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Cravings

“Cravings” is not what you would expect from its marketing as a gory, direct to DVD vampire film. It’s really more of a dark drama with a horrific turn. There’s a great realism to it with a slow, intimate pacing. It takes conceptions of depression and suicide and reveals them to be characteristics of an unconceivable huntress dying for bloodshed. The film works with these themes very well in an interesting unraveling of events that takes a very satisfying turn.

Stephen, played by Richard Harrington, has just lost his beloved wife and suspects her spirit is haunting him. He is going through a lot, but is eager to get back to his life. He returns to his psychiatry practice despite those around him continuing to worry about him. Stephen quickly finds himself in another emotional trauma when he returns and begins sessions with a young, troubled girl, Nina, played by Jaime Winstone. She cut herself and Stephen fears for her life. Nina’s mother, Liz, played by Louise Delamere, is desperate to keep her out of a hospital regardless of there being something very wrong with her. She says she is in constant fear that her daughter will either harm her or herself. Nina insists that she isn’t suicidal despite her morbid outburst, including a rising appetite for blood.

Stephen fears Nina, but he feels for her mother and does really care about Nina in the end. He wants to stay true to Liz’s wishes and keep her from a mental hospital. He gets romantically involved with Liz, which just makes Nina behave more erratically. When Stephen finally reports his concern for her behavior it very well might be too late. He has become personally involved with his patient’s family and is in danger of crossing the line of psychiatry ethics. Stephen refuses to give up on Nina, but he really still has no idea of her true deadly nature.

There is very little blood in the film, at least far less than you would expect for a film where the main character has a blood thirsty nature. People who normally don’t like gore or typical vampire films will find much more appealing about this film than one might expect. Those who are fans of vampire films might find themselves craving more blood than “Cravings” has to offer. A few more incidents would have richened it as a vampire film. My biggest complaint is that the film could have incorporated the vampire aspects into it more, showing what was happening to this girl. It could have developed her thoughts on what she was becoming or whether she even really knew what was happening to her. Her mother was clearly terrified of her, but fearful of her being locked away under speculation. Had her mother seen the blood thirsty creature her daughter had become? Was she afraid that others would see the monster she truly was?

Stephen doesn’t find out the truth until things are looking very grim towards the end. If Stephen knew sooner, the film could have presented an interesting moral and personal dilemma through him. I think him being so unaware of what Nina is makes it more intriguing and builds the tension very well. Still, I would have liked to see more incorporation of the realizations and true nature of Nina as a vampire rather than it being a hidden secret. This doesn’t offer a surprise to the audience since it is clearly advertised as a vampire film.

Even though, vampires aren’t knowingly dealt with in the majority of the film I think most horror and vampire fans should be able to appreciate and enjoy the film as long as they aren’t expecting it to be immensely bloody. It’s most interesting in the misconceptions that the characters make in what seem like troubling, but ordinary enough problems, yet really are products of the supernatural. If you go in knowing what to expect, then the film is a great watch. It’s a rarity of a film that seems like it would be predictable and formulaic given the trends of other vampire films, yet has its own agenda. “Cravings” takes out the glamorization of vampires and gives us a chillingly dark film. This is more because of society’s standards and how it pushes teenage angst to an entirely different level. The blending of reality and supernatural aren’t perfect, but the way the film plays with these two ideas being so close to one another makes it stand out.

Written by: Kelsey Zukowski

Reviewers Rating: 7
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