TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Perception_de_Ambiguity Patrick M. Griffith may very well be the great unsung hero of cinema. The amazing command over tone in the incredibly atmospheric 'Vampire Journals' isn't solely but certainly substantially thanks to his impeccable supervising sound editing work. But at least in the industry his contribution seems to be valued, his involvement in approximately 200 productions in the 90's alone seem to be a testament to that. Not to discredit the other artists of this production, though, because this is definitely the best film I've seen in which M. Griffith had his mixer console regulating hands in.'Vampire Journals' very much is a story of vampires in which mortals mostly play the role of servants and nuisances, humans are a state of being that has to be overcome, what they certainly are not is a threat nor are they of big relevance in this film.The visuals are better shown than talked about. They are very consistent throughout, their aim is less to wow the viewer than to engulf him and to make him succumb to its Gothic temptation. It's the film's greatest strength as well as its greatest weakness because it can be straining to be immersed in it for its full running time. But this tells you that 'Vampire Journals' is a film without great faults, even the acting is surprisingly good for this type of production.Naturally there is a lot of mist in this film, it's even used indoors but it's used delicately to enhance the light. You never ask yourself: "Why is it so foggy inside the mansion?" It more looks like dust through which the light has to fight its way which fits the material perfectly. Like I said, the visuals don't aim to impress but the relatively simple special effect of over-sized, seemingly bodiless shadows traveling alongside house facades certainly make for some striking moments in the film.The man in the lead role is an obvious choice to play an elegant Gothic type of vampire but why not if he fits it so very well. Which brings me to a potential complaint, the vampires look too obvious (even their pointy teeth are on display at all times), any human being would immediate notice that something is off with them, but that's just it, vampires secretly are the master race, so it fits into the overall concept that they have no great need to conceal themselves. It's not something that is of great relevance to the story at any point anyway.

Paul Andrews Vampire Journals is set in some unnamed Eastern European country where a Vampire named Zachary (David Gunn) decides to take in some culture & spend a night at a classical concert, there he notices master Vampire Ash (Jonathon Morris) who seems to be taking an unhealthy shine to pianist Sofia Christopher (Kristen Cerre). The next day & Sofia is contacted by a woman named Iris (Starr Andreef) who works for Ash & owns a nightclub called 'Club Muse' & says that Ash wants her to play for him in a private concert which Sofia agrees to. Ash wants to turn Sofia into his Vampire bride while bitter Vampire hunter Zachary wants to kill him & all of his kind...This American Romanian co-production was written & directed by Ted Nicolaou was produced by Charles Band & his Full Moon companies responsible for all manner of low budgeted horror film crap over the years. The script takes itself very seriously & there's lots of brooding silly sounding dialogue that I presume is meant to be Gothic & compliment the look of the film. It's also quite noticeable how much Vampire Journals reminded me of Interview with the Vampire (1994) in terms of the way it looks & feels. The character's are poor clichés, the main villainous Vampire who falls in love with a beautiful woman, the Vampire who hates his kind & has set out to destroy them all along with the human followers who do the Vampires bidding during the daytime. It's all rather predictable, it's all rather slow & pedestrian & there's too much silly talk in it. The story itself is threadbare to say the least, it's mostly just people walking around & talking about things which don't matter a whole lot. If your a die hard Vampire flick fan then you'll probably lap this up as, well it's got Vampires in it but anyone looking for an effective horror flick will surely be disappointed at the dull bland nature of this film & a lack of a decent engaging story.I'll give Vampire Journals credit where it deserves it because it looks fabulous, the lighting, the Gothic sets, costumes & production design are very impressive & atmospheric. The only problem is the entire film is set in the same building so there's not much variety. The opening credit's play over very atmospheric & evocative shots of a snow covered graveyard with large stone statues, crypt's & headstones & the film continues with a nice rich, Gothic look running throughout it. There's not much gore here, there are some bitten necks, some splashed around blood & a couple of good looking decapitations. There's some female nudity as well if that sort of thing interests you.Technically the film looks very nice with good visuals & it's well shot. Filmed on location in Bucharest in Romania to keep the cost down even further & as such there are also lots of unpronounceable names both in front & behind the camera. Those living outside the UK probably won't know him but for those living here yes that is the same Jonathon Morris who appeared in the comedy series Bread (1986 - 1991) as Adrian Boswell & he is terrible in this. He will forever be remembered in the UK as 'that guy who was in Bread' & for little else. The rest of the cast are alright but nothing outstanding.Vampire Journals is much better than the usual Full Moon horror flick & looks surprisingly good but the story isn't great & there's not a lot going on. Better than expected but still nothing more than average when all said & done.

José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) Underrated Director Ted Nicolau, a Full Moon entertainment veteran, made a step forward in his vampire universe with this movie that sadly has been overlooked as time goes by. "Vampire Journals" is probably the best movie produced by Full Moon, and easily ranks among the best vampire movies ever.The movie tells the story of Zachary (played by David Gunn), a vampire who has vowed to exterminate as many of his specie as he can since his life as one of the undead has given him nothing but tragedies. In his hunting, he finds Ash (Jonathon Morris), a vampire master who controls a club and loves the music. Things get complicated when both of them fall in love with a beautiful pianist named Sofia (Kirsten Cerre).The most remarkable feature of the movie, is the perfect combination of camera-work, edition and music to create a Gothic feeling that remains through the movie, making it look as a beautiful canvas despite its low budget. Every visual aspect of the movie is of a supernatural beauty, as if the locations were a character too.Ted Nicolau creates a superb movie that improves in all aspects what he had already accomplished with his other vampire movies, the "Subspecies" series. The SFX are great for the budget and never seem out of place, the movie retains that Gothic surreal feeling without sacrificing anything.The acting is really good, although nothing special. David Gunn carries the film with grace but is Jonathon Morris who steals the show as the vampire Ash. Worth to mention is the performance of the beautiful Ilinca Goia, who in her limited screen time captures the attention of the viewer not only with her looks, but her performance as well.Of course, nothing is perfect, the movie keeps that "low-budget" feeling that most of the 90s Full Moon movies carried, but is admirable the effort of Nicolau to make the most of what he got. Also, the script feels too short, leaving the audience wanting to see more of this marvelous Gothic universe. Indeed, the movie demands a prequel and a sequel in order to have the story fully developed.To summarize, this movie was a pleasant surprise, as it is a worthy addition to every fan of the vampire sub-genre. An outstanding effort by director Ted Nicolau. Best Full Moon picture ever. 8.5/10

pippa-7 I gave this a 2 simply because I enjoyed looking at the sets in the movie, and that was pretty much it. There was about one joke in the film that made me laugh, and everything else I found funny because it was so ridiculous.This is a cheap rip off of "Interview with the Vampire" as in: thriving in eternity, basking in immortality control freak and mean vamp teases the woe-is-me, I will never be human again pathetic vamp. The crucial differences here are that "Interview with the Vampire" is a very respectable film whilst "Journals" looks like something a bunch of high schoolers binded together for a school play.Zachary (Gunn) is a self-pitying guiltaholic who is travelling the world on a quest of revenge. Killing humans depresses him but killing other vampires doesn't phase him, mind you, as he is self loathing and feels no loyalty to his kind anymore. In the beginning, you see another vampire named Ash (Morris) that looks like a drugged, washed up rock star old man, kill Zachary's female companion, setting Zachary off on his journey to find Ash and claim his vengeance by killing him and all of his offspring.Predictability ensues. Zachary finds Ash, but a woman gets in the way, the woman both of the vampires want, a repetition of their last dilemma except this time Zachary is determined not to lose.You can't take this movie seriously at all, but it's almost one of those "so bad it's almost good" movies that you can only bear to watch once. The acting is very cliché, the dialogue is corny, the plot isn't that interesting, and the characters you like are the schemers that have it in for the ones who are supposed to be the heroes of the movie. If you're a patient person I suggest watching it if you're intoxicated and you have absolutely nothing else to watch and it's a dire emergency.But like I said, the sets are cool.