The Blood Countess review – Isabelle Huppert reigns supreme in a surreal vampire fantasia

Vienna turns into a playground of camp, cruelty and aristocratic disdain in a blackly comic take on the Báthory legend – with Huppert gloriously suited to the title role From the dark heart of central Europe comes a midnight-movie romp through the moonlit urban glades of Euro-goth and camp from German director Ulrike Ottinger. As for the star … well, it’s the part she was born to play. Isabelle Huppert is Countess Elizabeth Báthory, 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer, legendary for having the blood of hundreds of young girls on her hands and indeed her body, in an attempt to attain eternal youth. The “blood countess” has been variously played in the past by Ingrid Pitt, Delphine Seyrig, Paloma Picasso, Julie Delpy and many more, but surely none were as qualified as Huppert who importantly does not modify her habitual hauteur one iota for the role. Her natural aristocratic mien and cool hint of elegant contempt were never so well matched with a part. She gives us the ...

‘It felt like a Greek tragedy’: the shocking truth behind wrestling drama The Iron Claw

A new film tells the story of the Von Erich family, who gained fame in the 80s in a series of highs and devastating lows, with only one of six brothers surviving

One drowned when he was a boy. Another was found dead in a hotel room. A third committed suicide. A fourth died from an overdose. A fifth shot himself in the head. Of six brothers, only one survived to confront the family “curse”.

The Von Erichs were stars of professional wrestling in the early 1980s, entering the lore of Dallas, Texas, alongside the assassination of John F Kennedy, the Dallas Cowboys football team and fictional oil baron JR Ewing. Their story is told in a new film, The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron and written and directed by Sean Durkin, who describes it as part family drama, part gothic horror and part sports movie.

Continue reading...

from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/gzcLRyd
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Miracle Club review – Maggie Smith can’t save this rocky road trip to Lourdes

BREAKING: Interstellar back in cinemas due to public demand; Dune: Part Two to also re-release on March 14 in IMAX

‘I lost a friend of almost 40 years’: Nancy Meyers pays tribute to Diane Keaton