Aeon: The Last Vampyre On Earth would be Murnau's favorite Vampire Film says the
Austin Chronicle...
http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/screens/2013-11-17/dvdanger-byzantium-kiss-of-the-damned-nosferatu-aeon-the-last-vampyre-on-earth
Byzantium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNAMDWyJZBQ
Kiss
of the Damned
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kS-NVtJtaM
Aeon:
Last Vampyre On Earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZYp7w7V6MY
A surprising gem of the bloodsucking canon has emerged from the scalding pit
that is Chemical Burn. Aeon: The Last Vampyre on Earth is a sealed bottle drama,
bleak and merciless. In a name that gives a nod to the original cinematic
vampire, Catherine Murnau (April Basile) is the last surviving human on Earth: A
strange apocalypse is taking place outside of the collapsing cellar, and she is
surrounded by death and rotting corpses. But she is not alone. Instead, her
company is another who is the last of their kind: Aeon, the final vampire
(played by director Daniel Falicki). Turns out, if there's nothing left to prey
on, the predators die too.
This is amateur horror, and the threads
occasionally show. But Falicki embraces the Gothic. When Aeon first appears, he
is a silhouette against a blood red background, a scavenger king in a world of
ruins. He runs at the role with raw fury, his body collapsing, leaking,
vomiting, bleeding, corrupting in front of Catherine. It's genuinely
creepy.
While Jordan and directors of his ilk constantly harp on about
the agonies of immortal life, Falicki turns that whole idea on its head. This is
a vampire facing the end of days. He's a virus with no host. It's I Am Legend
taken to its logical conclusion, and that alone wins points.
Warren
Croyle and Ryan Lieske's script culminates in a lengthy quasi-theological debate
about the nature of the human soul, which is intended to bring the plot to a
resolution. Throughout their encounter, Aeon teases Catherine with the idea that
death will be absolute: But at least, if she sacrifices herself to him, there
will still be a trace of her left. That one idea provides so much dramatic
tension, giving Catherine real pause. However (and Jordan could probably learn
from this, if he decides to recount stories within stories again), why should
she trust a putrefying monster? The first few times he tried to eat her implies
he may not be trustworthy.
Crawl past the restrictions of a
super-low-budget production and this is a real surprise. Of these three recent
creations,
it's arguably the one that would give Murnau most
pleasure.Nosferatu (Kino Lorber), Kiss of the Damned (Magnet)
and Byzantium (IFC) are available on DVD now. Aeon: The Last Vampire on Earth
(Chemical Burn) is available via
www.lastvampyre.net.
