I first have to say thank you to the wickedly wonderful vampire blog Vampire News for keeping the underworld up to date on all of the daily, or should I say nightly, vampiric developments! Please take a moment to check out this blog (click here) and add it to your RSS feed! This is one site I now check every day!

A new Korean vampire film has made it to the prestigious competition portion of the Cannes Film Festival! The film is entitled THIRST and, thus far, it has received wave after wave of good press around the globe. I’ve always been a fan of Korean horror films; these films usually have a certain level of twisted darkness that is highly disturbing on a level surpasses mere visual terror. THIRST portrays the tale of a priest turned vampire after a voluntary experiment. It follows his quick descent into depravity as his craving for blood and sex drive him to the brink of madness. A new review of the film is now posted on the The Korean Herald and after reading it, I can’t wait till this film obtains global distribution and reaches the States!

Also out on the web today is news regarding Guillermo Del Toro’s vampire trilogy, THE STRAIN! The Latin American Herald tribune reviews the series, stating: “Acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro will recover the truly terrifying kind of vampire story in a book trilogy that will show those supernatural beings at their most ‘disgusting,’…”. I’ve been a huge fan of Del Toro’s work for years and am extremely curious to see what his vampire novels will consist of. del Toro is famous for his dark fantasy films such as HELLBOY and PAN’S LABYRINTH and has even delved into the vampire genre previously with his direction of BLADE II. His brilliant creative direction and masterful visual storytelling abilities lend themselves well to the development of films, but will it translate into a full-length horror novel? According to the Latin American Herald, “Del Toro’s vampires will lack all humanity and will be ‘as threatening, as real, as absolutely disgusting and alien as possible,’…” so I am envisioning more of a 30 DAYS OF NIGHT type vampire rather than the more romantic INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Lestat or Louis. Either way, I’m intrigued!

It would definitely appear that this is the Golden Age of the Vampire this year! Another vampire film has made it to the Cannes Film Festival, this one hailing from Dublin, Ireland! DRACULA’S STOKER debuts from up and coming production house Eurofox Pictures as their first feature “docu-movie” release

and already has been short-listed for the Cannes competition. Not too shabby for a brand new film company! The film investigates the history and background of Count Dracula’s Dublin-born creator, Bram Stoker. Again, I pray this film receives distribution in the States so I can have the pleasure of reviewing it! Ah, the exquisite agony of waiting patiently! Director Stephen Salavatti is currently in talks with Warner Bros. about a distribution deal, so hopefully we will all hear some good news regarding DRACULA’S STOKER this year!


Vampire Fest has been taking submissions for only a month but filmmakers throughout the globe have heard our call, proving the lure of the vampire is global. Vampire Fest has already received submissions from Australia, Great Britain, Austria, Canada, Argentina as well as the United States. Can Vampire Fest find the next Let the Right One In, the Swedish vampire film that took the Tribeca Film Festival by storm? Emphatically yes. Vampire Fest is seeking narrative or experimental films of all lengths that emphasize the grotesque, mysterious or desolate. Since the legend of the werewolf and other supernatural creatures are interconnected with that of the vampire, Vampire Fest also accepts films of the Gothic, zombie and werewolf, witch or ghost genre. The early deadline is May 31, 2009 but filmmakers can submit on-line at www.vampirefilmfestival.com or at www.withoutabox.com until September 16, 2009.


I think everyone knows by now how I loathe the first TWILIGHT movie, but I still feel that I must report on the franchise developments now and again, as it is, regrettably part of the new vampire entertainment world. However, this bit of news literally made me laugh out loud. A new German reality TV show called Mission Hollywood has poised twelve would-be starlets against one another in a competition for a role in the upcoming new TWILIGHT film! Schweiger and famed acting coach Bernhard Hiller will be joined every week by a third juror, among them Carmen Electra, producer Erwin Stoff (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and German A-list actors Thomas Kretschmann and Moritz Bleibtreu. According to canada.com, “As on the modeling show (Next Top Model), contestants on Mission Hollywood will have to go through the motions of the real job — carrying out stunts and re-enacting classic movie scenes from films such as Dirty Dancing, Misery and 9 1/2 Weeks.” The article did not say whether or not the show will be viewable in the States, but I for one would love to see at least a one episode.


That’s all for right now. More updates later today!

Tags: film festival, Horror, movie, novel, Twilight, vampire, vampire novel

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