User Reviews

Seen yesterday night at the cinema.

I was seriously impressed by how well the movie was made, well acted, nice special effects, nice scenary. Way more than I expected from an Italian production.

As an avid reader of the comic stories, It was amazing for me to see the paper characters I love turned into movie characters, and to see how well the movie crew managed to reproduce the gloomy atmosphere of the setting.

For me it was a lot of fun.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

As far as I am concerned, the best thing about the movie is the way the story slips from a regular war movie set in the balkan wars to a horror movie about vampires, that was done very smoothly.

There are a couple of things that probably could have been done better. As I was listening to the comments of other people in the audience during the break, I noticed some (who did not know the comics) were having a hard time following some elements of the plot (for instance the identity of the three women that were taking care of the child dampyr), probably the result of having to condense a very complicated story into a movie and get into action without too much artificial "explanation".

The other thing (and that was really unnecessary) is how they gifted the dampyr with the super-human power of flying around in the final scene. Part of the nice thing about the dampyr character(s) is that they are (almost) normal humans fighting enemies that are much stronger than they are, and that final scene spoiled it a bit.

The movie is entertaing , acting was ok , good sometimes . Storyline good Spoiler : best part for me is that his father is using him as a weapon against other vampires The oart that i didnt like is feminism even with vampires , come on And some.charters were cliche ( typical villian ) like the coward soldier The movie is a solid low budget movie for those who like superpowers and vampires But it is not a typical vamire movie , very little blood And definitly it is not a horror movie I recomend this movie to watch at home DVD or on line not to watch it at cinema ( in my opinion ) Overall i give the movie 7/10.

Dampyr lacks some money for makeup, costumes, special effects, so certain movie fans may scorn it. Superficiality is not my problem, though, as the story is solid:

In a modern world, reminding of the Russia-Ukraine War, soldiers stumble into a nest of vampires and their solution is force-recruiting a fraudulent (scammer) vampire hunter to save them.

The vampire hunter is born a Dampyr, a half-vampire who herein is more akin to an anti-vampire, as his blood can dissolve them like the holy water of older movies.

And, that is what his father, a vampire master losing against another vampire master (Lord of the Night) had intended: Unleashing the Dampyr at risk of self-destruction (father), so to thwart the triumph of his arch-enemy kinda competition.

The actors invest efforts to play their roles well, and while the story is not superb, it offers us watchers the chance to invest into an extension, a sequel.

We get a typical, cheap, and cliche vampire story, but with a background that can be extended. We get the notions of redemption, coexistence, and friendship (or allies of convenience & by necessity), when a mortal soldier, the Dampyr, and a vampire woman team-up to stop the tyrant Lord of the Night from enslaving them or drinking their blood.

In the last 25 years few vampire movies did any better, and this one did not pester with LGBTQ-pleasing or racial-baiting at all. It IS a bit slow, though, as watching at 100% playback speed still had boring moments.

If fans fund the sequel better, we can expect a 8.5 stars in story, action, vampire-authenticity, and character development. Kudos!

I hadn't read the popular Italian comic series this movie's based on, but I figured I had an easy watch on my hands- it's only a vampire movie, after all.

Yet there are also emotional complexities to the story; a child forced into adulthood, in a war-torn world - a man who goes from cynical shyster, using local's superstitions to make a living- to understanding that there's more to him, & to life- thus growing into both a capable warrior, & a better man - & the seething resentment Tesla has for her master, Gorka- having been given no choice in being turned- & she seems to have had no option but to serve him, up to this point: sires & progeny do not appear to have the same kind of familial (or romantic) bond an audience might have come to expect, from other offerings of the genre.

There's also less romanticism in the setting (the war-torn Balkans, of the 90's), & in the relationships between humans & vampires in this story- but it's not quite black & white; while Gorka & the majority of vampires have no regard for humans- however recently they were turned, & little more for his vampiric progeny - Draka's relationship with his dampyr son (&- according to what I've since read- humans) is a tad more complex, & yet- Draka, like Gorka is also a vampire - it will be interesting to see a sequel tackle that dichotomy...

One can also hope that a sequel can address at some point, the biggest questions I had: if he was taken by the three witches, did they not raise him, too? Did they not teach him what he was? He treats being a 'dampyr' as a grift to scam people, 'til he realises that he actually *is* one- & it comes as a shock to him.

That was something I feel like I missed scenes or conversations of- Harlan speaks very, very little about his upbringing- so did they immediately dump him at an orphanage, or did they do a 'Sleeping Beauty' with him, & just raised him in total ignorance of his heritage?

I'm also curious if they will make further appearances in Harlan's journey.

But the bigger questions; did Draka *know* what his relationship with a human could create?

Did he actually *intend* to create a dampyr? I feel like he must have.

Did he intend to raise his child? How - given he's half-human?

And why- when he has the ability to kill vampires? Did he want a weapon against other vampire lords?

Where does Draka fit in the hierarchy of this universe's vampire society? What does him having dampyr offspring mean for- & to- him?

Does he have 'political' motivations for wanting a relationship with Harlan?

Will his friendship with the vampire Tesla affect his potential relationship with his father?

Are there other dampyrs in this universe? What relationship do they have- if any, with their parents?

I hope to see more exploration of this world...

7.5/ 10.

Well, "Dampyr" works in the best way because its male leading character is a protagonist and its female leading character is a villainess who changed her mind and joined good guys.

They rest is really really really bad in the movie. No logic, no reality, no history, no reasons, no mercy, no point in any of plans (for example: killing vampires just because you know where they live? Seriously? What if they are not bloodthirsty monsters, what if they are vegetarians or at least use clone blood? Oh, right, there's s book which says they are bad *facepalm*).

No common sense. Why does vampire lady join the good guys first of all? They had captured her and some of them saved her from the rest of the troops later. How did they capture her? She was ordered to stay and spy. Why didn't she play hide and seek to spy but let them to capture her? That is the million dollar question.

May contain spoilers!

I get the underworld and Dracula Untold vibe.

I hope they make a couple more be nice to have a trilogy.

Its exciting and thrilling and deserves a follow up movie at least. I want to see Harlan become his true form.

I also want to see more fight scenes!

I want to know more about the 3 witches!

How his father and mother met, we know she's a witch does that mean Harlan has hybrid of powers?

Overall this movie was fun to watch, didn't expect much but it took me by surprise a strong 7/10 I gave a 10 star review to help give it the rating it truly deserves. I really hope they make a sequel.