Crucible of the Vampire (2019) Review

Crucible of the Vampire (2019) Review

A young museum curator Isabelle (Katie Goldfinch) is sent to look at an ancient artefact, discovered in the basement of a stately home in Shropshire. Welcomed into the sprawling manor house by a seemingly hospitable family; Karl (Larry Rew), his wife Evelyn (Babette Barat) and their beautiful daughter Scarlet (Florence Cady), but all is not what it seems, as a dark and terrifying secret hangs over them.

Crucible of the Vampire, co-written and directed by Iain Ross-McNamee, attempts to illicit that vibe that the likes of Sixties and Seventies British horrors evoked. Whilst it’s certainly seeped in atmosphere it takes awhile to find its feet. It’s made and played with such a passion that you desperately want to like it more than you actually end up doing.

Neil Morrissey pops up as the estate’s gardener and things pick up a bit whenever he’s onscreen (something that I never thought that I’d find myself saying) but otherwise the performances are playing second fiddle to the style the film attempts to imitate. As some of you may know, it’s not the first time Neil Morrissey has tackled with a vampire in a feature film having headlined the 1990 comedy horror I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle.

Crucible of the Vampire gets everything so right in part – such as the mood, lighting and milking the location for all its Gothic worth – but elsewhere the odd performance hits a rum note and the pacing and flashbacks feel tonally inconsistent with other parts of the film making for a very mixed bag. It aims for the erotic and wears its influences proudly on its sleeve but it’s a far cry from the lesbian vampire delights that seeped into the Seventies horror film landscape that it nods to.