I’m of the opinion that the Matrix comparisons are a little overrated when it comes to Victor Ginzburg’s new film, Empire V. It’s the kind of wording that will have people thinking it’s being sold as an action horror flick with some sort of vampire-fu and well…it’s not. Not that I wouldn’t mind this being that kind of film, but it’s worth looking into if you’re curious about cinema and other interpretations of certain subgenres in film.
Author Victor Pelevin’s 2006 novel serves as the basis for the latest dark fantasy horror by Ginzburg which happens to include some spur-of-the-moment gymnastics and maybe one particular scene of fight choreography as a nice little cherry on top for the optics in this wide-ranging visual stunner. At its core is a much deeper look past the veneer of the vampire genre for something more vast and exponentially refreshing in its cerebral allure, as the story invariably goes the route of fish-out-of-water adventure.
That journey, crowdfunded and independently produced by Ginzburg, is headed up by and told through the eyes of Roman (Pavel Tabakov), a disaffected journalism student dropout who awakens one day tied and held captive by a man in a mask who “bites” him. The film eventually goes into what led Roman there and how he got to where he is at this point in the film’s first leg, before taking one of the deepest dives ever taken into the vampire subgenre of cinema, with Roman learning he’s not only inherited a new name, but also newfound abilities, and a tongue with a specific skillset shared by all other vampires in his newfound society.
Rama’s tread into Moscow’s societal underbelly ultimately finds him asking more questions faster than he can receive answers, between consorting with a number vampire mentors including Mithra (Oxxxymiron), and Enlil (Vladmir Dolinskiy), and getting acquainted with the beautiful and newly-turned Hera (Taya Radchenko). The remainder of the story as adapted by Ginzburg and Pelevin finds our would-be hero faced with new challenges and ideals as he works to make sense of how everything works and why and to satiate his curiousities, all while staring down the imminent danger that awaits him long after true love’s first bite.
As far as comparisons between the book and the movie go, you can certainly assert Ginzburg’s noble and winning efforts at exuding some of the book’s strongest components, capturing a modern-day psychological drama that borders onto the chilling and the supernatural, tapping into the very essence of revitalizing a genre. Plot pieces like droplet plungers containing samples and servings of fluids ingested orally are the catalyst for the film’s special visual showcases of CG-animated imagery depicting flashbacks of memories, interdimensional glimpses of the past and how the vampiric tongues came to pass via evolution. Other visual effects shots are more laid back and practical at times.
The film goes on to further deliniate the hierarchal structure of the vampire underworld and its elitist place among the corporate goons of the world’s top earners. We see this between each ceremonial event Rama has to attend as he gets inducted more and more, including partaking in events like the biting and possible death match against another human member of the elite. This particular sequence is just one of the few action sequences we do see in the film, and both are frankly amazing enough that it would have been an easier sell to action fans if the writing employed more of stunt coordinator Sergey Ryabtsev’s handiwork.
Par for the course here is the tale of a love that’s almost forbidden, with Rama and the enigmatic and complex Hera barely able to gravitate to one another without the unnerving backdrop of their foreshadowed lifestyle, and more directly, the controlling actions of Mithra who has more to do with Rama’s thrust into the vampire world than he’s willing to volunteer. It’s the film’s biggest-brewing rivalry underscored by a lyrical smackdown between foes, and followed by a cataclysmic twist that turns the film’s romantic arc squarely on the film’s satirical head.
Empire V is not your average vampire flick, and that much is clear. It’s a different kind of film with a concept and story story that are wildly peculiar, inviting, sardonic, sexually charged and enticing. You’re coaxed into it with a perception that energizes the genre in a way that’s rarely realized apart from what most of us know about vampires in TV and film, and it’s got a few fisticuffs and solid performances to boot.
Screened and reviewed for ScreamfestLA which ran its 23rd edition from October 10 through 19, 2023.
