With furrowed brow I ruefully say: "Well, I suppose the photography is pretty good."
Inspired by and partly borrowing from Jesus Franco's 1971 classic of the same name, Matthew Saliba has taken a different approach as he revisits the concept. It's a stretch of semantics to call his 2008 short a "film," because this is not an actual "motion picture." It's a series of still images, free of innate sound or dialogue, telling a story in their arrangement. It's a brazen style, and I was skeptical from the start - but sure, let's go with it. What else?
As nice as these individual photos look, the editing that puts them altogether is another question. Should I compliment Martin Gauthier for the effort of his contribution? Or should I lambaste him and/or Saliba for the direly tawdry tactic of often timing the succession of images with beats in the accompanying soundtrack? It's a short step from the method 'Vampyros lesbos' employs to "Lord Privy Seal." I can't say I'm impressed.
In general I do like the soundtrack. Depeche Mode! Converge, I like them! ...Burzum? Of all the countless bands and songs in the world, you put Burzum in your soundtrack? Points detracted by default for voluntarily, tacitly promoting a terrible person.
One can't truly assess "performances" from still photos; does the word "acting" even meaningfully apply here? With that said, as Saliba himself appears in the role of husband Owen, it seems apparent that's he's hamming up the part to the nth degree, to an extent notably differing from his "costars." I can't say this is encouraging.
And then there's the story. Just as the 2008 short goes a different direction than the 1971 feature in terms of the craft, the narratives similarly diverge. While I quite enjoyed Franco's picture, the chief flaw I saw in it was that the ending just kind of dropped the ball - the finale that we got felt like a cop-out, an unwillingness to take the next logical, satisfying step, so something different and less fulfilling was penned as an alternative. Saliba had an opportunity to improve on what we had seen before. What he did instead was to return to the source and partially mirror its conclusion - then took it an unwelcome, frankly problematic step further - too far - by introducing an element of sexual violence. Excuse me?
Despite everything, I was willing to say up until the very end that this "updated" take on 'Vampyros lesbos' wasn't entirely without value. So much for that.
I began watching with an open mind and, if I may say so, optimistic expectations, just based on the obvious association. Those expectations were met with a flummoxing peculiarity that began spiraling downward before simply entering into free fall. There are most assuredly viewers who will discover Saliba's version of 'Vampyros Lesbos' and find it an entertaining slice of horror. For me, the horror is in how such great potential was squandered to mistreat an imperfect classic. At length, the line of text in the end credits that cheekily invites criticism may actually have been the best part.
