murnau's horror masterpiece presented as never before. This is where the cinematic legend of Dracula begins. With over 600 photos and illustrations!!!

The review: Murnau’s Nosferatu was a seminal moment in cinema history, never mind horror cinema generally and vampire cinema specifically. This book is a useful tool for the student of the film, recreating the film in a storyboard format. However, its weakness is here too. Each page has 2 columns of three rows, on a row we then get a text descriptor and a still from the film. Unfortunately, whilst some stills are iconic others are not so – sometimes too small for the detail within (a distant shot of the hyena, for example, is too small, lacking in detail, whilst the close up is iconic). Part of the problem might be the fact that this is self-published and therefore the print quality and paper quality is lower than a dedicated publishing house might have provided, part of the problem might have been the source. The pictures are black and white, not tinted.

You might then ask of the point but, as I say it is a useful tool for the student of the film. Firstly, because there are times that flicking through pages is more convenient than firing up a DVD/Blu-Ray, but also the move to a paper format changes the viewer lens and it is possible that a different thought may hit the reader than if they were using the film format.

There are appendices that go through filming techniques, brief biographies of those involved in the film (or at least the primary persons) and a listing of various releases of the film (US market orientated). Useful if the details contain something new for you, though nothing that hasn’t been offered elsewhere. Most useful in the appendices is the shooting script for the film (in English, the author does not have details of the translator but is convinced of its authenticity having compared to fragments of the German script – so whilst useful do take account of the caveat).

This is only really going to be of interest to students of the film/director/genre. For those, an interesting tool gets 7 out of 10. My thanks to Ian, who got me the book for Christmas.

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Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies - review

Editor: Vanessa Morgan

First Published: 2019

The Blurb: This is an overview of the most offbeat and underrated vampire movies spanning nine decades and 23 countries. Strange Blood encompasses well-known hits as well as obscurities that differ from your standard fang fare by turning genre conventions on their head. Here, vampires come in the form of cars, pets, aliens, mechanical objects, gorillas, or floating heads. And when they do look like a demonic monster or an aristocratic Count or Countess, they break the mold in terms of imagery, style, or setting. Leading horror writers, filmmakers, actors, distributors, academics, and programmers present their favorite vampire films through in-depth essays, providing background information, analysis, and trivia regarding the various films. Some of these stories are hilarious, some are terrifying, some are touching, and some are just plain weird. Not all of these movies line up with the critical consensus, yet they have one thing in common: they are unlike anything you've ever seen in the world of vampires. Just when you thought that the children of the night had become a tired trope, it turns out they have quite a diverse inventory after all.

The review: I mentioned this film when I reviewed Wilczyca as it was the one film in the collection that I hadn’t covered here. That said, there is much to discover within and this is a collection of (mostly) folks talking about a film they love as a fan. I say mostly because, for instance, the Frostbite entry was written by director Anders Banke and producer Magnus Paulsson. Also, not every entry was a love letter, in some there was a recognition of how poor a vehicle might be (after all, who could defend the cinematic pedigree of Devil’s Dynamite, though Chris Hewson did a fine job of suggesting to an uninitiated reader that it might be a “so bad, its good” film – it isn’t, it's just bad).

Where this went wrong, as a reference work, was in a failure to provide any referencing or an index. The issue then is, can the background information and trivia be trusted as reliable? The answer, probably not. For Wilczyca I gave the benefit of the doubt to a quote attributed to the director in my review of the film but, equally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable in reproducing that quote in a reference piece without (at the very least) a heavy caveat. Also, some factoids are just wrong. For instance, in the essay about the Curse of Styria (under the US title Angels of Darkness) author Christine Hadden suggests the film takes place in a remote area of Austria – in fact it takes place in Hungary, which is important as it is within the cold war and Hungary is a communist country (hence the difficulties crossing the border at the head of the film). It is where authors wax lyrical about their love of any given vehicle that this book excels (and going back to Hadden’s Styria essay, this is a case in point as the love for the film was palpable despite the geographic faux pas).

And in that respect, it really does work. It’s also a darn sight cheaper than many reference works out there. I should mention that author and blog friend Doug Lamoreux provides a couple of the essays. 7.5 out of 10.

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Carmilla: A Critical Edition – review

Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Editor: Kathleen Costello-Sullivan

First published: 2013 (edition)

The Blurb: First serialized in the journal "The Dark Blue" and published shortly thereafter in the short story collection In a Glass Darkly, Le Fanu’s 1872 vampire tale is in many ways the overlooked older sister of Bram Stoker’s more acclaimed Dracula. A thrilling gothic tale, Carmilla tells the story of a young woman lured by the charms of a female vampire.

This edition includes a student-oriented introduction, tracing the major critical responses to Carmilla, and four interdisciplinary essays by leading scholars who analyze the story from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Ranging from politics to gender, Gothicism to feminism, and nineteenth-century aestheticism to contemporary film studies, these critical yet accessible articles model the diverse ways

The review: Like Dracula, Carmilla is a piece of literature that genre fans are likely to have more than once and look at different editions for their collection. This edition is interesting as it draws attention to the slight differences between the version of the text originally published in The Dark Blue and its version when part of In a Glass Darkly. Beyond this, probably the most telling correction is in the dialogue of De Lafontaine where she says (before Carmilla’s arrival), “this night… …is full of odylic and magnetic influence” (p 13). Many editions ‘correct’ this to idyllic but odylic (as the footnote to this informs) refers to the hypothetical force odyle that was claimed to be behind mesmerism and animal magnetism.

The edition also includes four essays that are cross-disciplinary and cover Irish studies (and the interpretation of Le Fanu’s tale within that context), aesthetics and a look at the novella through the lens of Burke and Gilpin’s theorems and finally within cinema. The essays are interesting, though the one on cinema was incredibly whistle-stop, and add layers to the edition.

All in all, this is a decent edition, if only for the comparison laid out between Le Fanu’s two editions of the tale. It is, however, a tad pricey compared to other editions – being released by a University Press (in this case Syracuse). 8 out of 10 (for the edition, not the Le Fanu content, which is classic after all).

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Nosferatu (BFI Film Classics) – review

Author: Kevin Jackson

First published: 2013

The Blurb: F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, remains a potent and disturbing horror film. One of the outstanding documents of Weimar culture's dark side, the film's prevailing themes of human destructiveness, insanity, and moral and physical pollution had a stinging topicality for contemporary audiences.

Kevin Jackson's illuminating study traces Nosferatu's production and reception history, including attempts by Stoker's widow to suppress the film's circulation. Exploring the evolution of the vampire myth, both in the film and in wider culture, Jackson exposes how and why this film of horror and death remains enduringly beautiful and chilling today.

The review: A small, pocket size book, this is an interesting examination of Nosferatu and is in a range of books released by BFI. We have looked at a Kevin Jackson volume before, in the form of Bite: a Vampire handbook. That volume was accessible but weighted with opinion, this less so and we have a collection of end notes that includes references and a select bibliography, which are useful for the scholar.

The book explores Weimar culture as a background, the production, explores the film through its acts, the reactions to the film on release and some of the post-Nosferatu careers of those involved along with a look at a few of the later vehicles it inspired. This latter part is very light but not the main point of the book.

All in all, a delightful pocket sized read for fans of the films, with colour pictures through the volume, but perhaps a little light on an academic basis but suitably referenced. 7.5 out of 10 scored as a pocket book, perhaps drop a point or so if looking for a more academically meaty volume.

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Drafts of Dracula – review

Editors: Robert Eighteen-Bisang & Elizabeth Miler

First published: 2019

The blurb: A decade after making Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula available to the public, Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller reach a new plateau with this revised and updated version of their groundbreaking work. – J. Gordon Melton, The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead.

Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller's Drafts of Dracula builds upon their pioneering work on Bram Stoker's notes to give us new insights into Stoker's typescript, his play of 1897, and the mystery of Dracula's Guest. – The London Library.

A valuable resource for studying and enjoying Dracula. – Leslie S. Klinger, editor of the New Annotated Dracula.

Note: This review was written for Vamped and was in their article queue. Given the sad news that Robert Eighteen-Bisang has passed away, I agreed with the guys at Vamped to post this here as a tribute and memorial to Robert. RIP

The review: In 2013 Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miler released a facsimile and annotated edition of the notes (or, should I say, the surviving notes) that Bram Stoker made when researching and drafting Dracula. It was, in many respects, a watershed moment in Dracula studies. The novel attracted a phenomenal amount of attention as stood but the study of few novels also included the author’s notes. Perhaps the downside to the volume was the price, as an academic book it was not that expensive but for the amateur scholar even the cheaper academic books can often be out of reach – a judicial use of e-bay came to my rescue in this regard.

Moving forward they have released Drafts of Dracula. This builds on the previous work, certainly containing their typed copy of the notes (and some facsimile pages also reproduced) but edited together in a way where they have tried to reproduce a series of drafts, approximating the novel writing process so that we can have an idea of the evolution of the novel. This is then expanded on by looking at things which were not within the previous volume (or as thoroughly examined) such as finding the edits in the typeset proof of the novel – that proof did not contain Dracula’s Guest but had edits to remove references to it, for instance. There is an examination of the changes from novel to Stoker’s script for the play, an exercise in copyrighting the work for the stage. The Icelandic and Swedish reimaginings are also touched upon. For me it was the edits within the typeset that proved the most interesting new moments within the volume.

The annotations are, as one would expect, rich and interesting. A couple of moments stood out to caution, however. A mention is made of the Skeleton Count by Elizabeth Grey (as cited by Peter Haining) – evidence has come to light that the story, as presented by Haining, might be a hoax. The annotations also confidently suggest that Stoker’s story was the first to have a human vampire transform into a bat. One can argue whether the vampiric witch in William H G Kingston’s the Vampire; or Pedro Pacheco and the Bruxa (1863) was a human vampire or not, but Kevin Dodd has uncovered the story “A Vampire” by Karl May which formed part of In den Schluchten des Balkan (magazine published between 1881 and 1888 and published in novel form in 1892) that features a moment where a vampire is described as leaving her grave and taking the form of a bat – though it turns out not to be real it has the description of a human vampire becoming a bat. Indeed, that annotation stands against a further annotation that recognises the transformation portrayed in Georges Méliès’ le Manoir du Diable (1896), calling it the first vampire film – except it isn’t a vampire film at all. Stoker, of course, is the author who brought such a transformation to such prominence that it is now common knowledge that vampires can turn into bats.

These were minor moments in a rich, knowledgeable, set of annotations – listed in case an errata sheet is to be produced. One thing I would have liked to see, given the referencing of the Icelandic and Swedish editions, was perhaps a brief look at Kazıklı Voyvoda (1928) the Turkish version of the novel adapted by Ali Rıza Seyfioğlu. True, it was created after Stoker’s death, but it did contain a hard connection between the vampire and the historic Vlad Ţepeş. Be that as it may, this is a superb volume created by two world renowned Dracula/vampire scholars, building meaningfully on the previous volume and making itself absolutely essential and – as released – affordable. 10 out of 10.

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Vampires in Italian Cinema, 1956-1975 – review

Author: Michael Guarneri

First published: 2020

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Demonstrates how and why the transnational figure of the vampire was appropriated by Italian genre filmmakers between 1956 and 1975

Actively engages in the ongoing academic debate about the cultural legitimacy of Italian genre cinema

Covers unpublished film production data (from the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome), original screenplays (from the Biblioteca Luigi Chiarini in Rome), cinematic paratexts and vampire-themed paraliterature (from libraries all over Italy) Outlines the 1945-1985 historical and industrial context of Italian cinema

Positioning itself at the intersection of Italian film history, horror studies and cultural studies, this fascinating book asks why, and how, was the protean, transnational and transmedial figure of the vampire appropriated by Italian cinema practitioners between 1956 and 1975? The book outlines both the 1945-85 industrial context of Italian cinema and the political, economic and sociocultural context of the Italian Republic, from post-war reconstruction to the austerity of the mid-1970s. Using case studies of films by directors such as Mario Bava and Riccardo Freda, it also delves into lesser-known gems of Italian psychotronic cinema from the 1960s and 1970s, like L'amante del vampiro (The Vampire and the Ballerina) and Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel Trecento . . . (The Reincarnation of Isabel).

With original research into hitherto unpublished film production data, censorship data, original screenplays, trade papers, film magazines and vampire-themed paraliterature, the book strongly argues for the cultural legitimacy of Italian film genres like horror, adventure, comedy and erotica, whose study has so far been neglected in favour of the Italian auteur cinema of the 1940s neorealists and their later followers.

The Review: The Italian vampire films count amongst their number some of the great vampire films, looking particularly to Bava’s Black Sunday and Black Sabbath, and so the concept of this monograph, which concentrates on the films during, what might be termed, the Golden Age of Italian cinema was rather exciting to me. It didn’t disappoint.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a vampire reference work without some controversy on the exclusions and inclusions. So I was befuddled with the choice to leave out Fangs of the Living Dead on the basis that, on the domestic release, the vampirism was reduced to a vampire hoax (they are still vampires in the international release) and the Last Man on Earth. However the author did, at least, set out why they were missed – though the reasoning could have been used equally on covered films Ercole contro Moloch and Rome Against Rome, neither of which are vampire films (in my opinion) and the latter of which will be subject to a ‘Vamp or Not?’ article at a later date.

Controversial picks aside, this was most definitely a welcome book. The author guides us through the unique State input into the film industry and the surrounding socio-political positioning and, using this, guides us through the films chosen so that their inception and content and more readily understood. This included the strong grip of Catholicism, the heritage of the fascist period, the breakdown of traditional class positions and the impact of industrialisation/capitalism. There was plenty I was unaware of and it gave a rounded picture of the productions and, in the case of a film like Il cav. Costante Nicosia demoniaco, ovvero: Dracula in Brianza offered context for some of the humour in the film that may have otherwise been lost on a non-Italian viewer (though much still has not aged well).

I was probably most taken by the look at Hanno Cambiato Faccia, a favourite of mine anyway, the author’s exploration added to the film further. I was also glad to discover some films that I hadn’t come across before, particularly Short Night of Glass Dolls.The first Appendix was a nice touch, offering synopsis of three vampire films that had their scripts submitted but were never made.

This did everything I would seek in a reference work; it educated (and cited source, importantly), it enhanced, it caused inner debate and it led to new areas for me to look into. Being an academic tome, it is pricey. However, it is also a necessary book for the shelves of the connoisseur of Italian vampire films. 8 out of 10.

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