Tale of a Vampire

When a movie begins with a quote from Edgar Allen Poe's "Annabel Lee" the audience should be prepared to suffer. After all, the poem is about the tragic death of the narrator's beloved and the lonlieness and loss he feels. Those looking for fangs and claws, and an allergy to sunlight, should look elsewhere. This vampire is a different type of monster.

The story itself can be considered as a simple one: a vampire meets a woman bearing the face of long lost love and falls in love again, only to have a hunter seeking vengeance on him tear them apart.
Right away the viewer is introduced to the vampire Alex and the first scene, where a black cat enters his room and he tears its throat open, is both elegant and brutal. He is a regular at a library that offers a closed off, archaic, atmosphere. It is here that he researches specific texts for mention of a woman named Virginia, whom he had met as a young girl ages before and who is the love he has lost. Anne, who bears a striking resemblance to this woman, is sent a letter by a mysterious figure and begins to work at the library. The two connect and passion grows between them. But a happy ending is not to be. Virginia's husband Edgar, who is also a vampire, has set a trap for Alex and Anne. For his wife's betrayal he has entombed her in the sea and stalks Alex, running any peace he could ever have. Although Alex does kill Edgar in the end, it is Anne who has paid the ugly price.
The last scene, as Alex begs her to wake, is heartrending.

Tale of a Vampire is very precise, from the dialogue to the action scenes and even the atmosphere. It wants you to feel a certain way at a certain time and, unfortunately, can have slow development at times. However slow, and even if it can be classified as more of suspense drama than a horror film, there are some truly horrific parts. One of the strongest of these is when Anne and Alex are together, she cuts herself, he licks the blood from her finger, and falls into a violent attack fantasy reminiscent of a rape. Powerful. Disturbing.
The true strength of this movie lies in Julian Sands and his performance as the vampire Alex. He is perfect at making the reader feel for him and is such an underated actor! There are scenes where he does little, but it is the nuances of his eyes, the tilt of his head, and the way he stares that creates more of an impact than if he sprouted fangs and snarled at the viewer. He is so polite and courteous, even when he kills.

Before there was Twilight, before there was the Vampire Diaries, there was Tale of a Vampire.

         Image found through Google search at this address: 
    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YENGN8NML._SL500_AA300_.jpg


The movie can be bought or rented through itunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/tale-of-a-vampire/id290383276