Vampir

I genuinely can't understand the bad reviews. This is a really thought provoking horror that mixes the psychological with the hairs on the backs of the arms creepy. It's well paced, exquisitely acted from our lead and all supporting, including non speaking parts. It also places the genre in an unfamiliar environment of the countryside of Serbia which in many ways acts almost as another character. We manage slowly slip into this Groundhog Day world, where even the use of one outfit that doesn't change much on our lead actor gives us a sense of being trapped in a world we are desperate to escape. 10/10.

This film has some really interesting and promising aspects to it but unfortunately fell just below average for me.

This one was a slow one guys... and I mean slow. Nothing super interesting happens until about 40 minutes in and nothing particularly exciting happens for another 20 minutes after that.

Aesthetically, this was super enjoyable and intriguing and this is what primarily carried the film for me. It had beautiful and atmospheric settings and shots throughout.

There wasn't a ton of dialogue in this, and when there was, it was clunky most of the time. So, I preferred when it was silent or in a foreign language the most.

All in all it just didn't give me enough of a story, and what it did give me was a bit confusing with a lot of unanswered questions. The positives were there, but unfortunately the negatives outweighed. Wouldn't recommend to most unless you're looking for something aesthetically pleasing.

Brooding folk horror from Serbia (with an English script) as a familiar tale is given a downbeat (not sparkly not glamorous) vampire in a small rural village.

The central character arrives to look after a cemetery, but its not long before rumours of the undead begin to affect his dreams.

Beautiful simplicity without many of the sfx or hammy performances we've cone to expect from vampires. Dark and delightful soundtrack too.

The main story is told by a handful of characters, but the villagers (living and dead) create an otherworldly environment to scare our hero. But is he a Harker, a Van Helsing or a Renfield?

I saw this film at Sitges International Film Festival and was pleasantly surprised. This film reminded me of earlier horror classics like Carnival of Souls and especially of contemporary European auteur cinema. This is a different kind of horror film, not a typical vampire horror movie with loud bangs and cheap tricks what we have been used to seeing in recent years.

Vampir takes place in modern times in rural Serbia. We follow the protagonist as he arrives from London to this place and is confronted by local habits, traditions and superstitions.

Tomovic does a great job by telling the story by staying close to the character and showing everything subjectively through the main character's eyes. The lack of subtitles for the Serbian dialogue spoken by the locals enhances the paranoia and fear. The film is very creepy and atmospheric, cinematography and sound design go hand in hand in creating this beautiful yet very haunting picture. The acting throughout is superb as it's very authentic, subtle and naturalistic.

Tomovic as a writer/director succeeds in creating a very Kafkaesque story that has a much deeper meaning than an ordinary vampire movie. It is full of metaphors and has themes of returning as an immigrant child to your ancestor's country and belonging.

Vampir is quite an interesting movie to watch and something a bit different from other films on a low budget range.

This is one of those films that you really feel got everything out of its budget. A bit slow in parts but still interesting to watch with some bits quite intentionally comical.

There is also at least one moment that is very gory and quite difficult to watch, definitely an image that will stay with me for some time.

A basic premise with a great eerie atmosphere. I'd be very interested to see what this director does next. Certainly there is the suggestion there that he can go on to bigger and better things.