Eternal Blood (Special Edition) [DVD] (2004) Juan Pablo Ogalde, Blanca Lewin

This, reputedly, is the first ever vampire film from Chile. And it rocks! It's a low-budget production, but with a big name in Blanca Lewin (big for Chile...) and although not a wonderful plotline, has some great directing, costume and a superb soundtrack (also available on Amazon - search for "Sangre Eterna"). This is in no way a slick Hollywood performance, but neither is it a trashy B-movie. Vampire-movie enthusiasts will not be disappointed, neither will people who long to see Santiago de Chile again, nor those interested in modern Chilean youth culture. Highly recommended, firstly for the uniqueness, and also for the film it is.

I enjoyed this film very much but have given it an average 3 stars rating for the dvd itself: beware, grimace inducing dubbing!! I didn't check the specifics of the dvd before I bought it and presumed that it would be English subtitled, however there are no subtitles at all, you can either watch the film in Spanish or dubbed over (badly) with some extremely irritating American accents. The problem is with the dubbing that it highlights a very clunky script with little charm that can usually be forgiven when in subtitle, I can't comment whether this is because quality is lost in translation or because even in its original language it leaves a lot to be desired.

I managed to just about get used to the dubbing after a while and thoroughly enjoyed the film. As the other reviewer noted the film is obviously low budget but after watching the trailers for other films on the dvd extras I think it has probably achieved much more from its meagre allowance. The film is a fun premise (goth kids playing a vampire role game end up involved with the real deal while the moodiest of the bunch tries to stop them) and executed with gleefully silly vampires and monsters and goths in very home made looking costumes. The characters did annoy me a bit, for instance the central female character's references to her drug usage and sex are a bit unnecessary, I don't know whether it was an attempt to make her look a bit alternative but it just made me think she was a bit of a fickle dimwit while I think we were supposed to sympathise with her to an extent (what with the manic mother and struggle to fit in (yeah yeah yeah)).

Towards the end of the film we are offered a fairly predictable but perhaps necessary (in order to raise the film above a run of the mil vampire fest) twist which is spoiled by a smile and a look to the camera from one of the characters which is about as subtle as a brick to the face, in my opinion this should definitely NOT have been included and the final scene of the film left to stand alone to mark the plot development.

In conclusion I would say you're likely to enjoy this film if your attitude is that you are sitting down to watch a silly but enjoyably cyber-goth fuelled vampire flick, but don't expect an arthouse classic. Does what it says on the tin but nothing more. And if like me you decided to watch the trailers featured on the dvd before watching the film, then don't panic, it's not a bad film seriously.

This is the best Chilean vampire movie I have ever seen - okay, it's the only Chilean movie I've ever seen.

Every so often, completely out of the blue, comes a new director who is able - with very limited resources - to put together a movie that really rocks. This is one of them. Yes, it's about vampires - but it's also about more than that - it's about the need to belong that teenagers feel so desperately. How far would you go to achieve that - and what would it mean to you afterwards?

Watch this movie and find out!

Oh, and it also has an extraordinarily good-looking vampire babe. I sure hope to see more of her in future movies!