6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A 19th century vampire stalks a more powerful vampire lord in his quest to gain revenge over the death of his mistress. In his search for the vampire lord in Eastern Europe he kills many of his servants and fellow vampires while cursing another to vampirism as well...
Starring: Jonathon Morris, David Gunn, Kirsten Cerre, Starr Andreeff, Ilinca GoiaHorror | 100% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (448 kbps)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Vampire Journals is a spiritual entry into the fan-favorite Subspecies canon, a spinoff, essentially, taking place in the same world but serving as neither a direct sequel nor prequel to any of the other films. It's a tangent film that retains the series' appeal of dark, eerie, and stylish Vampire dealings and strongly performed characters but that struggles to fill its space with a meaningful story. Written and Directed by series mainstay Ted Nicolaou, Vampire Journals tells a simple story of revenge set against a shadowy neo-Gothic European backdrop in which the worlds of day and night, of life and death, of blood and spirit collide.
Vampire Journals' Blu-ray release impresses. Full Moon's video transfers are generally of a high quality, the older titles in particular often presented with an attractive film-quality image. This release is no different. Grain, moderate throughout with spikes to heavy, remains intact, providing an attractive surface and emphasizing the transfer's many finely ornate and intricate details, whether fine interior appointments, rougher yet no less beautiful city streets, clothing textures, or skin, both natural human skin and paler, smoother vampire skin. Details are routinely precise and attractive with little give to softness. The film's color palette is deliberately held back, favoring grays and blues and blacks and mostly dim and warmer interiors. Red blood is robust but not standing so far apart as to break the moody ambient illusion. Black levels are often pure and deep but waver to a brighter, washed out appearance on occasion. Skin tones are a little warm but obviously very pale on vampire characters. A few minor bits of debris and stray vertical lines appear from time to time, but most are unobtrusive. Very minor blocking is also evident in a few places. On the whole, however, this is a good quality and commendable effort from Full Moon.
While Full Moon's video transfers generally impress, the same cannot be said of the studio's soundtracks. Vampire Journals offers another passable, but disappointing, Full Moon lossy 5.1 soundtrack. While the track satisfies basic requirements, including a healthy, wide front end spacing, it can present various details and broader elements like with several problems, chief amongst them an imbalance that pushes sound to one dominant side of the stage (11:30 mark at a gambling establishment) or plays music or effects with a noticeable hollowness (a sword swipe that decapitates a character early on). Surrounds aren't incessantly active or even mildly important in terms of shaping the atmosphere or carrying some of the music. Dialogue is at least healthy, clear and center focused with minimal trouble in general presentation.
Vampire Journals contains a commentary, a vintage "Videozone" featurette, and trailers.
Vampire Journals is more character and atmosphere than it is story. That's not a bad thing. It's a rare example of the superficialities taking command of a movie, and it works because Nicolaou carefully constructs it that way, pointing every last bit of budget in that direction and, like most vintage Full Moon titles, getting a huge amount of mileage out of a relatively small pool of resources. This is a good movie, not a bastion of dramatic creativity by any stretch of the imagination but a beautifully moody and precisely performed picture that will reward patient viewers. Full Moon's Blu-ray release of Vampire Journals delivers rock-solid video, passable lossy audio, and a couple of good supplements. Recommended.
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