Sheridan Le Fanu is sometimes called “the Irish Poe.” He was a contemporary of Poe but his name doesn’t bear the same cultural cachet. He wrote a number of stories that are classified as “horror” in today’s genre settings, and one of the most famous is Carmilla, known as the lesbian vampire story. Le Fanu didn’t use that terminology himself, that I know of, but Carmilla is a vampire and she does have fondness for other females. I’ve watched a few lesbian vampire movies (I mentioned Theresa & Allison recently), since they give a distinctive taste to the lore. I don’t generally research the free movies I watch beforehand, so when I saw The Carmilla Movie, I figured it was likely based on Le Fanu (it is) but I didn’t realize that it was a follow-up to a web series with the same characters. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty good story.
Set in the modern day, with a cast of young people doing things for a living that weren’t options when I was growing up (internet content provider, starting a paranormal investigation business—I was laughed out of school for admitting I was interested in this stuff before the X-Files made it mainstream), the film updates Le Fanu’s story. Carmilla has become human and has a girlfriend. But then Carm starts to revert to vampire status. (Fortunately there’s soy-based blood for her to drink—did I mention this is comedy horror?) Although this is comedy horror, it’s not a silly story. There are plenty of humorous asides, but you still feel for the characters and want them to overcome the evil they face. Here that evil is a past that has to be rectified.
I found The Carmilla Movie to be intelligent and fun. There are some genuine horror elements to it, and I suspect that being familiar with the web series might help answer a few head-scratchers for us non-initiated. In general it seems that such independent films as this serve to raise the bar on movies as a whole. The flip side is, however, that you can’t easily tell if a movie is a studio release or a television movie, or even a web movie without doing some research ahead of time. Amazon Prime—my go to service—doesn’t distinguish them. All I know is that if a movie is one I have on my watch list, I’m going to have to pay for it. Carmilla was free and worth the time to watch. And it’s good to see Le Fanu getting some deserved air time.
