Tag: Vampires

The Last Jiangshi Short Film Breathes New Life Into an Undead Legend

The Last Jiangshi pairs an ancient member of the living dead with a modern grad student for an unusual comedic adventure. This affectionate Mr. Vampire homage finds humour, melancholy and sympathy within its supernatural mythology.

The Last Jiangshi Short Film PosterI had to save reviewing Yu Chih Chieh’s comedic short film, The Last Jiangshi, for Ghost Month rather than earlier, because it’s appropriate. Just what this work explores is the clash of beliefs, and if this member of the living dead is to survive to today, Lao Li (Benyu Zhang) may no longer have blood to feast on. Instead, it’s whether he and Jie (Alex Zhong), a grad student, can survive as the ultimate odd couple!

There’s even a taoist priest waiting to pounce on the unlikely partnership, and banish the nightstalker to the other side! In what’s amusing is the sympathy that’s quickly generated. Li doesn’t like what he’s become. He just wants to live and understand this world.

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Hail Sailor! When There’s No Rest for the Wicked After Navigating the Hoary Seas, What’s Next?

Set on the Faroe Islands in 1862, No Rest for the Wicked blends forbidden romance, Norse folklore and slow-burning Gothic horror. Its haunting atmosphere works better than its confused vampire mythology.

No Rest for the Wicked Movie Poster
Screened at Fantasia Film Festival on July 25, 2026 at the Salle J.A. De Sève

No Rest for the Wicked is a great title for a movie. With early marketing and reviews from the 2026 Fantasia Film Festival describing it as a queer love story wrapped inside a Gothic vampire drama, perhaps Lestat has a new rival. If we’re judging who wears the crown for best-looking vampire, Helge (Pilou Asbæk), the Danish whaler, wins hands down.

There’s also something to be said for stripping away the Gothic excess that vampire stories from this period embraced. Set in 1862 on the Faroe Islands, this tale exists on the edge of civilization, where survival comes before superstition and every stranger is met with suspicion. Young Baldur (Egor Venned) doesn’t have much to do, and he’s like every other kid from a small village: bored.

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Vampire Princess Miyu, Back From The Dead … But For How Long?

40 long years (or two decades resting) won’t matter much for Vampire Princess Miyu! MediaOCD/AnimEigo’s next release brings back the original video animation that introduced this young girl to anime fans in the 90s. An Interview with a Vampire’s Claudia better look out!

Vampire Princess MiyuAnimEigo and MediaOCD

The resolution bump required to bring Vampire Princess Miyu back to home video is certainly needed to showcase why the original still matters. This latest rerelease features the classic U.S. and UK dubs alongside the original Japanese stereo track. However, it arrives without extensive extra features, largely due to the strict licensing time constraints parent company MediaOCD faced to get prints out to the masses.

That time crunch extended to the packaging, which utilizes a pure white case reminiscent of GKIDS’ release of Evangelion: 3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon a Time. This minimalist design works beautifully. It represents a canvas of purity before corruption can taint anyone’s soul, a visual metaphor that feels entirely apt when considering the tragic background of the titular character.

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Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter 25th Anniversary Review, A Holy Cult Classic Returns

Twenty-five years later, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter returns with a restored 2K scan and renewed midnight movie energy. This Canadian cult classic remains as delightfully absurd as ever.

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter Poster
Special Screening, June 11, 2026 at Mayfair Theatre (1074 Bank St) in Ottawa.

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter is celebrating a milestone. After twenty-five years of being very, very quiet, Lee Demarbre’s cult classic is being honoured with a fresh revival. Library and Archives Canada provided a new 2K scan of the original 16mm negative for restoration, and a new DCP has been created to bring out the colours. It’s ready to sing! During the first week of June, the film had a party with Demarbre and superstar Phil Caracas attending special screenings. And this movie will keep preaching cross-country in the coming weeks, if not months, so the herald can be heard. This is the type of midnight madness cinema even Rocky Horror fans should attend!

This very beloved work was made on a shoestring budget, and it has enough romp to make a B-movie director blush. Its hilarity often feels right at home with a Troma production. But there’s more! There’s music, grindhouse attitude, and kaiju involved. Okay, not kaiju, but had it included some, I’d be beside myself. I was more impressed with the sentai influence. It’s not full-on Power Rangers style, but that flavour is clearly there. We even get some 70s-style Bruce Lee foolery when it matters.

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Luc Bresson’s Dracula Has Enough Bite To Be Memorable

Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale reshapes the familiar myth with a sweeping origin, a centuries-long hunt for reincarnated love, and a boldly camp performance from Caleb Landry Jones. It’s uneven in its digital effects, but the pulp energy and gothic romance make it a surprisingly fun Valentine-season watch.

Luc Bresson's Dracula Movie PosterLuc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale is certainly a different beast. Just when fans of the vampire tale think they’re getting another retelling of Bram Stoker’s classic, what’s presented here begins elsewhere. It offers a great deal of backstory that may have been imagined but never fully dramatized. The novel itself is structured as a series of letters, memos, and recordings recounting how the Count made it to London.

In this auteur’s take, the broader backdrop remains familiar, but the narrative lens shifts. The universe is largely set in France, though any revolutionary parallels feel faint at best. Instead, the focus rests on the Ottoman invasion of Romania, and how young Prince Vladimir (Caleb Landry Jones) vows to save his people from this encroaching tyranny. His fear is not only for his homeland but for Elisabeta’s (Zoë Bleu) safety. Should the enemy breach their borders, she would be taken prisoner. He knows this all too well.

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Trailer Reaction: Dracula, A Love Tale–From Francis Ford to Luc Besson, Whose Film Will Be Better?

Luc Besson’s Dracula, A Love Tale looks lavish. The biggest thrill is Christoph Waltz as Van Helsing, which instantly makes this feel like more than another retread of familiar lore.

Dracula A Love Story Movie PosterVertical will release this film nationwide on February 6th, 2026

The first trailer for Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale (yes, that’s the full title) is here, and it looks gloriously historic. I didn’t pay much attention to the early reports, but learning that Christoph Waltz plays Van Helsing has me giddy as a school child. I love every role he takes on, and the idea of him going toe-to-toe with Vlad is catnip.

The tale is familiar, sure, but this version looks like it’s being filtered through the eyes of a dreamer rather than an angry stalker. In the short, Dracula the loss of the love of his life, and he believes he can find Elisabeta again. He knows her soul reincarnated and is searching for her. This take may well cover more ground about his beloved before the events of Bram Stoker‘s novel. But by the time we reach the Victorian age, instead of an accidental encounter where he realizes Mina contains Liz’s soul, the trailer makes the vampire’s journey a long crawl toward reaching love eternal than immortal.

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