Le Vourdalak: a French Gothic tale by Adrien Beau (trailer)
The filmmaker is trying the bet of a vampire film made in France.
The Vourdalak is the first feature film directed by Adrien Beauwho in 2009 made a short film reworking the tale of The little Mermaid (are we holding here our French Robert Eggers?). The film is inspired by the short story by Alexis Tolstoy The Vourdalak Familypublished in 1884, thirteen years before the famous Dracula by Bram Stoker.
A patriarch goes to war and warns his children: “Wait for me six days. If at the end of these six days I have not returned, say a prayer in my memory because I will be killed in combat… But if ever, which God forbid, I return after six days have passed, I order you not to don’t let me in, whatever I say or do, because I would be nothing more than a cursed Vourdalak”.
The trailer presents us with an independent film deliberately playing on the expressionist codes of gothic films (like the Nosferatu by Murnau dating from 1922) but also on the craftsmanship which makes the charm of the B series of the 60s and 70s. The figure of the vampire has experienced a form of constancy in cinema, from the first silent works, to its democratization as a pop figure in blockbusters like Twilight or the recent Renfield.
Adrien Beau features an eclectic cast including Vassili Schneider, the little brother of Niels and Alyosha. The filmmaker takes on the challenge of reappropriating this mythical monster and implanting it in the French cinematographic landscape. Vassili Schneider is accompanied by Ariane Labed (The Souvenir), Kacey Mottet-Klein (The event) And Gregoire Colin (With love and determination).
The Vourdalak will be released at the perfect time, for Halloween, on October 25, 2023 in theaters.
