Atmospheric Ozploitation horror concerns supposed vampire descendant Contouri pursued by a bizarre blood-drinking cult to become its star recruit but the conversion doesn't go to plan when Contouri rejects the overtures of her fanged friends. Hemmings, Phipps and Silva (who is miscast) are the main proponents of a modern day coven of blood harvesters hiding in plain sight in a private blood bank posing as a hospital, whilst the uncooperative Contouri begins to develop a taste for the red stuff that she finds abhorrent but physiologically difficult to resist.
Literal buckets of blood become so over the top it loses impact after a while, and whilst the dream like sequences are effective (e.g. The scene in which Contouri and Mullinar cavort by the lake), the film features a lot of moving parts in its elaborate plot, and is possibly more convoluted than it needed to be. I often found it difficult to distinguish when she was behaving as herself, acting brainwashed or was legitimately under the mind control of the cult.
Great set design, makeup and ambience, there's a constant sinister tone throughout, but overall it was a bit meandering and aimless, lacking a knock-out shock to make it more memorable. Contouri was obviously dedicated to her character, and Phipps is also quite effective as a blood-thirsty board member, but Silva is badly miscast in his passive, incidental role as a one of the Brotherhood's chief haematologists and Hemmings is also quite bland. Had the potential to be an Ozploitation horror opus, but instead it's more of a curiosity than a classic.
Literal buckets of blood become so over the top it loses impact after a while, and whilst the dream like sequences are effective (e.g. The scene in which Contouri and Mullinar cavort by the lake), the film features a lot of moving parts in its elaborate plot, and is possibly more convoluted than it needed to be. I often found it difficult to distinguish when she was behaving as herself, acting brainwashed or was legitimately under the mind control of the cult.
Great set design, makeup and ambience, there's a constant sinister tone throughout, but overall it was a bit meandering and aimless, lacking a knock-out shock to make it more memorable. Contouri was obviously dedicated to her character, and Phipps is also quite effective as a blood-thirsty board member, but Silva is badly miscast in his passive, incidental role as a one of the Brotherhood's chief haematologists and Hemmings is also quite bland. Had the potential to be an Ozploitation horror opus, but instead it's more of a curiosity than a classic.