Dampyr

Cast View all

	Wade Briggs	Harlan Draka
	Stuart Martin	Emil Kurjak
	Frida Gustavsson	Tesla Dubcek
	Sebastian Croft	Yuri
	David Morrissey	Gorka
	Radu Andrei Micu	Lazar
	Ionut Grama	Stefan
	Luke Roberts	Draka
	Florin Fratila	Dejan
	Madalina Bellariu Ion	Velma
	Andreea Coff	Chloe
	Alice Cora Mihalache	Aysha
	Alexandra Poiana	Vivien
	Claudia Negroiu	Chloe old
	Aura Calarasu	Aysha old
	Simina Siminie	Vivien Old
	Oliver Lepadatu	Harlan boy
	Niculae Cristian Bogdan	Vastar
	Paul Budeanu	Soldier 3
	George Burcea	Janko
	Matei Burgui	Nikola
	Patrick Caramitru	Miklos
	Ioachim Ciobanu	Petar
	Theodor Constantin	Mirko
	Bogdan Constantinescu	Bogdan

Crew View all

Director	Riccardo Chemello
Writer	Mauro Boselli, Maurizio Colombo, Giovanni Masi, Alberto Ostini, Mauro Uzzeo
Producer	Daniele Abeille, Simone Airoldi, Tarak Ben Ammar, Simone Bencini, Andrei Boncea, Davide Bonelli, Guido Geminiani, Andrea Goretti, Michele Masiero, Giovanni Mattioli, Antonio Navarra, Alessandro Pittoni, Roberto Proia, Vincenzo Sarno, Andrea Sgaravatti, Claudia Stavrositu, Giulio Terzaghi
Musician	Lorenzo Tomio
Photography	Vittorio Omodei Zorini

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Notes

My quick rating - 5.3/10. I am always interested in seeing other countries' versions of classic horror themes, such as "vampires." This one looks at a modern Italian tale of a half-human and half-vampire called a Dampyr. Being set during the Balkan wars was an interesting touch to add to the war of humans vs. vampires. Unfortunately, this is a very inconsistent movie. Sequel setup? They might want to see how well this one is received. Harlan Draka, played by Wade Briggs, is a Dampyr, half-human and half-vampire, but he doesn't know it. Soon he will have to face his powers to destroy an all-powerful creature of the night that goes by Gorka (David Morrissey.) I mention the consistency since right off the bat, it begins looking very amateur with some questionable special effects. But past the opening, a few scenes later, the landscape is sufficiently barren to paint a grim picture, while the camera work is quite tight and really looks altogether much more professional. This same level of quality swapping happens throughout this whole thing, which is really quite bizarre. At first, Harlan is more or less a con man pretending to be a vampire hunter, but soon learns he actually is one. Again, I found this reveal done in a sloppy fashion that could've been dealt with much better. When his true form is discovered in a nicely choreographed battle, he finds out that not all the vampires in the land, which he now knows actually exist, are all that fond of Gorka. This is when he spares Tesla (Frida Gustavsson), who is another vampire siding with Harlan. The story itself is quite rushed, and considering they are clearly planning on multiple movies, they surely could've developed this whole thing a lot more. In their quest for freedom from Gorka, they also recruit a soldier named Emil (Stuart Martin) who realizes that not every vampire is evil. That recruitment process again takes place during a really poorly thought-out scene that truly bugged me. Always was one step forward and then one back while this rolled along, with decent action scenes mooted by pointless ones. For an indie-level flick, though, when this movie is on, it is nicely done, giving praise to first-time director Riccardo Chemello. Knowing this is the freshman effort, I expect he will do quite well moving forward. For vampire fans, you do get something slightly different out of this one, but it is still the student rebels against the master routine. Still worth checking out if fans of the genre. It isn't overly violent and doesn't play into tropes, so in other words, it is playing it seriously. I'm on board for the inevitable sequel.

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