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 ...

The Family Plan review – Mark Wahlberg and his abs forced to revive special forces past

Weirdly forgettable action caper sees the star’s glossy American family dream interrupted by his glossy former life in covert ops

Once again demonstrating his stolid competence in playing both straight action or comedy, Mark Wahlberg is the action-comedy lead with amazing abs in this glossy but weirdly forgettable tranche of content; it is directed by the estimable Simon Cellan Jones, known for more heartfelt work including BBC TV’s Our Friends in the North.

Used car salesman Dan (Wahlberg) is living the American dream as a family man in the ’burbs with wonderful wife Jessica (played by the excellent but somehow underused Michelle Monaghan) and three kids: two teens and a late-blessing baby, whose existence testifies to Dan and Jessica’s continuing loved-up bliss. But Dan has a secret: he is of course a former special forces warrior in a mercenary crew covertly used by the US government for deniable operations.

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