Necropolis: Legion

There are echoes of David Cronemberg in this offering from Chris Alexander, and Jean Rollin and Jess Franco too. An acquired taste certainly, but not a bad combination if you like that kind of thing!

This is very typical of Alexander's signature style however, even if the sexuality has been ramped up. Augie Duke is excellent as the unfortunate Lisa, kitted out in some less than flattering attire. Allie Chappell also features in some effective make up.

It's all very apocalyptic and pleasingly dark, occult and perverse. It doesn't quite convince in the way of Alexander's usual weird and dream-like setting, however. My score is 5 out of 10.

At 1 hour and 2 minutes, this film is somehow painfully slow. In addition to long credits, there is a lot of walking around, standing around, and laying around. Incredibly uninteresting and super low budget, don't waste your time.

Simply Adorable Augie Duke is 'Lisa' a book writer who's embarked on writing about the local legend of the Evil Eva . Ms. Duke's performance is mesmerizing ! She goes from Happy & in Love , to Fear , to Writhing in Contractions of Agonizing Pain , to the Purest Expressions of Evil ! Ever-Lovely Lynn Lowry Shines as 'Zia' , the local Keeper-of-the-Truth & Protector-of-Good ! Lisa's & Zia's Scenes together are Marvels to watch & should be Studied by Potential Actors .... AMAZING ! The Fabulous Acting doesn't end with them . There's Beautiful Ali Chappell as the Incubus-Succubus-Demonic-Witch 'Eva' & the two Stunning 'GateKeepers' of Hell & Eva's Assistants Zoe Georgaras & Stephanie Delorme ; & Joseph Lopez is Eva's Husband Maynard Gandy ! Kudos to Chris Alexander & Co-Writer Brockton McKinney for such a Remarkable work of Art that's Riveting , Interesting , & Scary as HELL ! I am now going to watch the Original " NECROPOLIS " 1986 ; & if it's Half as good as this one , ..... It's a Masterpiece !

Chris Alexander takes the concept of the original 'Necropolis' and transports it to his own cinematic world. Anyone familiar with his 'Blood' films will know his style and his settings - he crafts trance-like, lingering studies of women in isolation, on the edges of cities or in remote rural scenes. Here, the hauntingly beautiful farm house in which the central character encounters the ancient evil is perhaps Alexander's most striking setting yet; the film is like an Andrew Wyeth painting animated by Jess Franco or Jean Rollin!

Much of the success of the film comes from the way in which Augie Duke's Lisa seems to merge organically with the farm house interiors. There is a hypnotic and indeed subtly erotic interplay of body and space, achieved through Alexander's almost fetishistic focus on her hair, the colour and tone of which is reflected and extended in walls and fabrics. This compelling aesthetic scheme highlights the main dramatic theme - the house, as an extension of Eva, is a sensually vampiric environment, drawing on Lisa's essence, consuming and possessing her.

Until now Alexander's films have been largely free of dialogue and it is a joy to hear richly melodramatic speech being such a key element in this film. The wonderfully emphatic notes hit by the actors are echoed in the music, much of which is, as usual, by Alexander himself, but with the glorious complement here of a lush main theme by the great Richard Band.

A significant concluding thought at the time of writing is that the film works as a powerful fever dream of isolation...and infection - an infection that spreads across distance and time. Eerily topical...