Director: George A. Romero
Year: 1977
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
Arriving in Pittsburgh, a young man visiting his cousin realizes that his vampire nature is continually getting the better of him as he stalks the residents of his small town and finally forces those around him to put him away for good before his rampage puts the family in danger.
Review:
For the most part, this one is quite an unconventional and troublesome effort. Most of the film's problems actually center around the fact that the change done to the central figure brings about plenty of rather troubling inquiries. By shifting away from the traditional form of the bloodsucker who now doesn't need piercing fangs to drain his victims and can't pass the curse on like a transmitted disease, much of the fear is taken completely out of the main character, who now comes off merely like a nominal psychopath. Drugging people and using razors to slice them open so he can feed are tactics that just don't in the slightest appear to induce fear or scares in the main lead, and since this is the attack method for the film, it leaves so many of the scenes without any kind of tension that usually appears in the genre's efforts.
The fear mainly comes from his antics and the fact that he's going around on the prowl, but that doesn't generate as much as the more clichéd elements do, which is why those clichés are often featured, since the behavioral changes don't really make this feel like a true horror film. That also reduces the actual stalking scenes to an incredibly tired and laughable tactic of him hitting and running away, which is completely against the normal vampire rules of attack that the extended nature of these scenes is caused merely by the inclusion of such behavioral changes. Likewise, there's also the fact that the film's desire to spend a vast majority of time on the home life between the family, where everyone's continually trying to get through their lives without being interrupted by his condition, makes for some really bland and boring scenes, such as the family dinners or scenes of him out delivering meals from his work, that are just so dull and bland.
They're just so uninteresting that there's little about these that raises the film up into any kind of watchable status, as so little of the film really strikes a chord, even the other subplots such as the affair with the housewife or his cousins' desire to start her own life, which take up so much of the film. With so few attacks here to really generate any kind of interest, the film is instead forced to try a series of incredibly artistic and rather bland tendencies to try to generate interest in between these segments, either by going for a series of haunting black-and-white flashbacks to silent sequences showing him at work or preparing to go out, which injects some life into the film but really highlights how few scenes of him attacking others there actually are in the film.
Those, though, are where the film actually works the best by providing this with so many of its original moments. The opening action-packed attack on the train is rather chilling, with the darkened stalking, the brawl in the car, and the eventual aftermath of what happens, giving this a strong opening. The lengthy attack on the cheating couple is rather enjoyable, despite the length, because of his attack style, and the finale in the shop makes for a nice conclusion, which is rather frenetic and ends on a fine note. It does get points for creativity, but that's about all it has going for it.
Overview: */5
A different overall vampire tale that doesn't mean it's good, this is more of an experimental take on the genre that doesn't work as often as it thinks it does and remains more of a struggling watch than anything. This is really for those who are intrigued by the concept or style attempted here or who are curious about it, while most others out there should heed extreme caution.
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