Synopsis
Kate Davis (Chantal Contouri) is, unbeknownst to her, a descendant of Countess Bathory. Aninternational cabal of vampires kidnap Kate, take her to their industrial blood farm (wherepeople, called “blood cows,” are milked and the product is place in milk cartons). There Kate issubjected to extensive psychological conditioning, the purpose of which is to make her reclaimher heritage. The concept is interesting, taking the idea of the vampire as the upper class bleedingthe low…r classes dry to its logical extreme. The blood farm is nicely realized too. Though theplot both has confusing inconsistencies and is not substantial enough to sustain a feature film, theexercise is still interesting, and worth a look.
Audio
The soundtrack is the original mono. It isn’t perfect (reflecting the low budget and 1979vintage), and there is some distortion, but it gets the job done.
Video
The picture is most impressive. The ratio is 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The colours,blacks and flesh tones are all very, very strong. There is no edge enhancement visible, and theprint is in terrific shape, with barely a speckle or hint of grain in sight.
Special Features
Some outfits release minor horror films with no accompanying information. No suchproblem here. There’s a commentary track, which is a conversation between director Rod Hardy(left speaker) and producer Antony I. Ginnane (right speaker). Their discussion is engaging, andfills in not just a lot of background on the film, but also on the state of Australian cinema at thetime of production. A photo gallery contains much by way of publicity material, and this issupplemented by the trailer and 3 TV spots. There are extensive filmographies for the cast andcrew. Finally, composer Brian May’s score gets an isolated track. The menu’s main page, introand transitions are animated and scored, as is the scene selection page.
Closing Thoughts
While hardly a lost classic, this is an interesting spin on the vampire film, very nicelypresented.
Special Features List
- Commentary
- Trailers and TV Spots
- Cast and Crew Filmographies
- Isolated Music Score
- Photo Gallery
