Halloween Bites! Dampyr

“She will give birth to a dampyr.”

A supernatural conman and his manager find themselves entangled in a very real supernatural battle in 2022’s Dampyr. In the film, Wade Briggs plays Harlan Draka, who, along with his friend, Yuri (Sebastian Croft), goes from town to town in the early 1990’s Balkans, claiming to be a dampyr that can rid the townsfolk of whatever supernatural or demonic problems ail them. Stuart Martin portrays Emil Kurjak, who is leading a group of soldiers in a violent war that stumble upon a town that has been ravaged by vampires. When one of the soldiers recommends Harlan as the solution to the vampire problem, Emil has his men find Harlan and bring him back to the town. That night, the vampires strike and Harlan discovers that he really is a dampyr, a half-human/half-vampire, that proves to be the only real threat in the world to the immortal monsters. Teaming up with a rebellious vampire known as Tesla (Frida Gustavsson), Harlan and Emil seek out the evil Gorka (David Morrissey), who has plans of his own to eliminate the Dampyr.

The film is based upon an Italian comic series of the same name and is supposed to be the first film in a shared universe featuring a number of other comic heroes and villains. I am unfamiliar with this shared universe and this comic, but I have to admit that I really enjoyed this film. It’s more of an action thriller than a horror film, but it is extremely well done. The CGI is a tad dodgy at times but not so much that it takes away from the film.

The acting in the film is decent, with the weakest performance coming from David Morrissey, who is probably the most recognizable actor in the film for American audiences. Wade Briggs is tasked with carrying the film on his shoulders and I believe that he does a good job. Martin and Gustavsson have a great back-and-forth rapport throughout the film. I’m actually looking forward to another movie featuring this trio of characters.

While it may not be on the same budget level as the MCU films, Dampyr is definitely an enjoyable watch. The story isn’t perfect but it is engaging. The acting is decent and the action is pretty awesome. Give it a look and you might find yourself curious about the rest of this shared universe if and when it arrives on the big screen. The film is currently available in the United States on Netflix.