Your Daily Dracula – Khatt Damm (Blood Line) (2020)
I found a degree of online dislike for this Egyptian/Saudi Arabian vampire movie, but I think it works pretty well as horror soap.
Lamia (Nelly Karim) and Nader (Dhafer L’Abidine) are a wealthy, upscale couple in a mid-eastern country, but their household is glum since an incident – not disclosed until late in the film – put one of their twin sons Malek (Pieter Ramy) in a coma, leading to their comparative neglect of his brother Adam (John Ramy). With all medical avenues exhausted, Nader has travelled to Romania – this is officially a Romanian co-production with a lot of ‘escu’ names in the credits but no scenes actually take place there in the release version – and sought out an important person in a remote castle (guess who?) to buy $100,000 worth of blood. The doting parents turn Malek into a vampire to bring him round, but Lamia doesn’t know the deal Nader made involves transporting the blood in his own veins … and the now-undead Malek is soon back at his old trick of being dominant, biting his brother so that the household now has three thirsty undead to keep pampered, with the blood of local pets soon not enough to slake their appetites.
Writer-director Rami Yasin focuses on Karim’s anguished telenovela-style determined, guilt-ridden mother, with L’Abidine and the Ramy twins adding a quietly sinister touch. Vampire twins and vampire kids are always creepy and the polite, neat, irresistably wilful lads – who represent a particular brand of privilege in their culture – are disturbing in an understated, fang-free sort of way. The family have to plan to leave the city for a remote farm in order to establish a lifestyle which can accommodate bloodlust and get away from nosy neighbours … but at each juncture, the well-worked-out, practical scheme is undone by the fact it involves kids it’s literally impossible to get to follow instructions even if self-preservation depends on it. It’s quite an addition to Dracula’s record of villainy that here he manages to exert a ruinously evil influence on fundamentally decent people without even appearing onscreen.
Discussion
No comments yet.