Director: Jessica M Thompson
Starring: Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Alana Boden, Sean Pertwee, Hugh Skinner, Courtney Taylor, Jeremy Wheeler, Carol Ann Crawford
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime: 104 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Strong violence

Evie, an American, discovers she has relatives in England, and accepts an invitation to meet them. It’s all very charming, but then Gothic secrets are revealed and it becomes a horror story.

Evie (Emmanuel) hopes to become a successful ceramics artist. She lives in New York City, has a mixed race background, but no known relatives – until she receives a package at an industry celebration, an invitation to do a DNA test. And, unexpectedly on her computer, contact from a British cousin.

Seems a pleasant set up for a pleasant drama. And, in conversations, there are references to Jane Austen. Especially as Evie is persuaded to travel to England to meet all her family connections. So far, so pleasant.

While this is an American-financed film, it was shot in Budapest, with a British cast, and an Australian director. Even Evie, who is such an American character, blunt and forthright as she encounters English tradition and manners (and putdowns to Americans) is played by British actress, Nathalie Emmanuel, who appeared in Games of Thrones and several of the Fast and Furious franchise.

A wedding is to take place. The groom is from a wealthy family and the film features one of those country mansions, bright in the sunshine but interiors with the touch of the Gothic. And the library is locked. Evie is charmed by Walt, the Lord of the Manor (Doherty), but finds a lot of the British very hard to take.

By this time, with all the comedy of manners, the audience is wondering where this is leading us (unless they have already heard, as, by accident, this reviewer, that this is a vampire film). There are hints, the fastidious butler and his arrogance, the lining up of the maids all in black, sinister goings-on in the library…

All is revealed at a lavish banquet, Evie having already succumbed to the charms of Walt, his gift of a beautiful gown for the celebration, family members gathered, including two beautiful but rather sinister maids of honour for the wedding, Evie happy – and then, the truth.

The filmmakers put a lot of effort into last half hour of the film, drawing on a lot of the conventions of the vampire films, the darkened cellar, the sinister chapel, even drawing on Dracula character names, Renfield and Jonathan Harker. There is a great deal of tension, especially for Evie, Walt, smiling but baring his fangs, and the grand climax of the mixing of his blood with Evie’s so that they will live immortally.

There is some suspense in wondering whether and how Evie will emerge from this vampiric trap, whether she will survive, whether she will become a vampire, whether…