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Vampires seem to be hot again, and El Conde is part of an ongoing vampire
revival in the media. This film is one of the trilogy of recent films that were
released this year featuring vampires (The other two were
Renfield
and Last Voyage of Demeter), and it’s by far the artiest and the most satisfying
one. Also, a new remake of Nosferatu is coming up (perhaps this year) by Robert
Eggers, the talented director of The Witch and the
The Lighthouse. Coming later will
be Feed which is based on the Irish version of the vampire legend and a
streaming remake of Salem’s Lot.
Also, comic fans might have also noticed that Marvel has been featuring their
version of Dracula
regularly in the Blade comic, and Marv Wolfman is writing a What If? issue
revolving around Tomb of
Dracula asking what would happen if Dracula turned Blade into a total
vampire. In addition,
Dracula is appearing in the Vampirella mini-series the Unholy, and there is also
the current Skybound
series of comics that will adapt classic Universal Monster films, and the first
one (you guessed it) revolves around Dracula and it’s called Universal Monsters:
Dracula. Plus, Dark Horse is putting out Mortal Terror, a re-imagining of the
original Dracula novel.
The unusual new black and white Indy film that recently landed on the Netflix
top 10 list called El Conde
which is Spanish for “the count” is also about vampires. This fascinating film
was made by Pablo Larraine
who is best known for directing two slickly effective big budget bio-pic's which
served as showcases for
the fine acting skills of its two female actors playing well known historical
figures (Natalie Portman as
Jackie in 2016 and Kristin Stewart as Prince Diana in Spencer in 2021). Lesser
known but just as
impressive was Larraine’s Neruda (2016) which featured Luis Genco as the late,
great Chilean poet (he
was also immortalized in the Italian film Il Postino). Lorraine’s new film is
also quasi historical but there
is a twist.
El Conde can be seen as being part of a recent trend in both literature and film
which mashes together
real history with the horror genre. Other examples include
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies, and Ring Shout which adds demonic KKK members to the
basic plot of Birth of a
Nation and many others. They may sound terrible, but these films and books were
better than you
might think. The novels were sometimes interesting because they frequently
parodied the style of the
classics they were emulating.
The film was warmly received at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival
where it received a Golden
Lion nomination, and it also won an award at the same festival for best
screenplay. El Conte was
released on September 15, 2023, four days after the 50th anniversary of the coup
d’état that brought
Pinochet to power in 1973.
El Conde is an atmospheric and oddly compelling film that uses a real historical
figure as the center of a
fictional supernatural narrative. The basic premise is that Chilean dictator,
Augusto Pinochet is an
immortal vampire who has been around for hundreds of years creating terror
through the ages. In the
film he is shown being present at important historical events such as the French
Revolution and the
Reign of Terror
The approach taken to create historically grounded horror reminded me a bit of
the vampire Lestat
novels and Interview with a Vampire film by Neil Jordan or the flashbacks in the
Angel TV series which
also often took place in the same time periods.
For those who aren’t history buffs Pioche was a terrible US backed dictator who
deposed the
democratically elected Salvador Allende. He was known for his wanton brutality
and the high body
count during his reign. Over 3000 people were killed in his country in his
country and his savagery
rivaled that of Vlad Tepes. There are scenes in the film that recreate the
real-life scenes of dozens of
bodies of his victims he had killed being thrown into deep pits.
The film uses the horror format as a means of social commentary from a leftist
standpoint and it
repeatedly draws parallels between vampires that kill the poor for blood with
the right-wing politicians
that brutalizes the working class particularly the torture loving graduates of
the US run School of
Americas. The film implies that real life dictators and politicians might be
worse than fictional vampires.
The film is narrated by a familiar and sinister voice (hint she is a vampire
version of a well-known female
right-wing politician) who fills us in Pinochle’s back story. But when we move
to the present-day
Pinochet who has faked his death many times, He has become bored with life and
wants to permanently
shuffle off the mortal coil. While his family squabble over the inheritance, he
begins an affair with his
comely young accountant, Carmen (she also is a nun) played by Paula Luchsinger,
and his wife (who was
never turned unto a vamp) is surprisingly not too concerned or upset. Maybe they
have a political
marriage.
Unfortunately, the film is rather uneven. It starts with some of the most
effective visual scenes including
Pinoche’s first flight as a vampire (he actually looks more like he’s gliding),
his betrayal of King Louis, and
even the beheading of Marie Antoinette (Pinoche sneaks back later and licks the
blood off the
guillotine).
But there are some talky and rather boring sequences in the middle of the film
that develop the plot,
but fail to engage this viewer, but the film does liven up a bit later. I hope
that this unique hybrid film
finds an audience, but I fear that it might be too bloody for some art film
aficionados and too slow
moving for traditional horror fans.
.
El Conte is more of a horrific art film than a pure horror or traditional
vampire film and with its gently
poetic shots of vampire flight and its gorgeous black and white cinematography
it has more in common
with Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire than Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s much more
serious, adult, and
ambitious than most vampire films.
In the end, this is a fine but not great blending of horror, dark comedy and
that gets more points for its
ambition than its actual execution. It should please genre fans looking for
something that looks new and
original, but I’m not sure how long viewers will remember the actual story or
movie.
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