Carmilla

NIGHTMARE CLASSICS: CARMILLA 1989 Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont. The story of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 classic Gothic novella is set in the southern states of post Civil War America for no apparent reason other than the movie's budget was too small to film in Europe, where the story really belongs. Gabrielle Beaumont's interpretationen of the story comes across as rather odd, when in the opening scenes you see a grown woman in a big white dress playing in her bedroom with her cute little black kitten surrounded by her dolls and doll's house. Come on. This is supposed to be a horror story. Two beautiful girls, Marie, (Meg Tilly), why isn't she called Laura? and Carmilla, (Ione Skye) at least make the movie worth watching. Considering it was made in the late 1980s it comes across as something rather from the 1950s. Especially Roddy McDowell as poor Inspector Amos. What a sore head he must have had. All in all though, it's certainly an entertaining little tale. However, it sadly lacks the blood and sexual tension that the bare-breasted lesbian temptress (Yutte Stensgaard) from the British Hammer's Horror movie "Lust for a Vampire" (1971) brings to the screen. Shelley Duvall's made for TV production of the story unfortunately doesn't pack a punch strong enough that it so richly deserves. Brian Carruthers