Well this came as a welcome surprise ... Well written ... Well acted ... Well shot ... And with a heart ... Such a rarity in "cinema" these days OK ... So it is low budget and there aren't planets exploding and people turning into beasts of some sort or another... Oh hold on... There are beasts sort of ... But much more subtly :)) Seeing the hugely baroque churches hovering over the poor homes of the Romanian villagers is a very bizarre sight ... I've never been to Romania but this made it a place I'd definitely be interested in visiting I'm kind of hoping the strigoi part was fiction of course : )) Give this one a go ... Its well worth an evening of your time

As much as I enjoy movies that involve the undead in all their shapes, forms and sizes, then "Strigoi: The Undead" just didn't appeal to me, and I ended up giving up on it shortly after 45 minutes into the movie.

Why didn't the movie appeal to me? Simply because it was so incredibly slow paced, so horribly, horribly slow paced. Nothing much had happened 45 minutes into the movie, so my interest was smothered and terminated. It is rare that I stumble upon a movie this slow paced. It was just awful.

It should be said that the acting in "Strigoi: The Undead" was actually quite good. And it is always nice to see brand new faces and talents in a movie. Just a shame that they suffered under a boring script and a lack of storytelling talent at the hand of director Faye Jackson.

All in all, this is a boring movie which isn't worth the time, effort and most importantly of all not worth your money.

Vlad Cozma is almost a doctor, but he's queasy around blood. He's an omega male, and is ignored and shown disrespect regularly, often in vulgar fashion. He's the protagonist since he wants certain mysteries solved.

After World War II, the Communists stole a huge amount of land in Romania, sending a modern nation back into feudalism. The landowners could get their land back after the fall of communism. However, the rising capitalist/carpetbagger class finagled laws requiring that original land deeds be produced to successfully conduct such claims.

One of Vlad's mysteries was, "where is grandfather Nicholae's land deed?" That takes up a large chunk of the film.

Early on, Vlad signs a death certificate, which he should not have done. He never quite got those medical credentials. The police ferret this out, and one of the detectives, Octav, uses this fact to force Vlad to assist him in the investigation of the death.

The third major thread is the matter of who is a strigoi (vampire) and who was not, along with whether the strigoi exist or not. The strigoi make Vlad's other two investigations that much more difficult.

By the end of the film, Vlad is no longer the omega male.

------Scores-------

Cinematography: 8/10 Occasionally dark, but mostly competent.

Sound: 8/10 A little low at times.

Acting: 10/10 Just right for the screenplay.

Screenplay: 7/10 The plot was murky, but moves along. The conclusion was difficult but also satisfying.