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

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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 ...
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Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review – gore-soaked demonic anime squats in the manopshere

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Tatsuki Fujimoto’s coming-of-age saga continues with a surreal encounter with a chainsaw-wielding demon living in a teenager’s soul

Shortly after last month’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle – confirmed last weekend as the highest-grossing anime feature of all time – a big-screen outing for a movie adaptation of what, in manga terms, is a relative upstart: Tatsuki Fujimoto’s gore-soaked coming-of-age saga, first serialised in 2018. Standard critical guidance applies: what will doubtless be catnip for fans is likely to prove varyingly baffling for newcomers, arriving late to a frenetic game offering few chances for catchup. The latter camp might, however, cling to the Halloween-adjacent release date as a partial decryption device: Fujimoto’s teenage hero Denji (voiced by Kikunosuke Toya) has a chainsaw-wielding demon squatting in his soul, suggesting the twin influences of Tobe Hooper and Shinya Tsukamoto.

The fallout from this will be, to coin a phrase, exaggerated – but the underlying emotions remain legible, maybe even relatable. Dopey slacker Denji is torn between two romantic prospects: notionally nice girl Makita, who appeals to his cultured side, and freckled, jade-eyed waitress Reze, who invites our boy to break into school after hours to skinny-dip. She’s a gal to elevate his heart rate; pity she’s also hellbent on ripping Denji’s heart out.

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