Aeon: The Last Vampyre On Earth would be Murnau's favorite Vampire Film says the
Austin Chronicle...
http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/screens/2013-11-17/dvdanger-byzantium-kiss-of-the-damned-nosferatu-aeon-the-last-vampyre-on-earth
Byzantium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNAMDWyJZBQ
Kiss
of the Damned
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kS-NVtJtaM
Aeon:
Last Vampyre On Earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZYp7w7V6MY
A
surprising gem of the bloodsucking canon has emerged from the scalding pit that
is Chemical Burn. The independent horror label specializes in the tiniest of
tiny budgeted terrors, with all the risks that entails. Aeon: The Last Vampyre
on Earth is a sealed bottle drama, bleak and merciless. In a name that gives a
nod to the original cinematic vampire, Catherine Murnau (April Basile) is the
last surviving human on Earth: A strange apocalypse is taking place outside of
the collapsing cellar, and she is surrounded by death and rotting corpses. But
she is not alone. Instead, her company is another who is the last of their kind:
Aeon, the final vampire (played by director Daniel Falicki). Turns out, if
there's nothing left to prey on, the predators die too.
This is amateur
horror, and the threads occasionally show. But Falicki embraces the Gothic. When
Aeon first appears, he is a silhouette against a blood red background, a
scavenger king in a world of ruins. He runs at the role with raw fury, his body
collapsing, leaking, vomiting, bleeding, corrupting in front of Catherine. It's
genuinely creepy.
While Jordan and directors of his ilk constantly harp
on about the agonies of immortal life, Falicki turns that whole idea on its
head. This is a vampire facing the end of days. He's a virus with no host. It's
I Am Legend taken to its logical conclusion, and that alone wins
points.
Warren Croyle and Ryan Lieske's script culminates in a lengthy
quasi-theological debate about the nature of the human soul, which is intended
to bring the plot to a resolution. Throughout their encounter, Aeon teases
Catherine with the idea that death will be absolute: But at least, if she
sacrifices herself to him, there will still be a trace of her left. That one
idea provides so much dramatic tension, giving Catherine real pause. However
(and Jordan could probably learn from this, if he decides to recount stories
within stories again), why should she trust a putrefying monster? The first few
times he tried to eat her implies he may not be trustworthy.
Crawl past
the restrictions of a super-low-budget production and this is a real surprise.
Of these three recent creations, it's arguably the one that would give Murnau
most pleasure.
Nosferatu (Kino Lorber), Kiss of the Damned
(Magnet) and Byzantium (IFC) are available on DVD now. Aeon: The Last Vampire on
Earth (Chemical Burn) is available via www.lastvampyre.net.