Review The Vampire Journals (1997)
By William Pattison
For Horror Bob’s Blog…
This time I got a vampire film that is actually a spinoff of
Full Moon and Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies
films…
A 19th century vampire stalks a more powerful vampire lord
in his quest to gain revenge over the death of his mistress. In his search for
the vampire lord in Eastern Europe he kills many of his servants and fellow
vampires while cursing a young female musician to vampirism as well.
I really enjoyed this film. I found the vampire Ash, played
by Johnathan Morris, in this film a lot more interesting than the more gross Radu.
I also found Ash’s adversary the vampire hunter played by Jason Gunn intriguing,
a vampire hunting his own kind. Also, Kristen Cerre plays a beautiful victim of
vampirism as the piano player Sophia. This film is beautifully shot. There are
some shots the Nicolaou uses golden lighting rather than the usual reds, grays,
or blues which gives this film a unique look.
Also, I liked that Nicolaou put is a scene where you see the
vampires in their daylight forms, which makes them look very mummy-like. This
was also a rather unique look for this film. It is unfortunate that it was
never used again.
I have to say that this is not only an excellent extension
of Ted Nicolaou’s vampire universe he started in Subspecies. It is a film I can
highly recommend if you like Ted’s work on Subspecies you will love this film…
Keep on Creepin’ , Horror Bob’s Blog…
