Il diario del vampiro

A very slow movie in some respects, but the shadow work, that I so loved in his Subspecies series, were even heavier in this movie!:) The scenes and buildings were very gothic,complete with fog-enshrouded nights and cemetaries. The feel of this movie was also very 'dark' and satisfyingly gothic for the goth/vampire movie lover:) Also check out all the Subspecies movies...my faves being 1,2, and 3.

As a vampire movie fan, I recommend this movie to all of those goth and erotic vampire fans (the movie shows less flesh than "Embrace of the vampire" for example, see my comment about "Embrace of the vampire" and other vampire movies to judge better between this movies).

Quite, it's no vampire action flick and you will see not much nudity in the movie, but the movie has got some story to tell. You will watch a movie with lots of vampire mystery and magic with a good cast and a well chosen soundtrack which will take you on a brilliant 90 minute surreal ride to Prague.

Impressions:

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Overall: surreal, mysterios, erotic, fascinating, romantic

Gore/Splatter: no splatter, nice amount of "violence" and blood.

Nudity: some

Fangs: Jep, look nice (I write this because I hate those vampire movies which show no fangs), some nice blood sucking too

Cast: good actors, all unknown for what I know

Soundtrack: nice one, more the classic music type!

DVD: fullscreen, good picture, good sound, uncut

Who should not watch? I think it's not good for people that poke fun on the action vampire type (like "Blade"). There is no minor action in the movie. If you hate pianos and get the creeps by the words "classic music", "erotic horror" or "dialogue".

To judge better if you are not sure watching the film, I'll give you my favourite vampire flicks:

Action & gory vampire movies:

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Blade

John Carpenter's Vampires

Modern Vampires (tip!)



The more romantic movies:

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Bram Stoker's Dracula

Vampire Journals

Embrace of the vampire

The trash movies (I dig them a lot):

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From dusk til dawn2

From dusk til dawn1

From dusk til dawn3

Blood for Dracula (Andy Warhol movie with a young Udo Kier, very bloody and sarcastic, lots of gore and nudity)

Vampire Happening (my 60ies trash tip)

Don't forget the Hammer films!!!!

Please write me a line if you found my comment useful. Vampire movie fans are welcome =[

the movie vampire journals is an awesome look into the dark life of a vampire, I thought it was great my favorite vampire was of course zachary I fell in love with him the very first time I saw the movie. david gunn plays a very tormented vampire you can,t help but feel pity for him also in my opinion you learn to have very powerful love for him. the movie was way better than blade I feel anyways

If you like gothic vampire movies, then Full Moon Entertainment's Vampire Journals (1997) is for you. This 92 minutes gem is actually for sale at video stores (many Full Moon Videos are not available) because they now distribute for themselves! This is another chapter of the Subspecies series and is directed by the same director, Ted Nicolaou. The story continues when Ash, an understudy of Radu, becomes more powerful and vicious as his master and the vampire-hunter must destroy him. The special effects are much more advanced in this chapter and you can actually see the vampire's "shadow morph" travel. This, like the other parts, was filmed in Romania and has a very ancient "feel" to it. The story is great, as is the filming. What else could we expect from our favorite company but another "must-have?" As always, a Video Zone is included.

I have seen a lot of vampire flicks in my day. This was on the edge of being a good story. I love the Victorian flair of the inside of the mansion, the four poster beds, etc. That's apparently where the budget ended.

The master vampire, Ash is the only real actor in the film. His lines are delivered believably. The only time our hero, Zachary actually acts is when Sofia catches him drinking blood from the psychofant and screams her name and throws himself at the door.

The one thing that really brought the film down a notch was the deadpan monologue from Zachary. It was clumsily read, with no feeling, no passion. Granted, Zach was a depressed vampire.. but you can be passionately depressed.

I think it would have been better to have had a third party read the monologue. Perhaps someone found the 'Vampire Journal' and was reading it... with a bit more pizzaz than it's writer.

Watch the film, rescue the elements that are good and marvel at them. There is some good camera work, their corpses reconstituting themselves every evening was a nice touch, knowing the master was a once a vampire hunter... nice.