co-writing/co-directing team of Chuck Konzeman and Cary Solomon (the Showtime remake of EARTH VS. THE SPIDER) take a fresh approach by dwelling on Harry Balbo, a loser who finds that having a bloodsucker in his base- ment somehow completes his life. Flanery, not usually cast as nerds, gives a strong good performance, credibly misreading everyone’s signs as situations that always turn out badly for him, but becoming more alive as he falls under the creature’s spell. The best-played scenes in the film, oddly, are away from the vampire as Harry is given a hard time by the credibly obnox- ious Javier while a well-meaning, decent workmate (NYPD 2069’s Josh Hopkins) fails to help him out. Even after this set-up, Harry can’t quite bring himself to go through with the business of feeding Javi to Tatiana—though, by this point, it’s clear that the “Flange Man of the Year” can’t be allowed to survive. The focus is so squarely on Harry that his pet vampire gets short shrift—
Tatiana purrs seductively inside her cage and stretches like a cat, but her captor (and the movie) are incurious about who she is and how she became a vampire. While it’s understandable that Harry should withhold blood, it seems a trifle unnecessarily cruel that he should pen her up in the basement with only a chair to sit in—surely, he could give her some magazines or a GameBoy to pass the time while he’s at work?
Obviously low-budget, THE INSATIABLE is free not to slot eas- ily into its pigeon-hole: it’s a straight vampire movie, but also an un- comfortable comedy of manners (the music is mostly light-hearted) and offers more chat than action. It’s also a good 15m longer than it really needs to be, though burying several extra endings (spoiler: the rabbit lives) in the closing credits speeds it up. Th!nkFilm’s DVD has a 16:9 anamorphic transfer which looks better than average for the film’s fighting weight. The only extra is a trailer, though a credit for “behind the scenes” director
suggests a “making-of” was at least considered.
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
2006, Danger After Dark, DD-5.1/16:9/LB/+ , $19.99, 82m 52s, DVD-1 By Kim Newman
This British film offers onion- layers of reality and time with a disturbing, affecting, sadly cred- ible core. Lord Brocklebank (FRIGHT’s Roger Lloyd-Pack) takes frequent trips to cope with his family’s financial ruin, which throws his son James (Leo Bill), a barely-medicated youth with severe mental illness, together with his terminally ill wife (Kate Fahy). James, wanting to be “man of the house,” insists he be allowed to take care of his mother and won’t be told he isn’t ca- pable: in a tough-to-watch sec- tion which owes a little to WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, James locks the nurse out of the Brocklebank mansion
Jon Huertas finds that a love affair with a vampire (Charlotte Ayanna) can be draining in THE INSATIABLE.
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