Kate was born a vampire. Though, she grew up completely unaware of this, as she was raised human.
But her whole world changes, when, one day, she is kidnapped by a weird cult, and told that she is the last remaining relative of the Baronness of their people- a race of superhumans who nourish themselves with the essence of humans...blood! "The Brotherhood", as they call themselves, harvest that which they require from "donors" (aptly nicknamed "blood cows") who are held captive, and kept sedated, on a farm, where they are milked like cattle. Sometimes to death.
The blood- after being tested for impurities- is packaged, shipped, and sold around the world to others of their kind.
However, they are unable to win Kate over, simply, with the allure of their lifestyle. So they are forced to resort to manipulation tactics- in order to initiate her into the ways of the vampire.
Basically, they want to break her, and force her to accept her vampire heritage...so she can be married off to some loser vampire from one of the other old lineages.
To achieve this, one of the doctor-vampires has designed a brainwashing technique- to infiltrate her thoughts and memories- and push her in a malevolent direction...
Eventually, she gives in and succumbs to her indoctrination. But the board isn't convinced her conditioning has fully set in.
Only when the only person she cares about in the entire world is threatened, does she truly submit to her psychological tormenter (as was foreshadowed by the earlier scene).
He convinces himself he does it for her...but he was only ever in it for himself...
This is a pretty cool "Ozploitation" horror and first feature from Melbourne, Australia's Rod Hardy (who also directed a few X-Files episodes). It's a psychological horror at heart, but a modern vampire flick on the surface. And it's a bit of a trip. It definitely f*cks with you at points (like when she keeps waking up in succession) to keep you on your toes. And it always has you thinking.
It's hard to say whether this is more a vampire film, or more of a film about brainwashing (if I HAD to choose, I would opt for the latter). So I'll just say it's a pretty damn original combination of the two.
To finish, I'd like to acknowledge the performance by Chantal Contouri, who plays Kate. She does a helluva job. Reminded me of Shelley Duvall's performance in The Shining. The acting is pretty solid across the board, though, too.
All around, this is a pretty cool film about vampires trying to break other vampires (who weren't brought up to be vampires) by brainwashing them...so...not really your typical vampire flick.
Comes Recommended.
7 out of 10.
But her whole world changes, when, one day, she is kidnapped by a weird cult, and told that she is the last remaining relative of the Baronness of their people- a race of superhumans who nourish themselves with the essence of humans...blood! "The Brotherhood", as they call themselves, harvest that which they require from "donors" (aptly nicknamed "blood cows") who are held captive, and kept sedated, on a farm, where they are milked like cattle. Sometimes to death.
The blood- after being tested for impurities- is packaged, shipped, and sold around the world to others of their kind.
However, they are unable to win Kate over, simply, with the allure of their lifestyle. So they are forced to resort to manipulation tactics- in order to initiate her into the ways of the vampire.
Basically, they want to break her, and force her to accept her vampire heritage...so she can be married off to some loser vampire from one of the other old lineages.
To achieve this, one of the doctor-vampires has designed a brainwashing technique- to infiltrate her thoughts and memories- and push her in a malevolent direction...
Eventually, she gives in and succumbs to her indoctrination. But the board isn't convinced her conditioning has fully set in.
Only when the only person she cares about in the entire world is threatened, does she truly submit to her psychological tormenter (as was foreshadowed by the earlier scene).
He convinces himself he does it for her...but he was only ever in it for himself...
This is a pretty cool "Ozploitation" horror and first feature from Melbourne, Australia's Rod Hardy (who also directed a few X-Files episodes). It's a psychological horror at heart, but a modern vampire flick on the surface. And it's a bit of a trip. It definitely f*cks with you at points (like when she keeps waking up in succession) to keep you on your toes. And it always has you thinking.
It's hard to say whether this is more a vampire film, or more of a film about brainwashing (if I HAD to choose, I would opt for the latter). So I'll just say it's a pretty damn original combination of the two.
To finish, I'd like to acknowledge the performance by Chantal Contouri, who plays Kate. She does a helluva job. Reminded me of Shelley Duvall's performance in The Shining. The acting is pretty solid across the board, though, too.
All around, this is a pretty cool film about vampires trying to break other vampires (who weren't brought up to be vampires) by brainwashing them...so...not really your typical vampire flick.
Comes Recommended.
7 out of 10.