In A Taste of Blood, one family is forced to make a decision after their father comes home from a vampire hunt.
The vampire story. Its origins are murky, although many would associate it with the literature, art, and cinema that brought the beloved characters like Dracula to life. Whispers of such a horrifying creature arose with the Middle Ages and the rise of the plague in feudal societies. Victims of the plague often sported a mouth dripping with blood, fueling the fears that they may be otherworldly creatures who have come to suck the blood of innocent people. But like many other mythological creatures, the story of vampirism has proven itself to be immortal, reaching all new heights with the release of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
But with the creation of film and moving images as a medium of artistic expression, vampires found an entire new home in popular culture. From contemporary movies like Twilight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to 1923’s silent film Nosferatu, this supernatural creature has found new life in becoming a nuanced metaphor for the perils of immortality, sin, loneliness, and what it means to abandon one’s humanity. The vampire can be a vengeful villain, or a seductive lover that will drag another into a sinful life in the eyes of society.
In 1839, Aleksey Tolstoy released the gothic novella “The Family of The Vourdalak.” Tolstoy, who happened to be a second cousin to the prolific Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, initially wrote the story in French, and it was then published later in Russian. Tolstoy wrote several vampire stories during his lifetime, but found no success with their publication. In this story, a young French man finds himself in a Serbian village where a patriarch has gone missing. When he returns, he is not a living human anymore, leaving his family and village to deal with the consequences. In 2022, the novella has been adapted into a feature film under the title of The Taste of Blood.
The movie is a joint production between Argentina and Singapore, and was initially released on the international film festival circuits back in 2020. Spanish horror movies have been on the rise, gaining deserved attention, and this movie fits the bill. Cleopatra Entertainment, the film division of the indie music label Cleopatra Records, has brought the movie to wider distribution. Cleopatra is known for their movies that have darker horror elements, so it is no surprise they have brought on this film. It is available on Blu-Ray and streaming on May 10, 2022.
The writer and director of A Taste of Blood is Santiago Fernández Calvete, who has been active on the Argetinian film scene for decades now. His previous work includes writing credits with The Exorcism of God and The White Devil, while his directing work includes films like Intimate Witness and The Second Death. Calvete’s filmography and writing work boasts several movies and television series in the genres of horror and thriller, making this new movie potentially right up his alley in terms of content. Notable cast members in A Taste of Blood include actors German Palacios, Tomas Carullo Lizzio, Naiara Awada, Lautaro Bettoni, and Alfosina Carrocio.
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A Taste of Blood is quite the ambitious film. Ambitious enough that in the first opening scenes, a prologue potentially spoils some aspects of the plot for viewers by giving away too much too soon. Blanket statements about a doll, saying, “her eyes are bigger” so “she can see the whole world,” offer a double-edged sword, something laced with meaning. When one’s eyes are bigger, they truly can see the world—but this also means they may be looking at it through the wide-eyed lens of fear.
A father, aware of all of the stories about what lurks in the shadows, returns home after a vampire hunt. His daughter ran into a vampire on her way home, which sparks this unfortunate series of events. She was defying him by sneaking out to see a boy, but when she runs into a mysterious, deadly stranger that claims to be a relative, it sets the ball rolling on the movie’s main conflict.
His family, unsuspecting of what is truly going on, remains oblivious to the fact that he has become a vampire. He has returned home at sunrise, making it uncertain whether the transformation was complete or not. In this world, the vampire is called the vourdalak, like in the original Tolstoy story, and it can only feed on and transform members of its own family. Naturally, if he has actually transformed, this can easily turn into a recipe for disaster, but it would not make a good movie if he was still human, right?
At its core, this is a family drama. The romantic story between the daughter and her boyfriend brings in one underlying thread, while the vampire, or vourdalak, aspect drives the conflict and story further. The family begins to argue about whether he has been bitten or not, leading to a lack of trust among each other and arising suspicion that maybe other family members also are not human. They begin to worry that more vampires are out in the world specifically targeting them, deflecting their concerns about their father to the world outside. Suddenly the estate, which was so safe before when no one was allowed to leave, has become a place bursting with danger.
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Paranoia runs through this movie, keeping the suspense and fear going even when it all could have ended sooner than the actual run time. The characters initially switch from Spanish to English methodically, a transition that seems quite awkward, especially at the beginning of the movie. Perhaps this was intentional, as it creates a barrier and unsettling rhythm that distinguishes the pace as something different, making certain characters seem like outsiders even in a society and home they are comfortable in. The English dub, however, seems a bit off in its execution. Some characters have accents to match the setting's region; others seemingly do not.
The father, who solely speaks in Spanish, seems like someone from the past with the juxtaposition of the languages. Upon catching his daughter out with a boy, he grounds her for a year, leading her to decide it is time to run away from home. In this contemporary setting, it is quite peculiar that he initially knows and believes in the old myths. He also imposes strict guidelines on his daughter. She is not allowed to date anyone, cannot have friends, or leave the family’s property under his rules. While he seems reminiscent of another era, the vampires of this film are unlike the ones seen in the average Western canon. It is unknown if they are immortal, but it is revealed that they drink the blood of their relatives.
Cinematography is one of the standout elements from A Taste of Blood. From the open tracking shot of a car navigating the back roads to cuts of a girl adjusting her clothes in a car mirror, the movie is generous when it comes to lush, rich visuals and images. Scattered through the story are indie songs that seem out of place for this horror thriller; they often skewer more towards the end of distracting than aiding the story. As soon as the story starts to suck you into its vortex, an ill-timed song completely changes the film's atmosphere.
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A Taste of Blood would be a standout vampire film without its shortcomings. If let alone to the original subtitles and without music, it would have been a better film, one that boasts a particular brand of originality not seen in a vampire movie for a while. Outside of the English dubbing, the cast’s performances are fairly solid, adding to this moody, tense atmosphere throughout. The two key characters, the father and the daughter, provide the best performances in this cast. The father’s paranoia begins to seep into everything within the plot, but as they make final amends before the climax, it almost seems like everything truly is going to be okay for this family.
Santiago Fernández Calvete deviated from the original story while making this movie, but it pays off. While the first arc of the film establishes the scene and the characters living inside of this world, the second half jumps right into the suspense. While it may be obvious that the character’s concerns are valid and that they should get out of there as soon as possible, it is the bond of family that ultimately keeps them there and leads them to their fate. And that is the charm of a movie like A Taste of Blood; it is not just a simple vampire film. It offers the moral questions like this: if you had to kill your own father for survival, would you be able to do it?
Writer, author, critic. Find me @ashleynassarine.