Blood Reunion (3 Stars)

Winona Lovette was a single mother living with her 8-year-old daughter in a dull little town somewhere in Texas. She wanted something different, so when she found out there was a vampire passing through town she let herself be turned. For some people, mostly those who read books like "Twilight",  vampires are glamorous and sexy. The reality is different (in this film, at least). Winona turned into an evil, soulless monster. Her only desire was to drink blood and to make others become vampires like herself. The town's two vampire hunters, the priest and his friend Wilford, acted fast. They sent Janeth to live with relatives in Cincinatti. They hunted down and beheaded all the new vampires turned by Winona. They wanted to kill Winona as well, but the local police hindered their efforts, so they just buried Winona with iron bars over the top of her coffin to stop her escaping.

15 years later Janeth returns to the town, knowing nothing about what happened to her mother. When she sees the iron bars over her mother's grave she's horrified and demands they be removed. The next night Winona rises from the dead, seeking revenge on the two men who buried her.

I sat through the whole film waiting for the reunion in the title to take place. Just when I thought it had been forgotten it happened. Mother and daughter were reunited less than five minutes before the end of the film.

The vampires in this film are very unglamorous and unsexy. That's disappointing to me. No, I'm not a "Twilight" fan. I prefer the vampire stories of Anne Rice, in which the vampires are driven by bloodlust but are inwardly sensitive; not quite human, not quite monsters. For me the best vampire films are the ones in which the vampires are alluring but still vicious. An example is my favourite vampire film, "We are the night", which I might watch later this month.

I watched this film in response to a challenge made by the Skip To The End Podcast team. The challenge is to watch a horror film every day throughout October. That's a good idea. I'm a day late because I didn't hear about the challenge till today. I'll catch up by watching two films today. "Blood Reunion" is my film for October 1st. I'll try to make a mix of my favourite horror films and films I haven't seen before.

Of course, this will disrupt my Leelee Sobieski marathon. I started watching her films in February, but I got distracted, and so far I've only watched the first 12. So many films, so little time. I still intend to watch the rest of her films this year. If I have time for more than one film a day this month I might watch her films in parallel to the Halloween challenge.