VAMPIRE DIARY

Holly (Morven Macbeth) wanders into a Goth nightclub with her video camera, with the intention of making a documentary on the cult phenomenon that is "weekend vampires" (people who get off on dressing in black and cutting themselves, "exchanging" blood - that is, allowing their partners to drink from their superficial wounds for sexual kicks).

Holly is introduced to a small group of would-be bloodsuckers, which includes the sexy Haze (Kate Sissons), womanising Brad (Justin McDonald), nice but dim Adam (Jamie King) and quite frankly ludicrous Eddie (Keith-Lee Castle - the Count in TV's "Young Dracula!").

While filming their antics on the dancefloor, Holly notices the solitary figure of Vicky (Anna Walton) at the other side of the club. Vicky is filming Holly on another camcorder.

At the end of the evening, the gang go round Holly's house to continue drinking. Eddie picks Vicky up and takes her along. When Holly tires she kicks the group out and begins to unwind … unaware that the enigmatic Vicky has stayed behind to film her.

Absurdly, Vicky begins to live with Holly from that moment on. Holly interviews Vicky on camera during the day, quizzing her on her mock-vampire lifestyle. In return, she gives Vicky somewhere to crash on a night. Even though Vicky continually sneaks out at night after caking herself in fresh Goth make-up …

When Eddie's corpse is found drained of blood, Holly interviews his friends. Understandably they are a little sad, and ever so slightly scared. This leads to everyone piling round Holly's house again to get drunk and toast their departed mate. As the evening ends, Holly retires to bed and Vicky follows. Yes, the two girls finally get it on.

Holly and Vicky's relationship blossoms from there - visually represented by a montage of sex, walks through the park and so on. But, as happy as they seem as a couple, Vicky still appears to be forlorn at heart. The trouble is, she won't open up and tell Holly what's wrong.

But it all comes out in the wash when Vicky goes out one night and Brad is announced as missing the following morning. Smelling a rat, Holly forces the truth out of Vicky - she's a real vampire! Holly not only stands by Vicky, but also helps her dispose of Brad's body.

So, as Haze and Adam (and the police) grow ever more suspicious of their acquaintances, Holly desperately tries to steer her lover off vampirism (attempting to train her to eat rare steak, would you believe). When all else fails, Holly becomes complicit in helping Vicky to acquire - and disperse of - victims.

But when Holly begins to have serious doubts about her actions, Vicky has one more bombshell to land on her …

VAMPIRE DIARY is frequently silly, as the above synopsis no doubt testifies. Some of it is so implausible that it's frankly banal. But it's played out with such poe-faced commitment that in never comes across as unintentionally amusing - it's surprisingly downbeat and melancholic, given that this is essentially a lesbian vampire film with modern trappings.

The early scenes in the Goth club are embarrassingly naïve and clichéd. In an apparent - and laughable - attempt at shocking us, the nightclub scenes cram all the sex, drugs, booze, music, heavy eyeliner and scantily-clad nubiles cavorting provocatively in cages, that they can. Perhaps a middle-aged couple that hire this as a blind rental may gasp at such fare. Anyone else will roll their eyes at the pretentious and ironic innocuous nature of such outdated stereotyping.

Aside from those scenes, some of the sillier plot points, and a very uneven bunch of performances, VAMPIRE DIARY ultimately works on some level due to it's sustained gloomy atmosphere and brooding, well-composed visuals (Sheppey's never looked like this, I'll bet). It's no surprise that among the four awards the film won at the Milan International Film Festival were gongs for Best Editing and Best Cinematography.

One of the other awards the film won was for Best Actress. Walton does indeed hold court very well and her performance as a regretful vampire (sort of like a female MARTIN - though let's let the comparisons to Romero's masterpiece end there) is enough to keep you watching until the end credits. Well, it's her performance or her body, one or the other …

The bloodshed is a little amateurish in execution and there's not a great deal of it offered. The sex is unexpectedly tame too - Larraz's VAMPYRES has nothing to fear. But as stated above VAMPIRE DIARY becomes more preoccupied with its air of longing and melancholy, which is not a bad move given the obvious low budget.

Finally, for any self-respecting Goths out there, it's worth noting that the film comes fully equipped with a soundtrack featuring the likes of Fields of the Nephilim, Swarf, Interlock and Rita Lynch. It's like a Whitby festival condensed into an erotic horror film.

The film is presented uncut in anamorphic 1.78:1. Due to the two different cameras used in the film (90% of the footage is as-seen through the eyes of either Holly or Vicky's camcorders), the image quality continually differs. It looks like one camera is perhaps HD Video, with the other being Mini-DV. At times the picture is exceptionally crisp and vivid, while at others it's darker and grainier. The look is intentional though and suits the documentary style of the film. Overall, it's a solid transfer.

English audio is available in 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Both options offer a consistent and problem-free playback.

A nice animated main menu gives way to a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 6 chapters.

The most substantial extra on the disc is a 14-minute Making Of documentary. This is a slickly produced featurette made up of the usual mixture of clips from the film and behind-the-scenes footage, along with on-set interviews with various cast and crewmembers.

Elsewhere we get the original trailer (2 minutes in length), plus trailers for a plethora of Peccadillo titles: 4:30; THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS; TRANSYLVANIA; SURVEILLANCE; NUMBER ONE LONGING NUMBER TWO REGRET; BEYOND HATRED; BE WITH ME; ONE DAY IN EUROPE; COCKLES AND MUSCLES and GRAND ECOLE.

VAMPIRE DIARY is perhaps a little too light on the sex and gore to truly imprint itself on the minds of hardcore horror fans. But as a diversion while you're hanging around for something better to come along, it fills a gap. Well-edited and photographed, and with the bonus of the sultry Walton lighting up the screen (although it must be said, she looks better in the photo of her on the front cover), there's certainly enough to recommend this as a rent, if perhaps not a buy.

Review by Stuart Willis