150 Word Review: 'The Vourdalak' (2023)
French frights
A powdered 18th-century fop on his way to Paris is attacked by bandits in Eastern Europe and forced to beg a family for help. Yikes: he’ll regret that.
The Vourdalak is a haunting, whimsical French-language folk tale directed by Adrien Beau about a blood-sucking monster based on a book by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Leo's second cousin. Tolstoy's tome came out fifty years before Stoker's.
Is this a vampire movie? Yes and no. The Vourdalak is a zombie who feeds on those they loved when alive. This undead creature is portrayed by a shockingly effective, corpse-like puppet with sleepy eyes, spindly claws, and lips pulled back over large teeth. The movie delights in gothic imagery—blood, candles, and shadows. Kacey Mottet Klein is dainty and heroic as the courtier. I do love a dandy in danger. Ariane Labed is sharp-edged and mournful as a woman whose father is slowly eating his children.