Direction: Adrien Beau
Country: France
With The Vourdalak, newcomer filmmaker Adrien Beau draws inspiration from Alexei Tolstoy’s short story, creating an exhilarating celebration of the gothic style. Despite the low budget, the director lets his imagination soar, crafting a human-seized puppet to represent the vourdalak, a sort of proto-vampire that spares not even his own family. He also gives voice to it.
The story follows the inquisitive Marquis Jacques Antoine Saturnin d’Urfé (Kacey Mottet Klein), a noble emissary of the King of France, who loses his way in the woods after being attacked and robbed by bandits. He finds refuge with a strange, cursed family.
The director and cast waltz through this sinister tale with bizarre, ritualistic steps. The minimalist decor, complemented by effective cinematography, creates an atmosphere reminiscent of another time, moving between eerie medieval mysticism, patriarchal dominance, and ridicule. However, the film's theatrical staging leaves uncertain whether it aims to be a campy homage to cult vampire black comedies or a nightmarish horror odyssey.
Retractable fangs fail to deliver a significant bite, resulting in an outrageously fascinating failure that could have been a laugh riot. Enthusiasts of mysterious old tales and legends can go for it, but they’ll have to adapt to and accept this peculiar aesthetic, which can sometimes be coarser than expected.
