BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE

US, 2007, 98 minutes, Colour.
Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancey, Olivier Martinez, Katja Reimann, Bryan Dick.
Directed by Katja von Garnier.

If you have seen Them (Ils), then wait a bit before seeing Blood and Chocolate. Neither of them would be the favourite film of the Romanian tourist board. While Dracula might be alright in Transylvania, these two films introduce terror and horror in Bucharest itself.

Blood and chocolate sounds like a horror movie recipe. The chocolate belongs to Vivian (Agnes Bruckner) who works in a sweets shop in Bucharest though she has had to flee her native Colorado when hunters killed her parents. The blood belongs to most of the rest of the cast!

This is a 21st century werewolf story, loups garoux, who, according to their leader, played in dictatorial style by Olivier Martinez, combine the best of humanity and the best of the beast. The only trouble is that they have many chips on their shoulders about the way they have been treated for centuries by humans. At full moon, they turn into wolves and relish their freedom – though it often takes the form of capturing a human and taunting him to run to the river for safety with the metamorphosing wolves in pursuit.

Vivian is, of course, a good werewolf, especially when she is attracted to a young American, Aiden (Hugh Dancy) who is in Bucharest researching a graphic novel. Given the number of films, including this one, based on graphic novels, this is seems to be a wisely lucrative thing to be doing. When he clashes with the most obnoxious of the wolves, Rafe, the son of the leader, who hunts in a pack of yobs who hang out at a club for the loups, the blood starts to flow. He outwits the pursuing wolves and finally confronts the leader and… off to a happy ending, while being careful on full moon nights, one hopes.

So, this is what happens in Bucharest these days! Was the European Union warned!!

1.An interesting and entertaining horror film? Werewolves and myths? Romania and the variation on horror myths?

2.The opening, Colorado, the contrast with Bucharest? Homes, streets, clubs? The studio? The woods? The musical score and its atmosphere?

3.The title and its meaning? The fact of the werewolves and blood? Vivien and her making chocolate?

4.The credibility of the plot, the inventiveness about werewolves? Inventing new myths? Werewolves and the claim that they had the best of beast and human? Evil, seeing humans as the enemy, vengeance for the treatment of werewolves over the centuriesy?

5.The film based on a graphic novel, the popularity of comic strips and graphic novels with these horror themes? Transferred to the screen – visual style, the framing of episodes like the graphic novels? The quick delineation of plot, character?

6.The story of the Loupes Garoux? Gabriel and his being the leader? Rafe as his son? The group in Bucharest? The club, the gathering place for the werewolves? The dance? The taunting of the girl – and the group attacking her, killing her? The shape-shifting? Their quick movements, leaps? The meetings? The secrecy? Confrontations?

7.The character of Vivien, the young girl in Colorado, the American background? Astrid and her caring for her? Gabriel and his hopes for her? Her being singled out as a possible leader? Her working with the chocolate? Going to the club? Being different from the others? Her saving the girl? In the church, the encounter with Aiden, their discussions, her warning him, their continued meetings? Rafe and his jealousy, pursuing, attacking? The decision about the meeting? The pursuit of Aiden, Vivien saving him? Her transformation into a werewolf, the freedom, the pursuit? With Aiden and the film sets, the silver, the confrontation, the shooting and leaving?

8.Gabriel as the leader, his relationship with Astrid, abandoning her, his bond with Rafe? His demands, Rafe and his death? Leading the pack, the transformations? The final confrontation and death?

9.Astrid, the vamp style, her taking in Vivien, her relationship with Gabriel, his abandoning her? The transformation, her participation in the pursuit? Rejecting Rafe? The gun?

10.Aiden, the American in Bucharest, the fact that he was investigating for a graphic novel, his pursuit of Vivien? Rafe and his threats? His fears, the station? The confrontation with Rafe and his death? His being pursued by the werewolves? Amongst the film sets, the silver, being saved by Vivien?

11.The myths, the visuals of the transformation from human form to werewolves? Their prey, the motivation against humans, setting the man to run for the river, the pursuit, death? The repetition with Aiden, his ability to survive, put them off scent?

12.The variation on the werewolf theme – how well done? For a 20th century graphic novel audience?