Excellent film that uses the framework of a gothic novel to tell a different and much more ambiguous tale (Who is the monster?).

This is a film much more interested in female intelligence and desire and the crushing of female intelligence and desire than it is in lurid Jess Franco-esque titillation or squelchy Roberto Rodriguez-esque gore.

The ambiguity of whether there is anything supernatural going on or even if there is anything homoerotic going on is pitched very well and brings up other aspects of life such as the propensity for a witch-hunt. Jessica Raine is excellent in her supporting role.

Reminds me of 'Lady Macbeth' in all the best ways. Emily Harris is another director to watch.

So yeah. I have no idea why they used Carmilla as the "basis" for this film. It trades the baggage of eroticism and exploitation from many previous films and tames it down into a feminist lesbian love story. I'm not saying that a feminist lesbian love story is a bad thing or that it shouldn't be told. Everyone has a right to be heard.

I came into this cold merely because of the title and to say the least I was left underwhelmed. Maybe the filmmakers had the purest of motives I. E. "We shall take this gothic novel and rehabilitate it to remove the stigma of exploitation and objectification". But it ends up seeming like a cynical exploitation of those previous films just for the purpose of making money.

There are some redeeming qualities to this film. It looks absolutely stunning. A real visual treat. The acting is not bad. The score isn't terrible.

But what it doesn't really have is a heart. The "love story" is rather banal and honestly boring. Direction is very stiff. The writing is honestly bland and uninspiring. There isn't anything to make me feel any emotion except irritation. A perfect example of style over substance.

In short it's much too tame and contrived. In fact there isn't really much vampire in this vampire movie. I think what they were trying to say had something to do with "Carmilla was persecuted for being a lesbian". But who knows? The exact same ending could be the work of someone trying to say lesbianism is evil.

I had the pleasure of seeing this on a big screen at Portsmouth's Making the Waves film festival with writer/director Emily Harris in attendance for a Q and A. She says it is loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's original novella of the same name but it is certainly true to the spirit of his tale of Sapphic vampires (interestingly pre-dating Stoker's Dracula). To start with, Harris's background in fine art is evident throughout and present in nearly every frame. It looks beautiful. From the muted candlelight of the interiors to the filtering sunlight of the exteriors to characters framed in windows or in nature. Speaking of nature, this is compared and contrasted with human nature and we get close ups of both in all its beauty and ugliness. It is superbly cast with newcomers Hannah Rae as a convincingly wide eyed innocent and Devrim Lingnau bringing a mesmerising, feline, otherworldly quality to the title role. They anchor this tale of female sensual awakening superbly and they are backed by the better known names of Jessica Raine and Tobias Menzies, the former bringing an effective cold puritanism to the proceedings and the latter an incisive charisma. If there are any monsters in this film they are them, carrying out a horrific act based on scant evidence and like many wrongs in the world, 'for the best of reasons'. Greg Wise also has good moments as the patriarch of the house. The ambiguity of whether Carmilla is or isn't a vampire is judged perfectly-she rises late, has a fetish for blood, a dog is unsettled by her, her choice of reading matter seems to consist of black magic and eroticism and her 'victim' seems to be drained of life and vigour (and we have hints she might have been responsible for the fate of another young maiden) but we have cheeky little nods to vampiric movie tropes when we see her reflected in a mirror, handling a cross and walking in clear daylight. One gets the feeling the film maker is saying she is not but still leaving it up to us to decide. Shades of The Turn of the Screw and My Cousin Rachel occur to one. This film won't be for everyone, it is a slow burner, which I feel works in its favour, but may be exasperating to some and if you are expecting horror, it is certainly present, not in a supernatural form but in a more chilling, human one. The nod is given in some Freudian dream scenes featuring bloodletting and a mysterious man who turns out to be the acceptable face of magic, a village conjuror (Scott Silven). It certainly has all the trappings of a superior gothic drama and is a fresh and exciting addition to the genre. Previous film versions based on the novella include Hammer's The Vampire Lovers which is closer, bizarrely, to the original story, but it has an exploitative undertone that makes this subtler and more pensive film truer to the spirit of Le Fanu's piece.