Vampire Journals (1997 Video) User Reviews (55)

Has great style but no depth

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 5/10 · 6 May 2012]

In the 90's a small movie company called Full Moon mostly produced horror films. One of their most popular was the Subspecies movies which was about vampires. Ted Nicolaou was the force behind the series who you could tell had a real eye for the vampires and their Gothic nature. So after the third Subspecies movie, he killed off the main vampire, Radu and intended to make more vampire movies that would be a bit different with similar characters that we had seen before. The Vampire Journals came in and with the same low budget, we got a pretty weak spin off sadly. Given that Ted did his best that he could, this was just a weak script with some very clichéd characters.

Zachary, a vampire with a conscience, who hunts the vampire bloodline that sired him. After witnessing the love of his life get turned into a vampire, Zachary destroys both her, and his master, and former protégé of Ash, Serena. Zachary, armed with the enchanted sword of a great vampire slayer called Laertes, seeks out the rest of Serena's bloodline to eradicate them. Zachary travels to Bucharest to find Ash. Zachary uses Ash's penchant for music and women to bait him out into the open for attack. Ash sets his sights on pianist Sofia, but is stopped by Zachary during his first attempt to take Sofia. Ash does not give up on acquiring Sofia, and hires her for his nightclub. Over the next few nights he drains her of blood, so that he may turn her into a new apprentice. He also makes a deal with Zachary: he will give Zachary a consort, protection from the Sun, and allow Zachary to see Sophia if he leaves the city the following night.

The weak points of the film was the characters like Sophia and Zachary. It was copy and paste with Sophia's scenes with Ash, he has her trapped in his bedroom and he would say "Join me!" and she would say "No! Let me go!" and he would bite her and leave. Next time he would say "Join me!" and she would say "No! Let me go!" and he would bite her and leave. Then the next time he would say "Join me!" and she would say "No! Let me go!" and then he would bite her and leave. And again the next time he would say "Join me!" and she finally says "Ok", which I had to have a good laugh with…what was his selling point this time?! It reminded me of the scene in the comedy of Bowfinger where Steve Martin is having an affair with Heather Grahm and finds out that she slept with someone else and he says "That's it, we're finished, you slept with Jiff" and she says "So?" and he said "Well, I never thought of it that way" and they go back to normal. That's exactly what those scenes reminded me of. Zachary is your typical brooding vampire who hates being the undead despite the fact that he's pretty, can control anyone he wants and can see things that no human could ever see in a lifetime. He narrates going on and on about how he's in pain and how much it sucks being a vampire with no real reason, oh, get over it already! I love the scene where he goes to bite a girl to survive; he goes into her bedroom, takes her arm and somehow she's still sleeping and bites it, she then wakes up of course and he covers her mouth and says "I won't harm you child"…LOL, you just bit her arm and took some of her blood! I think that's in the "harm zone".

Despite the flaws, I give Ted credit on the Gothic look of the film and the story isn't by any means terrible. It had some really great ideas, especially with Ash's club. Ash can control both mortals and immortals so he knows how to survive very well. But as the people around him start to betray him or feel threatened, he realizes that he's being ganged up on and that's a great story, I wished they stuck to that story more so. Jonathon Morris who plays Ash does a very good job and you can tell he enjoyed getting into the character. Also the look of the film is terrific and very Gothic, given the old spooky feeling from the old horror movies. You can tell Ted really did love the silent film Nosferatu with the shadows and angles. The Vampire Journals is over all a decent enough vampire movie, it just needed a major face lift with the characters or at least concentrate more so on the interesting one's.

5/10

An adequate albeit generic foray into the "Subspecies" world...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 30 April 2019]

While "Vampire Journals" definitely is an enjoyable and watchable vampire movie, then it was just lacking that special ingredient that we had in the "Subspecies" movies. Yeah, while the movie is set within the same universe as the "Subspecies" movies, then the movie was suffering from not having Radu in it.

The storyline in "Vampire Journals" was straight forward, and actually interesting and fun enough to watch. Just a shame that it was so predictable and generic. There were no surprises thrown at us as an audience at any time throughout the course of the movie, which made the movie slip into a mediocre gutter, even with director and writer Ted Nicolaou at the helm.

The characters in the movie were adequate, but again very generic and unimaginative, which made me feel like they could just as easily be replaced with any other characters in other similar vampire movies. They just weren't as memorable or recognizable as Radu, and that was a suffering blow for the movie.

As for the acting in the movie, well I must admit that they had some good actors and actresses to fill out the various roles and portray the various characters, just a shame that the performers were hindered by generic and mundane characters and a monotonous script.

All in all, "Vampire Journals" is well worth a watch if you enjoyed the "Subspecies" movies, which I did. But as a stand alone movie, then it wasn't particularly memorable or outstanding. Watch if sort of if you want to expand upon your knowledge of the established world within the "Subspecies" movies, if for nothing else.

"Run from me child, I have no wish to violate your flesh." More nonsense from Full Moon.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 24 November 2007]

Vampire Journals is set in some unnamed Eastern European country where a Vampire named Zachary (David Gunn) decides to take in some culture & spend a night at a classical concert, there he notices master Vampire Ash (Jonathon Morris) who seems to be taking an unhealthy shine to pianist Sofia Christopher (Kristen Cerre). The next day & Sofia is contacted by a woman named Iris (Starr Andreef) who works for Ash & owns a nightclub called 'Club Muse' & says that Ash wants her to play for him in a private concert which Sofia agrees to. Ash wants to turn Sofia into his Vampire bride while bitter Vampire hunter Zachary wants to kill him & all of his kind...

This American Romanian co-production was written & directed by Ted Nicolaou was produced by Charles Band & his Full Moon companies responsible for all manner of low budgeted horror film crap over the years. The script takes itself very seriously & there's lots of brooding silly sounding dialogue that I presume is meant to be Gothic & compliment the look of the film. It's also quite noticeable how much Vampire Journals reminded me of Interview with the Vampire (1994) in terms of the way it looks & feels. The character's are poor clichés, the main villainous Vampire who falls in love with a beautiful woman, the Vampire who hates his kind & has set out to destroy them all along with the human followers who do the Vampires bidding during the daytime. It's all rather predictable, it's all rather slow & pedestrian & there's too much silly talk in it. The story itself is threadbare to say the least, it's mostly just people walking around & talking about things which don't matter a whole lot. If your a die hard Vampire flick fan then you'll probably lap this up as, well it's got Vampires in it but anyone looking for an effective horror flick will surely be disappointed at the dull bland nature of this film & a lack of a decent engaging story.

I'll give Vampire Journals credit where it deserves it because it looks fabulous, the lighting, the Gothic sets, costumes & production design are very impressive & atmospheric. The only problem is the entire film is set in the same building so there's not much variety. The opening credit's play over very atmospheric & evocative shots of a snow covered graveyard with large stone statues, crypt's & headstones & the film continues with a nice rich, Gothic look running throughout it. There's not much gore here, there are some bitten necks, some splashed around blood & a couple of good looking decapitations. There's some female nudity as well if that sort of thing interests you.

Technically the film looks very nice with good visuals & it's well shot. Filmed on location in Bucharest in Romania to keep the cost down even further & as such there are also lots of unpronounceable names both in front & behind the camera. Those living outside the UK probably won't know him but for those living here yes that is the same Jonathon Morris who appeared in the comedy series Bread (1986 - 1991) as Adrian Boswell & he is terrible in this. He will forever be remembered in the UK as 'that guy who was in Bread' & for little else. The rest of the cast are alright but nothing outstanding.

Vampire Journals is much better than the usual Full Moon horror flick & looks surprisingly good but the story isn't great & there's not a lot going on. Better than expected but still nothing more than average when all said & done.

This is another chapter of the Subspecies series.

[Manna-2 · 27 August 1999]

If you like gothic vampire movies, then Full Moon Entertainment's Vampire Journals (1997) is for you. This 92 minutes gem is actually for sale at video stores (many Full Moon Videos are not available) because they now distribute for themselves! This is another chapter of the Subspecies series and is directed by the same director, Ted Nicolaou. The story continues when Ash, an understudy of Radu, becomes more powerful and vicious as his master and the vampire-hunter must destroy him. The special effects are much more advanced in this chapter and you can actually see the vampire's "shadow morph" travel. This, like the other parts, was filmed in Romania and has a very ancient "feel" to it. The story is great, as is the filming. What else could we expect from our favorite company but another "must-have?" As always, a Video Zone is included.

A Little Disappointed...

[Piceased · 3/10 · 10 April 2013]

I received this movie (along with 19 others in a set) as a gift from my sister. I decided to read some reviews and check the rating here, as I do with most movies I watch anymore. I thought; "Okay, not bad reviews. Let's try this!".

I'm going to try and make this as short and simple as possible. This wasn't an awful movie. I'm keeping the year it was made in mind, so I wont mention the bad effects or camera. I WILL mention the bad acting. The character of Zachary seemed to be overplaying the "brooding" a bit. I'm not sure I'm using the right word. The character of Cassandra was a little awkward to me. I didn't understand the role of Dimitri in this film. Just to be shooed away like an annoying animal? The plot had potential, even if the vengeful vampire child storyline is overused. BloodRayne for instance. There were moments that I felt had just been tossed in as filler footage. There never really seemed to be much of a catch. Throughout the movie, it was the same pace. I also couldn't believe the ending. I highly doubt that a vampire "lord" would be killed so easily (and stupidly, mind you). So, needless to say, I was a little disappointed.

Slow, Slow, Slow and Oh-so-gothic

[DrSatan · 2/10 · 8 September 1999]

Do you play Vampire the Masquerade? Play in lots of vampire/gothic Live-Roleplaying? The guy who wrote this probably did. Recycles every cliche of the genre; its incredibly, over-the-top gothic. Its also one of the slowest films I've ever seen. The hero constantly says things that amount to "I could do something, but I'm to gothic to bother...I'll just let that sweet young thing over there be turned into a vampire". This is a lot of fun to make fun of at first, but eventually it overwhelms you, making this difficult to even heckle. There are also far too many side characters, who aren't developed and just seem to get in the way of what little happens. An anemic (pardon the pun ;) film at best.

If you can't sleep

[Johnny-125 · 4/10 · 12 October 1999]

I love vampire movies, so I have to watch them all. That means good ones and not so good ones. Vampire Journals has a good story to tell, but fails to tell it. The best part of the whole movie is...well I can't think of one.

Overlooked Gem: Among the best Vampire movies ever!

[jluis1984 · 7/10 · 28 December 2005]

Underrated Director Ted Nicolau, a Full Moon entertainment veteran, made a step forward in his vampire universe with this movie that sadly has been overlooked as time goes by. "Vampire Journals" is probably the best movie produced by Full Moon, and easily ranks among the best vampire movies ever.

The movie tells the story of Zachary (played by David Gunn), a vampire who has vowed to exterminate as many of his specie as he can since his life as one of the undead has given him nothing but tragedies. In his hunting, he finds Ash (Jonathon Morris), a vampire master who controls a club and loves the music. Things get complicated when both of them fall in love with a beautiful pianist named Sofia (Kirsten Cerre).

The most remarkable feature of the movie, is the perfect combination of camera-work, edition and music to create a Gothic feeling that remains through the movie, making it look as a beautiful canvas despite its low budget. Every visual aspect of the movie is of a supernatural beauty, as if the locations were a character too.

Ted Nicolau creates a superb movie that improves in all aspects what he had already accomplished with his other vampire movies, the "Subspecies" series. The SFX are great for the budget and never seem out of place, the movie retains that Gothic surreal feeling without sacrificing anything.

The acting is really good, although nothing special. David Gunn carries the film with grace but is Jonathon Morris who steals the show as the vampire Ash. Worth to mention is the performance of the beautiful Ilinca Goia, who in her limited screen time captures the attention of the viewer not only with her looks, but her performance as well.

Of course, nothing is perfect, the movie keeps that "low-budget" feeling that most of the 90s Full Moon movies carried, but is admirable the effort of Nicolau to make the most of what he got. Also, the script feels too short, leaving the audience wanting to see more of this marvelous Gothic universe. Indeed, the movie demands a prequel and a sequel in order to have the story fully developed.

To summarize, this movie was a pleasant surprise, as it is a worthy addition to every fan of the vampire sub-genre. An outstanding effort by director Ted Nicolau. Best Full Moon picture ever. 8.5/10

Trashy yet funny

[pippa-7 · 2/10 · 20 March 2005]

I gave this a 2 simply because I enjoyed looking at the sets in the movie, and that was pretty much it. There was about one joke in the film that made me laugh, and everything else I found funny because it was so ridiculous.

This is a cheap rip off of "Interview with the Vampire" as in: thriving in eternity, basking in immortality control freak and mean vamp teases the woe-is-me, I will never be human again pathetic vamp. The crucial differences here are that "Interview with the Vampire" is a very respectable film whilst "Journals" looks like something a bunch of high schoolers binded together for a school play.

Zachary (Gunn) is a self-pitying guiltaholic who is travelling the world on a quest of revenge. Killing humans depresses him but killing other vampires doesn't phase him, mind you, as he is self loathing and feels no loyalty to his kind anymore. In the beginning, you see another vampire named Ash (Morris) that looks like a drugged, washed up rock star old man, kill Zachary's female companion, setting Zachary off on his journey to find Ash and claim his vengeance by killing him and all of his offspring.

Predictability ensues. Zachary finds Ash, but a woman gets in the way, the woman both of the vampires want, a repetition of their last dilemma except this time Zachary is determined not to lose.

You can't take this movie seriously at all, but it's almost one of those "so bad it's almost good" movies that you can only bear to watch once. The acting is very cliché, the dialogue is corny, the plot isn't that interesting, and the characters you like are the schemers that have it in for the ones who are supposed to be the heroes of the movie. If you're a patient person I suggest watching it if you're intoxicated and you have absolutely nothing else to watch and it's a dire emergency.

But like I said, the sets are cool.

It was pretty good

[ddukart · 7/10 · 23 April 2007]

Well, I am a big fan of Full Moon Videos..after all, that's where some of the Lovecraft films came from, and I'm a big fan of them. Alright then. This is a somewhat artsy-fartsy vampire movie, kind of continuing the line of the subspecies films. Unlike the Subspecies films, there were no cheesy clay-mation gargoyles, and the budget seemed to be relatively decent. Thank God for Romania, eh? At any rate, the plot was pretty good, the cast not bad. The atmosphere great, and the whole movie flowed pretty well.

This would make a nice addition to any vampire fan's movie collection.

Also, if you like it and want to get more depth into the story, get the rest of the Subspecies movies. They're more cult-classic, like the rest of the Full Moon horror movies, but worth a watch.

Believe me. I've seen thousands of horror movies, and would make the best horror critic in the world, if it paid........and I got to use my usual potty-mouth to get my point across.

Vampire Journals

[kenmich-47-260124 · 1/10 · 6 May 2011]

OMG how anyone could waste time or money even putting this on a DVD is beyond me. There's time I won't be getting back. I cannot describe how bad this movie is, thats how bad it is. OMG how anyone could waste time or money even putting this on a DVD is beyond me. There's time I won't be getting back. I cannot describe how bad this movie is, thats how bad it is. OMG how anyone could waste time or money even putting this on a DVD is beyond me. There's time I won't be getting back. I cannot describe how bad this movie is, thats how bad it is. OMG how anyone could waste time or money even putting this on a DVD is beyond me. There's time I won't be getting back. I cannot describe how bad this movie is, thats how bad it is.

The best vampire movie on the planet!

[acidpluto-1 · 10/10 · 30 December 2005]

This is my most favorite movie! I am in love with David Gunn as well. He is an exceptional actor. I only wish that he would do more movies. Plus, Ted Nicolaou is a genius. His writing is profound. You must overlook the fact that this movie was made by a low budget company. It is filmed in Romania and provides great visuals of their architecture and landscape. Plus, a lot of the people in it are from Romania, which gives this film a tremendous amount of credit. Zachary is perhaps the best vampire character ever written. His humanity and unending torture draw you in and make you love him. This story is classic and beautiful. It had me fascinated from beginning to end. It is a must see for any vampire fan.

"I faced an endless nighttime, and endless hunger for innocent blood."

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 7/10 · 5 September 2017]

Two ancient vampires, one a dour self-loathing hunter of his fellow undead, the other a powerfully suave and charming lord who ruthlessly commands his backstabbing underlings in the casino/brothel that he's also made his lair, and the two of them cross paths when Ash "The music lover" is enchanted by an innocent young talented pianist and begins to claim her as his own, and Zachary the world-weary hunter fights to save her soul before it's too late and, like him, she is forever shrouded in darkness!!! I was always rather taken with this movie, it's apparently a kind of spin-off of the Subspecies series, but that's practically in name only because it's a lot slower and a lot less gorily violent, and the cool collected vampiric schemers of this movie are nothing at all like the awesomely craven subhuman menace of Radu. This is a very sombre-toned and dramatic story, it almost feels like an elaborate stage play at times! It's very slow burning and narration and dialogue heavy, with the main bulk of the 'action' being what I found from the first time I saw it to be very well-written and engagingly spoken weighty monologue exchanges between the characters, which I thought just worked tremendously well and I found it all to be some very absorbing classy wordplay, and I think telling most of the story in that way helped to make up for the fairly obvious budgetary limitations and also helped to fuel the basic imagination of the enchantingly Gothic and doom-laden story, and the dialogue and narration also gives it a nice storytelling edge that plays into the journals aspect of the title. It's a little picture that's clearly designed to be something that very much plays up to that very classical and romantic faded grandeur image of vampires, while still keeping that vital macabre element of them intact, not that there's too much blood to be seen in it.. You can tell it was put together by someone with a real love for the kind of old style lore and pathos of vampires that most modern bloodsucker movies seem to leave out altogether in favour of vapid teen girl crowd pleasing fare.. Some may find it boring, I find it highly intriguing. I think the slow pace works to make the small story feel more well realised and fleshed-out, as well as the characters. And I just plain love and get a big kick out of that atmosphere and tone, which is excellently sustained throughout. So its duels are mainly of sophistication and exchanges of bitter dramatic venom and matched wits, rather than sword to sword, although there is a little of that towards the end! It's visuals are hauntingly beautiful, with all the 'classic' extravagant surroundings you'd expect from a den of the swarthy vampire damned, like marble staircases, red velvet curtains, and candlelit chandeliers, it's very thematically rich and the lavish Gothic surroundings and the characters complement each other, with the beautiful dusky shots of faded light and deep shadows enriching the supernatural nature and dark gravitas of the vampires, even if outwardly they don't differ too much from regular humans. The monologues are often eye-rollingly dramatic, but to me that's part of the charm too, all the actors take everything all super-seriously and play their parts to a tee. David Gunn as Zachary is good but he isn't nearly as magnetic or fun to watch as Jonathan Morris as Ash is. In fact the cadaverous-looking 'saviour' of the movie is actually more menacing and scary than the villain! And Morris to me was the best thing about this movie and was fantastic to watch with his gentlemanly yet commanding manner, and his resonant deep master's voice! His acting was top notch, and he played such a razor sharp likable bad guy that you really didn't want to see lose! Llinca Goia was also rather terrific as the beautiful and vicious little witch who was once Ash's favourite concubine and who yearns to hunt with reckless abandon through the night world over which her kind once reigned supreme! Her jet black hair and sly playfully predatory attitude and wardrobe really make her one of the most perfectly realised little vampire-eses to ever appear in a movie. It's too bad this flick was never expanded on in a sequel whereas Evil Bong vs Gingerdead Man is given the go ahead, because if it had been of this quality then I for one would have been very interested to see what they did next with it. So, probably not a great movie, but to me definitely a great vampire movie, if that makes sense! To me Vampire Journals is definitely one of those more underrated gems from the older Full Moon back catalogue and a much richer and satisfying watch than you may expect and one vampire movie that's very much worth seeing. X

This could be the worst vampire movie I've ever seen...

[Allure · 1/10 · 23 September 2004]

...and I've seen some pretty bad ones !

Bad acting, annoying music, ridiculous dialogues, boring plot, awfully slow, really laughable when it's supposed to be scary and the list could go on and on.

I don't know which character I disliked the most: Zachary is so whiny he makes "Interview With The Vampire"'s Louis look like a happy-go-lucky guy and Ash must be the cheesiest movie vampire ever.

I'm a big fan of vampire movies and this is the only one I truly disliked from beginning to end. I kept watching it just to see how bad it could get.

Truly a classic vampire tale

[Katatonia · 21 April 2003]

You've got to give credit to Ted Nicolau for creating a somewhat separate vampire world from the Subspecies world he had previously mastered, and still manage to be original and engaging.

Here we have a movie that was actually filmed in Romania (as Subspecies were) and has that gothic renaissance quality about it. A beautiful low-budget film that puts to shame such mainstream atrocities as Interview With A Shampooer.

Jonathon Morris who plays Ash is such a great actor beyond description. He really should be in more films, but i guess he prefers the classical stage acting field of work. We did get to see him again in Subspecies 4 reprising his signature role of Ash, so that was a welcome addition to the franchise. David Gunn also does a marvelous job as Zachery, the vampire (and vampire slayer) torn between the two worlds.

It would have been nice if there would have been a sequel or two to Vampire Journals, i suppose that died in the monetary problems at Full Moon in recent years. Alas, we still have this excellent movie for posterity through the years....in blood.

Subspecies subplot

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 29 August 2021]

Zachary is something like a hooker with a heart of gold. He's a vampire with a conscience, hunting down the bloodline of vampires that made him like a gaijin Alucard from the Castlevania games. So yeah, the vampires have even turned the love of his life into one of them, so he must destroy her and her master Serena - last seen in Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm which comes out a year after this so, you know, it's alright if you're confused - with the enchanted sword of Laertes.

The rest of the film is all about Ash trying to take out our hero, using a pianist named Sofia to draw him out by drinking her blood and making her one of his followers. And then there's another vampiric consort named Iris who decides to throw a wrench in destiny.

Consider this one a side mission in the world of Subspecies, as all of these characters will get involved in the next one. Full Moon would later remake this as Decadent Evil.

If you'd like to see a cutdown version of this movie, it is the "Undead Evil" chapter of their anthology film I, Vampire.

OK, move along, nothing good to see here.

[andrej-groups · 3/10 · 3 January 2024]

I'm not sure what movie all those 7-10 star reviewers were watching, I just can't align any of the rave reviews with what I watched the other night.

Terrible make-up and effects (even for the time it was filmed in), a soppy narrative and theatrical language that would make Shakespeare turn in his grave. Laughable fight-scenes that could have come straight out of a school play, ...

The only good thing about the whole movie was Sophie's piano play and her feminist notions towards Zachary in one of their brief dialogues. Sophie was also (in the beginning, at least) the only likable character in this vampire soap opera.

It was bearable enough to while away a gloomy afternoon without having to turn it off, hence the 3 star rating.

The best part of the movie is the poster

[kevin_robbins · 3/10 · 19 January 2023]

Vampire Journals (1997) is a Romanian Full Moon Studios picture that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows a vampire, vampire hunter out for revenge that is hunting down a Master Vampire. He falls in love in the process with a lady that the Master Vampire covets creating a weird love triangle in the middle of the hunt.

This movie is written and directed by Ted Nicolaou (Subspecies) and stars Jonathon Morris (The Fantasticks), Kirsten Cerre (The Red Shoes), Ilinca Goia (Lurking Fear), Dan Condurache (Fortuna in Pacific) and Mihai Niculescu (Epicenter).

This movie is a made for television version of Interview with a Vampire - essentially with worse acting, writing, dialogue and kill scenes. The atmosphere, attire and settings were very good. The narration was just okay and the hairstyles and makeup were crazy and over the top. The ending was kind of blah..like the rest of the movie.

Overall, the best part of the movie is the poster. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

Visuals and soundtrack are lovely, the script uneven, acting sometimes truly bad

[rose-294 · 7/10 · 23 April 2008]

First the good news: Vampire journals is a surprisingly beautiful and elegant-looking movie. I say "surprisingly" because nowadays even big budget movies tend to look trash. Blade begins in a butcher's shop and a trashy club, features trashy vampires and has horribly, pretentiously cooler-than-thou-posing. Vampire Journals opens with the poetic shot of a wintery graveyard, with the Gothic letters and lovely music. All scenes are lit with rich, golden hue, and even though writer/director Ted Nicolaou clearly copies the flourishes of Interview with the Vampire and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992, they at least he has some talent. AND taste to copy the classy, gorgeous-looking movies. Steal from the best! Bad news: Thick accents, at least to non-English watcher who had no subtitles available. Sometimes I had problems to find out what these people were saying! And sometimes I hope I would not have heard. Don't understand me wrong, I HATE Tarantino-like "cool" crap which pollutes the modern cinema. But these attempts from grandeur and poetry from bad actors with thick "exotic vampire" accents are surprisingly embarrassing. In the end: Surprisingly good, when you but use MUTE or FF button in the most ridiculous scenes.

Far more disappointing than expected

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 5/10 · 26 September 2022]

Still pining for the love of his life, a vampire tries to protect her from the evil vampire king holding her captive amongst his usual flock of vampires to try to ensure she remains his next bride, forcing him into a battle against the powerful vampire and his coven to free her.

This was a decent enough if an overall flawed effort in the franchise. The biggest factor with this one is the main setup that brings together the various participants in the story. Utilizing their romantic encounters as a basis for trying to hang around her to catch the main vampire that he's looking to stop, the society that we see at play with the evil vampires once they hold it captive under his whims and the sidestories involving the other relationships at play as a setup for the competition to play out between the two of them. While lacking in the way of traditional combat sequences or full-on battles, there are still enough scenes of them hunting their victims or snapping and unleashing plenty of bloodshed along the way that keeps this one interesting enough. This one does have several detrimental factors to it. The main issue which manages to cause it to come undone is by the wholly lacking pace on display that makes everything feel like a melodramatic Gothic romance than a flat-out genre effort. With the only genre qualities coming from the concept of vampirism that everyone seems to be, there's not much here that makes it feel like a genre effort with the constant lustful notions towards the performer as well as the duplicitous means through which they keep trying to woo her. The back-and-forth banter amounts more to intense brooding which plays into the Gothic overtones of the whole thing while the incessant narration that tries to impart a sense of understanding into the mission just ends up being aggravating since it adds nothing new, all of which lower this one.

Rated R: Nudity, Graphic Violence, Language, and Sex Scenes.

a guilty pleasure

[dr_foreman · 7/10 · 3 June 2005]

"Vampire Journals" pulls off a neat trick - it's elegant and trashy at the same time. The opening credits set the scene nicely with images of snow-covered tombs and statues, accompanied by a lovely Gothic theme. Then we get the first scene, which features an in-your-face exposed breast and a gory beheading. That's what I mean by elegance and trash going hand-in-hand.

Thankfully, the film's tacky excesses don't detract too much from what is, on the whole, a superior example of horror. It's a low-budget enterprise, of course, but I'm impressed by how lavish it is. The Romanian locations are beautiful, and perfectly lit - the film's "look," as director Ted Nicolau puts it in the making-of special, is like that of an old painting. The special effects are sparse but effective; I admire the nifty "shadow" trick used for the vampires' teleportation, and they decay into dust by means of decent CGI.

The cast is another pretty strong point. Jonathon Morris is a standout as Ash, the decadent vampire master. On a first viewing, I thought David Gunn's Zachery a bit weak, but now I don't mind him; he's almost laughably sincere, but that's pretty much what the part demands.

The film hits a lull in the second act, when the action is confined to Ash's lair. There's also a bit too much sadism on display for my liking; in scene after scene, attractive semi-nude girls get their various limbs chomped on by Ash and his minions. It's repetitive and somewhat gross. Frankly, I enjoy Ted Nicolau's "Subspecies" films more, even if they aren't as well made. Radu and Mummy camping it up like loons is closer to my idea of entertainment than watching a nice character like Sophia suffer at length in a vampire brothel.

That said, this is very well done. The sad piano music alone puts "Vampire Journals" above par for the genre. But, if you're looking for so-bad-it's-funny horror, steer clear; this is a most serious effort. Probably too serious for its own good, but I do appreciate any film that treats vampires with respect.

If you're a pretty girl in Bucharest, stick to crocheting.

[Ted-101 · 8/10 · 10 February 2001]

In this eerie and gothic thriller, Zachary, (David Gunn) a vampire tormented by his nightly existence, seeks to destroy all the undead in his bloodline. In the city of Bucharest, he tracks down the master vampire known as "Ash" (Jonathan Morris) and plots to penetrate Ash's heavily defended fortress. Ash becomes enamoured with Sofia, (Kirsten Cerre) a beautiful young pianist, lures her to his decadent "Club Muse" and kidnaps her. Zachary must find a way to rescue her and destroy Ash and his disciples at the same time.

Vampire Journals takes a slight detour from the excellent Full Moon "Subspecies" series which features the master vampire Radu, and his stubborn and defiant disciple, Michelle. This film has better production values and a far larger cast than any of the 4 subspecies movies, and rivals them in quality. All of these films are highly under-rated, and are far superior to most of the vampire movies that have been made in the states in the past 20 years. This would include the Eddie Murphy stinker, Carpenter's "Vampires", and even rivals "Interview With a Vampire".

Vampire Journals is moody and gothic. Just watching Ash walking thru the night with his deadly mistress, Cassandra, (Ilinka Goya) is a treat. Cassandra'a seduction and ravishing of a young man near a cemetery gate is erotic and chilling. Kirsten Cerre is beautiful and perfect as the chaste and strong-willed Sofia who fights Ash to the last in an effort to save her soul. David Gunn's performance, full of brooding, loneliness, and submerged fury toward Ash and his disciples, sets the tone that drives the film forward.

Ted Nicolai, the director, can't resist being tacky and excessive with the blood and gore from time to time, which is even more of a problem with him in the Subspecies films, but he doesn't do too much damage here. Nicolai is better at characterization and developing vampire culture than he is at plot development, but there's enough of a story here to keep us interested.

This is a good vampire film, and a little bit like Hammer in some respects, though much better than anything Christopher Lee did after Horror of Dracula. And this film crushes most of the vampire trash that's been made in the states in recent years.

If you are into vampire films this is for you.

[emma2005 · 22 December 2002]

I found Vampire Journals to be the quality of a late 60s early 70s horror film. After watching it for the third or fourth time I discovered that I understood the plot line very well. For those who are into vampire films this is your movie, but if you are just passing by the horror section of your local video store and you think you would like to see this film I suggest watching Dracula first then come back to this movie, only then you would understand this film.

Like Angel to Buffy...

[barnthebarn · 6/10 · 25 April 2009]

Odd fourth entry in the Subspecies series of films. This time there is little mention of Radu, instead focusing on a new character Zachery. Zachery wants to seek revenge on the vampire that killed his beloved Rebecca. Thus he befriends a concert musician, Sofia and uses her to find Ash, performing as much graphic vampire violence as he can on his crusade. In itself this is a superbly well acted and filmed addition to the series, though the lack of Radu is noted and at times problematic for the tension. A grand fable though and David Gunn and Kirsten Cerre, as Zachery and Sofia make a grand 'couple'. Incidentally Cerre attended acting school with Gunn and admits that everyone found him very scary as he is so serious and intense - though actually he is a lovely guy apparently. Jonathan Morris plays Ash again to maximum effect and one can only wish that all three leads were in either every film made or at least hundreds more vampire legacies. Grand.