Eternal

I had the pleasure to attend the screening of Eternal during the Fantasia Film Festival, in Montreal. I had been reading bits and pieces in Fangoria and the Dvdvampire.com about the production of this film and, I have to admit, I was expecting another run-of-the-mill, B vamp-flick. Vampire films have come to be quite predictable and it is more and more difficult to find an original offering. We either get a slam-bang SFX extravaganza, a la Blade or Underworld, or we get a period piece, a la Dracula.

I found Eternal to be so unique, that I have a hard time calling it a vampire film or even defining its genre. But this is one damn'd sexy thriller! It has been a long time since anything related with vampirism turned me on, kept me on the edge of my seat and even legitimately scared me a couple of times (although this is certainly not a horror film). It has even been longer since I got to see a serious erotic thriller, with a seductive serial killer thrown in as a bonus.

Elizabeth Kane, played by Canadian actress Caroline Neron can rip my throat any time. So can her lovely assistant, Irina, played by the dark and sensual Victoria Sanchez. Conrad Pla, as the twisted detective Ray Pope, is riveting in his portrayal of a bad seed with morbid hidden sexual desires. Not an easy or typical role.

Because of its original take on the genre, I have no idea what mainstream media will say about Eternal when it hits the screens, but, take it from me and the crowd at Fantasia: This is one thriller you don't want to miss!

Eternal tells the tale of the second most well-known vampire, who has his or her origins in real historical people. In this case that person is Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a Hungarian noblewoman who reputedly bathed in the blood of beautiful virgin women in order to keep her youth. And like Dracula in many stories, she has survived to the modern day, hiding in the shadows cast by the world of man.

Unfortunately, just like many other vampire movies, it's not all that great. Mainly because of the poor quality of the script and the actors. Both are obviously doing their best, but it's not enough and the harsh reality that you're watching a movie always shines through. The story also never rises above clichéd murder mystery and the needless change to exotic locations feels more like pandering and following the dotted line than it feels like an actual way to move the story forward.

The biggest problems however is that the story is dull. It has no bite behind it, no soul that would hook you in. And frankly that might have been avoided if they had had the guts to make an honest N-17 film. And I'm not saying that just because I want to see more naked ladies - although I do. But the original story itself is heavy with sexual themes, many many horrible murders and the utter corruption of a mortal woman. To put it another way, look at the cover of the film and tell me that it wouldn't feel more at home in a N-17 movie. That way the film would at least have more crunch to arouse the interest of its audience.

All that being said, I've seen worse vampire films in my lifetime. The actors are not very good, but they're not horrible. The script is lackadaisical, but it's trying. There is some good imagery, the sets are nice and I don't regret seeing it.

This movie wasn't certainly made to make a point; neither does it seem to fully satiate the lowbrow Dracula thingie - where the Dracula is a stunning woman; but it comes pretty close.

Before seeing the movie I was hoping that the film-makers had tried ingratiate themselves to the male audience with lots of naked flesh eye-candy and some Dracula biting and blood gore to top it off. Maybe my expectations were too high - maybe I was hoping for soft-core porn level but with this movies production values.

Anyway, the protagonist male has too much attention thrust on him. I mean he's only supposed to reaffirm our gawk and awe at the unbridled hedonism and provide curt one liners for humor and react in the manliest way possible - but those stabs at intelligent and seductive conversation is a total waste of time as it's done very very poorly. That time could have been better used for other more stimulating things.

I think this would have been excellent if it had stayed on it's main thesis: the Victorian and elegant lady-Dracula with lots of lesbian oriented eye-candy and goth fashion and props. But, the rather few strays from it sort of dulls the pleasure but still a good waste of time.

It's a disappointing and clichéd movie that uses the name of Elisabeth Bathory to call attention, but completely fails about the true historic essence of that sadistic woman which lived in Royal Hungary in the beginning of the XVII century.

Of course that when I decided to watch this movie I wasn't expecting a documentary or even a historic movie about Elisabeth Bathory, even because it's set in present times, but I wasn't expecting such lame pseudo-detective plot either! Elisabeth Bathory is not "Catherine Tramell" from BASIC INSTINCT! But at many parts of the movie I thought I was watching some cheap imitation of BASIC INSTINCT instead of some story related to the Bathory legend! Another lousy imitation is done from the movie EYES WIDE SHUT, when in this fantastic film occurs the weird/bizarre party. ETERNAL cheaply imitates that too!

This film is really just a mixing of other movies' imitations, distrustful description of Elisabeth Bathory's tale, bad acting and, to culminate, the "great" plot of some 80's bad Hollywood cop action movie! Even the supposed erotic scenes were disappointing!

The premise of creating a story related to a "21th century's Elisabeth Bathory" was quite good, and it was what called my attention, but the way this movie was done was truly bad! If you want to watch a better movie related to Elizabeth Bathory myth, search for Walerian Borowczyk's CONTES IMMORAUX (1974). At least this one is more accurate!

Sometimes you tend to say you like films because they're entertaining. Doesn't mean they're good. But you liked them. This one falls under that category. Entertaining, but not "good".

Canadian horror movies are rare. Quebec horror movies are even rarer. Vampire movies though, are common. So is this common or new? New in Quebec, old elsewhere, perhaps.

Dracula's a woman. A sexy woman. She's a lesbian. She doesn't seem to have any special powers other than being sexy. Guys fall for her, girls can't resist her and she likes her dog(?!).

I have to say it was elegantly filmed, the locations were very beautiful, the acting is good, but the characters are hard to believe. The policeman, Ray, is cliché after cliché.

It is not scary, it is not new, but i've been turned on since the beginning. So i guess it works...