BATHORY (2008) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Juraj Jakubisko
Anna Friel, Karel Roden, Hans Matheson,
Vincent Regan, Deana Horvátková, Franco Nero
Starting in the late 16th century and in the middle of an unending war, a Hungarian countess fights tooth and claw to defend her land, her family and her religion. And she never seems to age. Could that be because she's a vampire and bathes in human blood? According to legend, the real Elizabeth Bathory had a capacity for murder rivalled only by Vlad the Impaler. According to this movie, she was set up by a jilted suitor who maliciously defamed her. It's hard to know what's real at this point, and with some of the story's key figures dabbling in hallucinogens, who knows? The movie's nicely shot (in Slovakia), but without some historical knowledge, the story's a little hard to track, the running time (141 minutes) feels awfully long, and the quest to rehabilitate Bathory's reputation sharply limits any potential for serious neck biting.
