Carlos Gananian was a student filmmaker from Brazil who arrived on the horror scene with this twenty minute vampire story. I like watching short films on occasion as they can be a lot of fun in the right hands, and they often have more imagination than many a Hollywood blockbuster. Unfortunately, Akai doesn't have that imagination – and you quickly realise that this is yet another vampire flick that adds nothing new to the genre and will be quickly forgotten after viewing.
The problem with this film is that there's little story, and hardly a script as such. There's a bald vampire living in a house, he kills a couple of prostitutes, then the film ends on a downbeat note. As a filmmaker, Gananian is great with the visual stuff. There are plenty of spooky visuals and one of the creepiest fridges I've seen in a film. The discordant music works nicely and scene with the thing in the tin was disturbing. The set up of the shots is all good and the lighting spot on. But, in the end, one vampire is the same as another and this is all style over substance, and it ends up pretty boring as a result.
The problem with this film is that there's little story, and hardly a script as such. There's a bald vampire living in a house, he kills a couple of prostitutes, then the film ends on a downbeat note. As a filmmaker, Gananian is great with the visual stuff. There are plenty of spooky visuals and one of the creepiest fridges I've seen in a film. The discordant music works nicely and scene with the thing in the tin was disturbing. The set up of the shots is all good and the lighting spot on. But, in the end, one vampire is the same as another and this is all style over substance, and it ends up pretty boring as a result.
