Stregoy!

This is an odd pseudo-Romanian film, and by "pseudo-" I mean that it was filmed in Romania, with Romanian actors, but was written and directed by Faye Jackson, not a Romanian. Strigoi is a kind of vampire.

Vlad returns home to find that the old drunkard has died, but isn't accepting "accident" as a death. Instead he suspects that the real culprit is Constantin Tirescu. Who is dead. But that hasn't stopped him from cropping up and making a nuisance of himself. But who are the real killers?

This is a mixture of fantasy horror and comedy, although filtered through a very odd perspective. It's also... I don't want to use the word "slow", but it's certainly not fast paced. It takes its time, savours the scenes... and yet doesn't completely explain what's going on. The idea of the Strigoi is a given in the movie, and it's only touched on at the margins. Also, the idea of what's really going on is also really only touched on at the margins. Clearly the audience is supposed to get behind that "these things are going on, run with it", but the most watchable scenes aren't often enough to pull that off.

The two leads of this movie are Catalin Paraschiv, who plays Vlad, and Camelia Maxim, who plays Mara Tomsa. It is Catalin who gives the movie a sense of gravitas, and Camelia that gives most of the humour. Constantine Barbuiescu also gives a strong performance as Constantine Tirescu.

If you are in the right frame of mind, definitely a movie to check out. But don't expect your typically Romanian vampire comedy fantasy horror...


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