When I decided to see this movie, I already had very low expectations. The film is clearly a cheap and undeveloped production, which seeks to take advantage of London's gloomy and somewhat hazy atmosphere to add some additional charm to an otherwise bland film. The film is directed by Shimako Sato, a director who seems to be trying to impress it some lessons from Japanese horror (the importance of environment, suspense, tension, sets and lighting), but I think the way he tried it was not always the happiest and the film lacks a script that will truly allow him to do it successfully.
The script, quite poor and uninteresting, tries to create a romantic drama based on gothic horror that is not terrifying and, at times, boring. It all starts in a library, with a wide range of old documents, historians and regulars looking for space to study. One of them, the elegant and discreet Alex, begins to show an interest in one of the librarians, Anne. What no one knows is that he is a vampire with centuries of life who saw in her a lookalike of an old love, long gone, and that he is also responsible for the wave of mysterious deaths that have taken place in the city.
Julian Sands is a competent actor, who satisfactorily secures the lead role. He is elegant, good-looking, suitably somber and brooding as a depressed man. In fact, the actor's good performance is a good reason to see this movie. Suzanna Hamilton is decent enough for her character, but she seems to me quite numb for most of the time, acting unnaturally and less spontaneously. Kenneth Cranham seems like a suitable villain when he starts to appear, but it's obvious that he knows what Alex is. The reasons for Cranham's character's behavior are also unconvincing.
Technically, the film has several elements worthy of interest and attention, which give it an added quality and make the film not as bad as it might appear on first impression. Cinematography, for example, is really very interesting, with a very deft use of shadows, light, framing the image, light reflections and the omnipresent London fog. The sets were also used very skillfully, with the vampire's decaying house being, almost, a clear, visual reflection of his psychology and the way he sees himself. The costumes were also well-used. In counterpoint, we have, in fact, cheap, far-fetched, sometimes obvious visuals and special effects and an uninteresting and boring soundtrack.
The script, quite poor and uninteresting, tries to create a romantic drama based on gothic horror that is not terrifying and, at times, boring. It all starts in a library, with a wide range of old documents, historians and regulars looking for space to study. One of them, the elegant and discreet Alex, begins to show an interest in one of the librarians, Anne. What no one knows is that he is a vampire with centuries of life who saw in her a lookalike of an old love, long gone, and that he is also responsible for the wave of mysterious deaths that have taken place in the city.
Julian Sands is a competent actor, who satisfactorily secures the lead role. He is elegant, good-looking, suitably somber and brooding as a depressed man. In fact, the actor's good performance is a good reason to see this movie. Suzanna Hamilton is decent enough for her character, but she seems to me quite numb for most of the time, acting unnaturally and less spontaneously. Kenneth Cranham seems like a suitable villain when he starts to appear, but it's obvious that he knows what Alex is. The reasons for Cranham's character's behavior are also unconvincing.
Technically, the film has several elements worthy of interest and attention, which give it an added quality and make the film not as bad as it might appear on first impression. Cinematography, for example, is really very interesting, with a very deft use of shadows, light, framing the image, light reflections and the omnipresent London fog. The sets were also used very skillfully, with the vampire's decaying house being, almost, a clear, visual reflection of his psychology and the way he sees himself. The costumes were also well-used. In counterpoint, we have, in fact, cheap, far-fetched, sometimes obvious visuals and special effects and an uninteresting and boring soundtrack.