Twilight? Pah. This is a vampire thriller that proves there is still life in the old corpse yet. It’s stylish, pacy, looks great and gets on with the story in a thoroughly enjoyable way.
Set in Berlin, it starts with some dramatic footage of the wall coming down. That means of course that rampant capitalism replaces the old systems, and that means greed and thirst.
Vampires Louise (Nina Hoss), Charlotte (Jennifer Ulrich) and Nora (Anna Fischer) arrive in Berlin after attacking the passengers of an airplane a nod to Nosferatu. Louise is looking for the love of her life, and may just have found her in the shape of pickpocket Lena (Karoline Herfurth).
Lena joins the trio of vampires, but when they attack a group of criminals, the police department investigates the case and hunt them down. However Lena falls for the cop in charge of the case, the handsome Tom.
It’s all very stylishly done, with great use of Berlin locations, especially a water park where the vampire gang lure a couple of cops to their death. Berlin is portrayed as a model of capitalism on the surface and a seething writing mass of decadence underneath. The vampire gang is very sexy, and Lena’s transformation from street urchin to uber-vamp is eye-popping. The acting is top notch, will all of the cast taking things very seriously, and it has a gloss and sheen to it that is very appealing.
Overall verdict: For vampire fans who are fed up with the drippy Twilight saga this offers something much more gritty and stylish, and it’s a pacy tale too. Recommended.
Special Features:
Trailer
Reviewer: Mike Martin