Strigoi

My husband and I loved this movie for:

1) it's quirky humor -- humor that we found intensely funny (laughing out loud in almost every scene).

One running joke is about Vlad's squeamishness. In spite of going to med school, Vlad failed to practice medicine, presumably b/c of this reputed squeamishness -- well-known to everyone in the small town. So, just about every character says something to Vlad about his squeamishness, as he is faced with increasingly challenging or gruesome tasks. The remark: "Everyone knows you're a pussy, Vlad" is repeated by several characters. The delivery is not teasing or mocking; it's deadpan and matter of fact way, which is much funnier.

2. the political and social context -- very interesting

3. the blood sucking/greedy eating as a metaphor for the communists' greedy thieving of people's land

Tips -- it's not scary -- not supposed to be, but it has a few gross out moments.

LOVED IT!

I'm surprised that this movie got such a high score. I was really interested in this movie after reading the plot, and seeing the images on the back. But the moment the talking and acting started, I knew this was going to be pretty bad. Not only did they choose to replace the real native language with silly accents in English, removing a lot of the credibility, but the accents are so laughably bad that I just could not take this seriously. The acting was, most of the time, really stiff and unbelievable. To me it seemed like some of the actors where actually good at acting, but couldn't mimic the accent properly. Most of them spoke in one monotonous tone all the time.

This movie had a lot of potential, because I found it very well shot and the characters and environments sure looked just right. The music is good and the make-up really good, but it's all lost in a very confusing and slow-moving story. There are so many unanswered questions, plot holes, random happenings and unexplained behaviour that it just feels like they tried their best to make this a confusing mess, even though the story as a whole don't seem that advanced or deep. I also felt that they could have used the setting more to their advantage, to create a creepier and more eerie feeling. There where a few pretty hilarious moments, I'll definitely give them that, but it did not make the movie worth the watch.

Now if you're a fan of vampires, horror, dark comedy, gore, intelligent, political, or just plain good movies, stay away. This movie seemed to promise it all(except the gore), but delivers on none.

I've just recently seen Strigoi at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and was absolutely surprised at how good the film was. The trailer I had seen for the film made it seem like a very low budget, campy, been there done that vampire film. What I was shown was a well produced, professional, good looking film with an interesting vampire story. As an added bonus, there are some funny moments and good jokes mixed in throughout the film so that it doesn't come off stale.

The only real problem I had with the film was the slow pacing and longer than necessary runtime. Had the film been cut down by 10-20 minutes, I think it would become 100 times more enjoyable.

I was surprised to find out that the film has technically been done since early in the year but had only now, played in front of an audience. I am lucky to say I was able to catch this little gem at it's world premiere.

I hope to see more from this talented writer/director in the future and wish Strigoi all the best. With no big name actors, it may be a hard sell which is a damn shame. Genre fans need to see this film. In a genre where the market is flooded with the taste du jour and the films often leave a bad taste in your mouth, Strigoi serves up a platter of delicious offerings genre fans are sure to eat up.

It is well written, well directed, and well acted.

This isn't a knee slapper. It isn't an in your face "Boo!" fest. It doesn't make your skin crawl like a Hannibal Lector. It isn't a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

But its wry and amusing. There are scenes so odd in light of the circumstances that they stand out as surreal and yet right for some reason. The whole movie revolves around getting to the bottom of why or what this Strigoi vampire nonsense is all about.

While set in Romania the language is English and well spoken. As a native English speaker it is easy to follow along while still getting the sense of being in a foreign world -- a place where the undead still have their wrongful place in the world.

I can't believe I sat through the entire movie without turning it off! This could have been a great movie. The concept and the history involving the location could have made this a great movie but somethings never happen like you hope they would. First why is this movie in English? Do they think everyone is so dimwitted that they just won't read subtitles? Secondly the phony accents do not match the nationality. I know Romanians and they sound NOTHING like the people in the movie. If you have watched everything available and it is a rainy Sunday and you don't mind watching a movie that has an ending that is even more confusing then any thing you have ever seen then watch Strigoi, but do not say you where not warned!