Why So Blu?

Embrace of the Vampire Unrated + DVD Combo Pack (Blu-ray Review)

Embrace of the Vampire stars Sharon Hinnendael as Charlotte, a timid and sheltered teen who has just left an all-girls Catholic school for a new life at a co-ed university. But an ancient evil has followed her here, tormenting her with disturbing nightmares and tempting her with forbidden desires. It is a hunger that can only be satiated by sensual pleasures of the flesh…and a thirst for blood. It’s a battle for her soul… and one she’s losing. But Charlotte is a fighter. The chaos and torment threatens to unleash her own inner beast, and anyone even close to her may find themselves embracing their own horrific fate.  Embrace of the Vampire is a remake of the 1995 horror flick of the same name.  I haven’t seen the original and I can’t speak about how true to it’s predecessor this film is, but I can say that the 2013 version doesn’t make me want to go back and watch the first film.

Film      

Charlotte (Sharon Hinnendael) is a shy young woman who is starting a new school.  She is an orphan with an unknown past who has a fencing scholarship.  The faculty at the college is quick to remind her of the consequences of failing to meet her obligations and Charlotte reminds them that she cannot fail because she has nothing to go back to.   Her roommate Nicole (Tiio Horn) is nice and wants to be friends but the captain of the fencing team leads the squad in being mean, rude, and even hazing poor Charlotte.  Charlotte has nightmares and blackouts making her transition to her new school that much more difficult.  Her teacher and fencing coach Professor Cole (Victor Webster) says he wants to help Charlotte but immediately seems to be interested in more than being a mentor.

As Embrace of the Vampire begins, it seems like a hokey horror flick with bad special effects and one vampire cliché after another.   Once the history lesson ends, the film jumps to the present day and looks like it was made with a decent budget and good actors.  The film continues for quite a while without a whole lot going on and even less explanations.  The plot provides just enough “normal” to make you forget that vampires are lurking in plain sight.  For a while it seems as though this is a remake of Carrie but Charlotte begins to unravel as it’s revealed she is destined to be a vampire hunter.  The unrated comes in as the girl on girl sex gets hot and heavy but  if that’s what you’re in it for, you’ll be fast forwarding for quite a while.

Sharon Hinnendael is a very convincing Charlotte who is able to convey that she is sweet but damaged.  Victor Webster is a great choice for the role of the young, hot professor that the students lust over.  It’s too bad for both actors they didn’t have a better script to work with.  Embrace of the Vampire dragged on too long and when the action started the story became a confusing mess.  The film had too many elements that didn’t work together to provide the vampire story I was hoping for.

Video      

Embrace of the Vampire is presented in widescreen with a 1.78:1 ratio.   Details are significantly noticeable especially when it comes to skin imperfections and fabric textures.  The colors are vibrant, especially the school’s green grass but the poorly lit moments also fairly well.

Audio      

Embrace of the Vampire  is presented on Blu-ray in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and on DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  The audio keeps pace with the video quality and the spoken and screamed words are always intelligible and clear.

Extras  

Embrace of the Vampire does not contain any special features.

Summary      

While the story didn’t grab me, both the audio and video presentations were impressive.  I was surprised to see that they bothered to release a blu ray but didn’t bother to add a single extra.  Extras are something I have come to expect on my blu rays.  The acting was good but the story was overly complicated.  This is the second remake I’ve tried this week and the second time I was disappointed.  Perhaps I should watch the original films first next time before I decide to try the remake.  I keep assuming that they must be good films in order to warrant having them remade or re-imagined.

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