Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Victor Ginzburg
Starring: Miron Fedorov, Pavel Tabakov, Taya Radchenko
Of all the available monsters in the horror canon, vampires must be the
biggest and most annoying pricks of all. Literally parasitical creatures
who subside on the lives of those weaker than them, the accepted glib
association of sensuality, glamour and luxury with the dead and loving it
is an act of vamp marketing genius: Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, Twilight
selling us this idea of the brooding, lux outsider, a sexy and dangerous
bad boy of wealth and taste. Spare me. Also tedious is the vampire as
eternal, ever flexible metaphor for whatever cultural malaise it can be
clumsily analogised with, viz. the plague, abstinence, addictionzzzz.
Enter Victor Ginzburg's (working from a novel by
Victor Pelevin) Empire V, Darren Shan via Tolstoy SparkNotes, where disillusioned teen Roman (Pavel Tabakov) becomes a vampire and mopes about wondering as to the meaning of it
all: his supernatural condition, existence itself and - analogy alert -
the power hierarchies which govern Russia.
A genre twist here is that vampirism comes from a parasitical worm which
lives in the host, and that the "red stuff" which the infected drink is
contingent upon money, "the frequency of life’." Meanwhile, the vampire
administration is a shady authority who secretly run the world (I know, I
know...).
The film follows Roman as he is indoctrinated into the brethren
(apparently the worm "chose" him), and we see him develop his vamp
potential while philosophising with elders of varying mentor stereotypes.
Imagine
The Matrix's training sequences because the makers of
Empire V certainly have. The film is like that but extended
over nigh on two hours and not as good (the film most reminded me of
fellow Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov's post-Matrix
action films: Night/Day Watches and Wanted, but again not as good). The process of Roman's transition from loser
teen to powerful creature of the night is drearily uncomplicated. In fact,
he's not even a creature of the night as he is able to freely wander
around in the daytime - he's just a superpowered kid. Ominously, the
iconography of actualisation seems to be borrowed from toxic male
influencer culture, the sort of empty and limited imagery which dangerous
charlatans peddle to their simpleton followers via social media: fast
cars, big houses and women as decoration. All Roman is missing is the big
stupid chomping cigar.
In a stab at originality, in Empire V the drinking of blood
is not necessarily sustenance but a way of imbibing the host's thoughts,
emotions and abilities. Consequently, the cabal have blood vials taken
from folk luminaries ranging from Oscar Wilde to XxxTentacion (honestly).
In an early sequence, Roman swallows a drop of Steve McQueen's blood which
enables him to drive a car at high speed in a CGI chase - yet none of this
is portrayed as camp as it sounds. Using his vamp-skills, Roman manages to
nip a fit girl in the park, and, due to his understanding of her hopes and
dreams, his access to her memories, he coerces her into bed. So, Roman,
positioned as the wide-eyed hero of the film, is a pseudo-rapist. In a
similar vein, as part of his teaching, he is taken to the sort of club for
rich nobs where hugely talented sex workers contort and cavort in various
bondage scenarios for spiritless onlookers. This sort of scene is typical
of Empire V's narrative approach: when Roman isn't theorising with older vampires,
the film just "shows" us stuff - car chases, naked women kissing, cgi
vistas - with all the airless lack of drama of a video game cut scene.
Turns out that in its home country, Empire V is banned by
the Kremlin for its "biting social satire." Love Russian culture
(especially the rich folklore featuring numerous vampire legends,
including the "Upyr" who has teeth of iron-!), not a big fan of the
Russian administration and the various miseries enacted upon their people
and the global context. In this instance of state censorship, however, by
restricting the viewing of Empire V, it may have done its countrymen a favour.
