Ferat Vampire — Ferat Vampire( Blu Ray)
Now here’s a film with an interesting/ unique concept-could a car run on human blood?. Ferat Vampire is an early 80’s Czech film which sits somewhere between conspiracy thriller, dark comedy, PR satire, and body horror. Here, from the fine folks at Severin, is a Blu-ray release of the film, featuring an HD print and around five hours of extras.
Ferat Vampire ( Upír z Feratu) is from the year 1982. It was directed/co-written by Kezmarok, Slovakia born Juraj Herz, who is seen as one of the key/ important directors in the Czech New Wave. He had twenty-six feature-length credits to his name. These went from surreal horror film The Cremator (1969), which followed a demented cremator in WW2, onto gothic melodrama/parody Morgiana (1972), through to mafioso crime comedy Bulldogs And Cherries (1981).
After the rapidly turning, surreal painting-based credits, we open on the road- where we meet our protagonist, middle-aged & large glasses wearing Dr Marek(Jirí Menzel), he’s in an ambulance driven by his younger female companion Mima(Dagmar Havlová). They have got a call out in the countryside- but on their way, they encounter a black, red-striped sports car- this causes a lorry to crash, spilling its fruit load across the road.
The pair follow the car, which initially avoids them- but in time it pulls over, inside is a female driver, who is complaining of a very bruised foot. Mima jumps in to see if it be caused by one of the pedals, to confirm the accelerator has an odd raise on it. Then the sports car drives off, and as the ambulance rounds the bend, they see the car has gone off the road- with a strange ambulance appearing from nowhere, to scoop the driver up.
We find out next that Mima used to be a race car driver, and very much pines to get back to it. She is approached by Ferat, a rather mysterious company that has built the sports car, to be a new driver.
This and the approach of bearded/mack wearing/ conspiracy focused Dr. Kaplank(Jan Schmid) gets Dr. Marek investigating. As he becomes more and more sure that the car is running on human blood that is being drained from the foot of the driver. He starts racing against time, so that Mima doesn’t become its next victim.
The film's conspiracy thriller element is well realised, with a sense of growing mystery & paranoia. With the dark humour, PR satire, and body horror elements being fairly low-key, though we do get a scene where a character is seemingly slicing into the bonnet & peeling back to reveal red pulp matter underneath.
It’s most certainly a film that keeps its mystery very much alive throughout, with no real reveal or hard & fast resolve coming. I’ve now seen a few of Juraj Herz's films, and Ferat Vampire is rather atypical, as it’s set in the present time, and not a period set affair. Though like all of his works, it’s a well-composed and realised film, giving an original twist to its key/ chosen genre.
I’m reviewing the Ltd slipcase version of the release, and I’d say it’s most certainly worth the upgrade. As we get a neat hard case slip- with a coloured cartoon drawing of a car- with vamp teeth, a tongue, and a hand coming out of the front. Also included in this version is a plush/ colourfully sixty-four page inlay booklet- taking in an intro, a write-up regarding the author of the original short story, the translated original story, set photos, and archive docs relating to the film's production
On the disc itself, we get an HD scan of the film- this looks excellent throughout- with great depth of picture clarity, and well-defined colours. The English subs are easy to read, with an even balance between the dialogue and score.
Extras-wise, we get a good chunk of things, taking in five plus hours of new & archive extras. First off, we have a commentary track with Film Historian Michael Brooke- as we’ve come to expect with Mr Brooke, we get a wonderfully researched and informed track, which I’ll most certainly be returning to down the line. He begins by talking about the witty wordplay of the original Czech title, moving on to comment on the opening credits paintings. He points out locations in Prague in the opening scenes. He gives in-depth bios of both actor Jirí Menzel and director Juraj Herz. We get quotes from Herz’s autobiography regarding the film to hand. We find out the hospital shots were in a real hospital. We find out how the film varied from the original short story, 1962’s Vampire Ltd by Josef Nesvadba. Later on, he discusses the manipulations of characters in the film and the unfolding of the plot's mystery. He points out other notable actors and other Prague locations. We find out that elements of the film were shot at a real car tournament, and that the car used in the picture clocked one thousand miles during shooting.
Otherwise, on the new side, we have: A Person Undergoing A Strange Sequence Of Events ( 14.26) interview with actress Jana Brezková. Vampires Ltd (12.39) interview with Screenwriter Jan Fleischer on adapting the short story into the film. Eat Up The Road(19.35) Video Essay By Filmmaker Stephen Broomer regarding UPĺR Z FERATU and The Legend Of The Blood Car
On the archive side, we have The Legend Of The Blood Car- interviews with director Juraj Herz and actors Jana Brezková and Vít Olmer. The Iron Vampire – Interview with Auto/Prototype Engineer Stanislav Cinkl. Ferat Vampire: Close-Up – A look at the Škoda prototype that was used in the film. Strange Airlines (59 mins) – 1992 Czech TV Movie based on Vampire Ltd. Author Josef Nesvadba's 1966 Short Story Mordair, Starring Czech Actress Jana Brejchová.
In conclusion, Ferat Vampire is a very one-off/distinctive creation, where conspiracy thriller, dark comedy, PR satire, and body horror meet. Severin has done a wonderful job with this reissue- with a lovely scan, and a bulging selection of extras.