A girl named Nina is hospitalized for cutting herself. The hospital psychiatrist is called to treat her. The girl says it was an accident. The mother is afraid they'll take away the girl from her, so she's a bit hostile even. She thinks he'll think of her as a bad mother.
We learn more about the psychiatrist. His wife killed herself by cutting herself in the bathtub. Now someone or something keeps opening the bathtub faucet every night. The plumber thinks it's the spirit of the wife that's trying to communicate with the dr. The dr's mom is in the hospital gravely ill from some type of blood disorder. So the guy isn't in the best of shape. He's taking anti-depressants and is being treated by his boss.
As Nina walks around the hospital at night, we learn that she's attracted to blood. She meets a boy who's getting a blood transfusion and asks if she can have some. She also walks into the room of the dr's mother. Later that night the woman dies. That just turns him more into a wreck. Nina's mother empathizes. They sleep together. His boss warns him no to get involved with patients. As it turns out, the dr's wife was also a patient of his.
Now though, Nina completely flips out. She cuts another girl to drink her blood. And she starts obsessing with the dr. and stalking him. During psych sessions she blurts out that he's sleeping with her mother. The sessions are monitored and recorded. That gets him suspended from work. And now Nina gets more aggressive. We do learn more about her and how she came to be that way.
Cravings was a big surprise. It's not some lousy vampire movie. It's highly original and well-made. It's basically a dramatization of the hoax-diagnosis Renfield's syndrome. Nina would be the classical case of a patient with this disorder, if it existed. And the movie is very effective in portraying it. Unfortunately because Nina is likable when she's sane, it's not fun to see her go off the deep end. The portrayal of the mother in her time of need getting together with the dr. in his time of need was well-handled. Some surprising things happen along the way. The ending, too, is unusual and courageous.
Cravings is so much better than the score on IMDb would lead you to believe, as long as you don't expect a crappy vampire movie. A shame also that D.J. Evans, the writer/director hasn't gotten more work. Considering that he had little experience prior to this movie, it makes Cravings even more remarkable.
